Page:Saxe Holm's Stories, Series Two.djvu/316

306 himself some day when he 's a gettin' better," she said.

"Perhaps he died," said Tilly; "that 's just as likely."

"I suppose 't is," replied her mother. "But somehow I don't feel 's if he did. I wish you 'd written him more of a letter, and asked him to write to us. It would be real nice to get letters regular from somebody in the war."

"Why, mother!" exclaimed Tilly, "perhaps we should n't like him a bit if we knew him; we don't know anything about him."

"Well," said Mrs. Bennet, "I don't believe that lady would have written for him if he had n't been a real good fellow. And anyhow, it was real good his thinking to thank you for the stockings."

"Yes. That was real thoughtful of him," said Tilly, candidly.

How would both Mrs. Bennet and Tilly have laughed and wondered could they have seen Joe when he read his Provincetown letter! He had looked forward to its coming with considerable interest. More than once he had said to Netty:— "Do you think she 'll answer that letter—that little girl, or whoever 't is, in Provincetown?" and Netty always replied:— "Yes, I rather think she will, before long; I think she will want to hear from you again."

When the letter came at last, Joe was really