"I fear not, Mrs. Macon; I leave to-morrow at nine o'clock."
"Your stay is short."
"Yes, very; a business trip mostly, which I managed to bring about to
take in Thanksgiving Day. Let me thank you for helping to make it one of
the happiest I have ever known."
"I think," smiling mischievously, as she gave him her hand, "your thanks
are due elsewhere; but as I never refuse anything that is offered me, so
I won't these; and allow me to say," with intense meaning, "as far as I
am concerned, you are _most welcome!_"
"Thank you again! Miss Olmstead, are you ready? I'll be home soon, aunt;
good-night, Professor Macon," and Sara was conducted down the steps, her
heart beating, and her head whirling with new, strange, unfathomable
thoughts.
The dinner-party came off in due course of events, and Sara went
through the ordeal with credit to her quartet of guardians. Indeed, she
made so favorable an impression upon several that they really longed for
a more extended acquaintance, and, for a time, invitations became quite
a common affair. But she accepted these most sparingly.
"I can never return them," she said to Mrs. Macon, "and I do not like to
be under obligations, except to those I love," with a sweet look into
her friend's face.
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