They made a happy party at lunch, and Aunt Rose was so evidently glad
that Rose had returned that the little girl felt almost guilty when she
thought of the secret that Uncle John had given her to keep.
"It isn't that I don't want to stay here; I mean it isn't JUST that.
It's that I can stay here, and be happier because I have Uncle John now,
and he loves me, and, oh, he's planning, just simply planning to--"
Just as she reached that point Uncle John commenced to tell a very funny
story, and in the laughter that greeted it she, for the moment, forgot
the secret.
Uncle John said nothing of his plan to Aunt Rose. Indeed, he was not
quite ready to do that. He knew Aunt Rose Jerusha Atherton too well to
tell a part of any plan to her. He knew that she wished her little
namesake to be always with her, and he wisely intended to say nothing of
his wish regarding Rose until his scheme was complete.
"Then," thought Uncle John, "I'll have my way. I usually do!" and he
smiled as if the thought amused him.
Rose felt that the house seemed less gloomy than she had thought, but
she knew that it was Uncle John and Princess Polly who helped to make it
cheery.
And when, in the afternoon, they were once more speeding over the shady
roads toward Sherwood Hall, it seemed as if every day since she had
first met Uncle John had been a holiday.
It was Polly who interrupted her dreaming.
"Why, Rose Atherton!" she said, "I said 'Good-bye' to your two Aunts and
to Nora and to Lester Jenks, but I never thought to say it to
Evangeline! I didn't want to talk to her, but I did mean just to say
'Good-bye.
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