Aunty Nan smiled wanly . `` I 'm afraid you 'll soon have to get on without me , Jordan . I 'm not going to be here very long now . No , I 'm not , Jordan , I know it . Something tells me so very plainly . But I would be willing to go -- glad to go , for I 'm very tired , Jordan -- if I could only have heard little Joscelyn sing once more . '' `` Why are you so set on hearing her ? '' asked Jordan . `` She ai n't no kin to you , is she ? '' `` No , but dearer to me -- dearer to me than many of my own . Maria thinks that is silly , but you would n't if you 'd known her , Jordan . Even Maria herself would n't , if she had known her . It is fifteen years since she came here one summer to board . She was a child of thirteen then , and had n't any relations except an old uncle who sent her to school in winter and boarded her out in summer , and did n't care a rap about her . The child was just starving for love , Jordan , and she got it here . William and his brothers were just children then , and they had n't any sister . We all just worshipped her . She was so sweet , Jordan . And pretty , oh my ! like a little girl in a picture , with great long curls , all black and purply and fine as spun silk , and big dark eyes , and such pink cheeks -- real wild rose cheeks .
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