"Alone?"

"Why not? She's a big girl now, and you don't have to change
cars."

"My niece will go home when I do, and not travel alone; and if I
can't wait here for her, in the house that used to be her mother's
and my sister's home, I'll go and board somewhere," returned
Rebecca with warmth.

"Oh, you can stay here as long as you want to. You're welcome,"
said Mrs. Dent.

Then Rebecca started. "There she is!" she declared in a trembling,
exultant voice. Nobody knew how she longed to see the girl.

"She isn't as late as I thought she'd be," said Mrs. Dent, and
again that curious, subtle change passed over her face, and again
it settled into that stony impassiveness.

Rebecca stared at the door, waiting for it to open. "Where is
she?" she asked presently.

"I guess she's stopped to take off her hat in the entry," suggested
Mrs. Dent.

Rebecca waited. "Why don't she come? It can't take her all this
time to take off her hat."

For answer Mrs. Dent rose with a stiff jerk and threw open the