“There are many, many places I should like to go, but I shall never leave Cousin Rindy while she needs me; if she could go, too, that would be another thing.” Reed made no answer, but continued to look off across the sea. Meanwhile Miss Rindy and Mabel, all unaware of the subject which so engrossed the two outside, were talking of Ellen. “I wish you would encourage Ellen to spend the winter with me,” Mabel began. “She has so much talent and could study at the Peabody, go to the concerts, and all that. She should have a musical career, don’t you think?” Miss Rindy answered after a pause. “I’m not sure that it would be the wise thing. What would your grandmother think of it, of Ellen making a convenience of her house?” “Oh, I don’t think Gran would mind. I must admit that she is something of a snob, a thing I despise, and that while she is generous in giving where it doesn’t mean a sacrifice on her part, she doesn’t care to give of herself.” “And giving of one’s self is the only real unselfishness,” Miss Rindy interrupted. “If Ellen couldn’t make as good an appearance as your other friends, and couldn’t return her obligations, I would rather she did not go, certainly not for a whole winter. She has talent, maybe, but she isn’t a great genius, and only that could compensate.” “But she is such a dear,” returned Mabel wistfully. “No one could help loving her, for she has what is known as charm.” “She has her faults, but then no one is perfect, and I don’t expect her to be. There is one thing I may say, and that is, she is the only person in the world to whom I come first. I never did come first to any one till Ellen entered my life. I never was much considered in my own home, therefore you can understand that Ellen, her happiness, her future, mean a lot to me.” “I do understand,” returned Mabel feelingly, for she thought Miss Rindy’s statements very pathetic; “and I can say one thing, and that is, she never for one moment forgets what you have done for her.” “Gratitude is such a rare thing, especially in one as young as Ellen, that the fact makes me the more anxious to safeguard her.” “But you do want her to follow a musical career, don’t you?” “So far as it may be necessary for her happiness. I don’t want her to expect great things and then fail in the accomplishment, to risk all and fail. She’d better be a big frog in a little puddle than try to be a bigger frog in a puddle where she’d be crowded out. In other words, she will always be able to make a living in Marshville, while she might starve in the city.” “Oh, but Marshville!” “It isn’t a bad place to live, but if straws show which way the wind blows she won’t always live there.” “Do you mean?” “I mean what I mean. Time will show. From all indications I should say she will live there for some years yet.”