"You do not deserve to have me tell you how fortunate it is that after all we have nothing malignant to discover," he told her. "But you will become really ill, helpless occasionally, if you do not take this in hand now." Just after he had gone, Adelaide Maud called. She came to ask for money in connection with the church, but she stayed to talk over Miss Grace’s symptoms. The grey shadow on Miss Grace’s face had alarmed her.
"Aren’t you well, Miss Grace?" she asked sympathetically. Then for the first time since Miss Annie had gone to bed, Miss Grace had given way and confessed what the trouble was to Adelaide Maud.
It became astonishing to think how rapidly things could happen in so tiny and so slow a place.
Here they were now, in a happy confidential trio, the moving inspirator that smart, garden-party person, Adelaide Maud.
The Leighton girls could not believe it. They had, with the exception of Elma, reached a hopeless condition with regard to the Story Books. The Dudgeons had so palpably shown themselves, even although graciously polite throughout, to be of so entirely different a set to the Leightons. None of the girls except Adelaide Maud had called. And after what Cuthbert had done! Elma certainly felt the difference that might occur where Miss Grace and Miss Annie were concerned. "Why haven’t we a footman and an odd man?" asked Jean viciously. "Then it would be all right."
Now came the invitation for Elma to go with Miss Grace.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Leighton were greatly touched. Mr. Leighton put his hand on Elma’s shoulder.
"When you can make yourself indispensable to your best friends, that is almost as great a thing as playing the Moonlight Sonata without a mistake," said he.
But both Mrs. Leighton and he refused to let Elma go. They called on Miss Grace to explain. The fact that they had left Elma in a state of despair that bordered on rebellion made them more firm.
"Elma is so young," said Mrs. Leighton, "and so highly strung and sensitive, I can’t let her go with an easy mind. She has visited so seldom, and then invariably lain awake at nights with the excitement. It wouldn’t be good for you, Miss Grace. I should have you both very much on my mind."
"I see your point, Mrs. Leighton," she said brightly. "But Elma knows Miss Grace so well, wouldn’t it be just like going with you or Mr. Leighton."