And so Jane gave her consent--it is doubtful
whether Lucy would have waited for it once her mind
was made up--and in a week she was off, Doctor
John taking her himself as far as the Junction, and
seeing her safe on the road to Trenton. Martha
was evidently delighted at the change, for the old
nurse's face was wreathed in smiles that last morning
as they all stood out by the gate while Billy
Tatham loaded Lucy's trunks and boxes. Only
once did a frown cross her face, and that was when
Lucy leaned over and whispering something in Bart's
ear, slipped a small scrap of paper between his
fingers. Bart crunched it tight and slid his hand
carelessly into his pocket, but the gesture did not
deceive the nurse: it haunted her for days thereafter.

As the weeks flew by and the letters from Trenton
told of the happenings in Maria's home, it became
more and more evident to Jane that the doctor's
advice had been the wisest and best. Lucy would
often devote a page or more of her letters to recalling
the comforts of her own room at Yardley, so
different from what she was enduring at Trenton,
and longing for them to come again. Parts of these
letters Jane read to the doctor, and all of them to
Martha, who received them with varying comment.
It became evident, too, that neither the excitement
of Bart's letters, nor the visits of the occasional
school friends who called upon them both, nor the