But now let us talk seriously.

This child"-- taking Virginia's hand--"is the girl they were searching for back there along the road." "Ah," said the elder.
"She had perfectly good reasons for running away," went on Grandma Thorndyke, "and she is not going back to that man.

He has no claim upon her.

He is not her guardian.

He is only the man who married her sister--and as I firmly believe, killed her!" "I wouldn't say that," said the elder.
"Now I calculate," said Grandma Thorndyke, "and unless I am corrected I shall so report--and I dare any one to correct me!--that this child"-- squeezing Virginia's hand--"had taken refuge at some dwelling along the road, and that this morning--not later than this morning--as Jacob drove along into Waterloo he overtook Virginia walking into town where she was going to seek a position of some kind.