To Elnora she said a tender good-night,whispering brave words of encouragement and making plans to fill the days to come.Then she went away.An hour later there was a light tap on the girl's door.
"Come!"she called as she lay staring into the dark.
The Angel felt her way to the bedside,sat down and took Elnora's hands.
"I just had to come back to you,"she said."I have been telling Freckles,and he is almost hurting himself with laughing.I didn't think it was funny,but he does.
He thinks it's the funniest thing that ever happened.
He says that to run away from Mr.Ammon,when you had made him no promise at all,when he wasn't sure of you,won't send him home to her;it will set him hunting you!
He says if you had combined the wisdom of Solomon,Socrates,and all the remainder of the wise men,you couldn't have chosen any course that would have sealed him to you so surely.He feels that now Mr.Ammon will perfectly hate her for coming down there and driving you away.And you went to give her the chance she wanted.
Oh,Elnora!It is becoming funny!I see it,too!"The Angel rocked on the bedside.Elnora faced the dark in silence.
"Forgive me,"gulped the Angel."I didn't mean to laugh.
I didn't think it was funny,until all at once it came to me.Oh,dear!Elnora,it funny!I've got to laugh!""Maybe it is,"admitted Elnora "to others;but it isn't very funny to me.And it won't be to Philip,or to mother."That was very true.Mrs.Comstock had been slightly prepared for stringent action of some kind,by what Elnora had said.The mother instantly had guessed where the girl would go,but nothing was said to Philip.That would have been to invalidate Elnora's test in the beginning,and Mrs.Comstock knew her child well enough to know that she never would marry Philip unless she felt it right that she should.The only way was to find out,and Elnora had gone to seek the information.There was nothing to do but wait until she came back,and her mother was not in the least uneasy but that the girl would return brave and self-reliant,as always.
Philip Ammon hurried back to the Limberlost,strong in the hope that now he might take Elnora into his arms and receive her promise to become his wife.His first shock of disappointment came when he found her gone.
In talking with Mrs.Comstock he learned that Edith Carr had made an opportunity to speak with Elnora alone.
He hastened down the road to meet her,coming back alone,an agitated man.Then search revealed the notes.His read:
DEAR PHILIP:
I find that I am never going to be able to answer your question of this afternoon fairly to all of us,when you are with me.So I am going away a few weeks to think over matters alone.I shall not tell you,or even mother,where I am going,but I shall be safe,well cared for,and happy.Please go back home and live among your friends,just as you always have done,and on or before the first of September,Iwill write you where I am,and what I have decided.Please do not blame Edith Carr for this,and do not avoid her.I hope you will call on her and be friends.I think she is very sorry,and covets your friendship at least.Until September,then,as ever,ELNORA.
Mrs.Comstock's note was much the same.Philip was ill with disappointment.In the arbour he laid his head on the table,among the implements of Elnora's loved work,and gulped down dry sobs he could not restrain.Mrs.Comstock never had liked him so well.Her hand involuntarily crept toward his dark head,then she drew back.Elnora would not want her to do anything whatever to influence him.
"What am I going to do to convince Edith Carr that Ido not love her,and Elnora that I am hers?"he demanded.
