Alice and Adah

At Alice's request, Adah and Sam stayed altogether at Spring Bank, but
Alice was the ruling power--Alice, the one whom Chloe and Claib
consulted; one concerning the farm, and the other concerning the
kitchen--Alice, to whom Aunt Eunice looked for counsel, and Densie for
comfort--Alice, who remembered all the doctor's directions, taking the
entire charge of Hugh's medicines herself--and Alice, who wrote to Mrs.
Worthington, apprising her of Hugh's serious illness. They hoped he was
not dangerous, she said, but he was very sick, and Mrs. Worthington
would do well to come at once. She did not mention 'Lina, but the idea
never crossed her mind that a sister could stay away from choice when a
brother was so ill; and it was with unfeigned surprise that she one
morning saw Mrs. Worthington and Lulu alighting at the gate, but no
'Lina with them.

"She was so happy at Saratoga," Mrs. Worthington said, when a little
over the first flurry of her arrival. "So happy, too, with Mrs. Richards
that she could not tear herself away, unless her mother should find Hugh
positively dangerous, in which case she should, of course, come at
once."

This was the mother's charitable explanation, made with a bitter sigh as
she recalled 'Lina's heartless anger when the letter was received, as if
Hugh were to blame, as, indeed, 'Lina seemed to think he was.

Meantime Alice, in her own room, was reading 'Lina's note, containing a
most glowing description of the delightful time she was having at
Saratoga, and how hard it would be to leave.