`` WHERE ? '' `` Down in the orchard . He was asleep in the hammock . We found him there . '' `` Dear me ! '' said Aunt Janet , sitting down helplessly . `` If that is n't like Blair ! Of course he could n't come like anybody else . I wonder , '' she added in a tone unheard by anyone else save myself , `` I wonder if he has come to take the child away . '' My elation went out like a snuffed candle . I had never thought of this . If Uncle Blair took the Story Girl away would not life become rather savourless on the hill farm ? I turned and followed Felicity and Cecily out in a very subdued mood . Uncle Blair and the Story Girl were just coming out of the orchard . His arm was about her and hers was on his shoulder . Laughter and tears were contending in her eyes . Only once before -- when Peter had come back from the Valley of the Shadow -- had I seen the Story Girl cry . Emotion had to go very deep with her ere it touched the source of tears . I had always known that she loved her father passionately , though she rarely talked of him , understanding that her uncles and aunts were not whole-heartedly his friends . But Aunt Janet 's welcome was cordial enough , though a trifle flustered .
Whatever thrifty , hard-working farmer folk might think of gay , Bohemian Blair Stanley in his absence , in his presence even they liked him , by the grace XXXXX some winsome , lovable quality in the soul of him .
If by from in like of on save though to