ought the bird was a
nuisance and wrung its neck," frowned Uncle Larry when he spoke to Aunt
Kate alone. He did not seem half so confident as when he had spoken to
Mary Rose. "There are folks not so many miles away who'd not stop to
think whether they broke a kid's heart or not so long as they had their
way. I declare, Kate, I'm 'most sorry you didn't leave her in Mifflin.
From all she says folks were kind to her there."

"Well, I'm not sorry!" Aunt Kate's voice was emphatic. "It breaks my
heart to have her hurt, but we'll just have to keep remindin' her of
what she has left, although it seems if it was little enough. First
her mother an' then her father, her cat put out to board an' her dog
the same as given away, an' now her bird's stolen. You might almost
think that Providence was pickin' on the little thing."

CHAPTER XVII

Jerry Longworthy went up the steps of the Washington and eyed the long
row of mail boxes that ran down two sides of the vestibule, until he
came to one whose card read, "Miss Elizabeth Thorley, Miss Blanche
Carter." He touched the bell beneath.

"Is Miss Thorley in? This is Jerry Longworthy. I want to speak to you
about Mary Rose."

"Oh, do come up!" The voice was very eager and hospitable as it came
swiftly down the tube, and Mr. Jerry obeyed it almost as swiftly.

Miss Thorley met him in the hall on the third floor. She wore a little
lingerie frock of white voile, tucked and inset with lace and girdled
with pink satin. It was collarless and her hair was done high on her
head so that little locks escaped from the pins and rested on her white
neck. She looked about eighteen as she greeted Mr. Jerry.

He held her hand much longer than she thought was necessary and she
flushed as she drew it from him. He looked around the big pleasant
room as if he were glad to be in it.

"It's a long time since I was here," he said in a low voice, not as if
he meant to say it but as if he had to.

It seemed long to her now, too, and when she answered, it was as Mr.
Jerry had spoken, as if the words came of their own will.

"It is a long time." If Aunt Kate had seen her then she would not have
worried over any lack of red "corpuskles." A goodly number of them
slipped into Miss Thorley's face and dyed it pinker than her girdle.

A flame was lighted in Mr. Jerry's eyes and he stepped quickly forward.
She shrank back behind the high morris chair and he stopped suddenly.

"Long enou