Not so Elizabeth Royce. Bess knew precisely what was on the map, and had Vermont been there, she would have noticed it. There was not much, Miss Royce secretly flattered herself, that escaped her. She had heard of Mr. Robert Cameron; but whether he resided in Kamchatka or Timbuctoo she could not have told you. Mr. Robert Cameron, she had adduced with an acumen beyond her years, was the unsuccessful member of a highly successful family. And now Elliott, adorable Elliott, was to be marooned in this uncharted district for a whole year. It was unthinkable!
"But, Elliott darling, you'd _die_ in Vermont!"
"Oh, no!" said Elliott; "I don't think I should find it pleasant, but I shouldn't die."
"Pleasant!" sniffed Miss Royce. "I should say not."
"It _is_ rather far away from everybody. Think of not seeing you for a year, Bess!"
"I don't want to think of it. What's the matter with your Uncle James's house when the quarantine's lifted?"
"Nothing. But it has only just been put on."
"And the tournament next week. You _can't_ miss that! Oh, _Elliott_!"
"I think," remarked Elliott pensively, "there ought to be a home opened for girls whose fathers are in France."
"Why," asked Bess, gripped by a great idea, "why shouldn't you come to us while your uncle's house is quarantined?"
Why not, indeed? Elliott thought Bess a little slow in arriving at so obvious and satisfactory a solution of the whole difficulty, but she was properly reluctant about accepting in haste. "Wouldn't that be too much trouble? Of course, it would be perfectly lovely for me, but what would your mother say?"
"Mother will love to have you!" Miss Royce spoke with conviction.
They spent the rest of the afternoon making plans and Elizabeth went home walking on air.
But Mother, alas! proved a stumbling-block. "That would be very nice," she said, "very nice indeed; but Elliott Cameron has plenty of relatives. They will make some arrangement among them. I should hardly feel at liberty to interfere with their plans."
"But her Aunt Elinor is going to France, and you know the James Camerons' house is in quarantine. That leaves only the Vermont Camerons--"
"Oh, yes. I remember, now, there was a third brother. They have their plans, probably."