Why don't you take a little vacation ?" "I can't," returned Lois, in a desperate tone.

"I've got to do something." "Why, won't your aunt--" He stopped short.

The conviction that the stern old woman who had inherited the Maxwell property was too hard and close to support her little delicate orphan niece seized upon him.

Lois' next words strengthened it.
"I lost my school," she went on, still keeping her face turned toward the meadow and speaking fast.

"Ida Starr got it away from me.