and her daughter, who had been so good to her, had become so poor that they could not afford to employ a servant, she must leave us and go to them.  She would ask no wages and would take no denial.  She would stay with them and serve them for the love she bore them, as long as they needed her.  I know she is in earnest, for she immediately wrote to Mrs. Drane, and asked me to put the letter in the post-office; and, by the way, she writes a great deal better hand than I do.”

Miss Panney, who had reseated herself, gazed earnestly at the floor.

“Doctor,” she said, “this is very serious.  I have not yet met La Fleur, but I very much want to.  I am convinced that she is a woman of character, and when she says she intends to do a thing, she will do it.  That is, unless somebody else of character, and of pretty strong character too, gets in her way.  I do not know what advice to give you just now, but she must not leave you.  That must be considered as settled.  I am coming to your house to-morrow afternoon, and please ask Mrs. Tolbridge to be at home.  We shall then see what is to be done.”

“There is nothing to be done,” said the doctor, rising.  “We cannot improve the circumstances of the Dranes, and we cannot prevent La Fleur from going to them if her feelings prompt her to do it.”

“Stuff!” said the old lady.  “There is always something to be done.  The trouble is, there is not always some one to do it; but, fortunately for some of my friends, I am alive yet.”

CHAPTER XVI

“Keep her to help you”

It was about ten o’clock the next morning when Miss Panney drove over to Cobhurst in her phaeton.  She did not go up to the house, but tied her roan mare behind a clump of locust trees and bushes, where the animal might stand in peace and shade.  Then she walked around the house, and hearing the clatter of crockery in the basement, she looked down through a kitchen window, and saw Mike washing the breakfast dishes.

Going on toward the back of the house, she heard voices and laughter over in the garden.  Behind a tangled mass of raspberries, she saw a pink sunbonnet and a straw hat with daisies in it.  She knew, then, that Dora and Miriam were picking berries, and then her eyes and ears began to search for Ralph.

She went up on the back piazza and looked over toward the barn, which appeared to be closed, and around and about the house, but saw nothing of the young man.  But she would wait; it was scarcely likely that he was at work in the fields by himself.  He would probably appear soon, and, if possible, she wanted to speak to him before she saw any one else.  She went into the house, and took a seat in the hall, where, through a narrow window by the side of the door, she had a good view of the garden and the grounds at the back, and could also command the front entrance of the house.