"I do--indeed."
"The war did something horrible to Glenn aside from wrecking his health.
Shell-shock, they said! I don't understand that. Out of his mind, they
said! But that never was true. Glenn was as sane as I am, and, my dear,
that's pretty sane, I'll have you remember. But he must have suffered
some terrible blight to his spirit--some blunting of his soul. For
months after he returned he walked as one in a trance. Then came a
change. He grew restless. Perhaps that change was for the better. At
least it showed he'd roused. Glenn saw you and your friends and the
life you lead, and all the present, with eyes from which the scales had
dropped. He saw what was wrong. He never said so to me, but I knew it.
It wasn't only to get well that he went West. It was to get away....
And, Carley Burch, if your happiness depends on him you had better be up
and doing--or you'll lose him!"
"Aunt Mary!" gasped Carley.
"I mean it. That letter shows how near he came to the Valley of the
Shadow--and how he has become a man.... If I were you I'd go out West.
Surely there must be a place where it would be all right for you to
stay."
"Oh, yes," replied Carley, eagerly. "Glenn wrote me there was a lodge
where people went in nice weather--right down in the canyon not far
from his place. Then, of course, the town--Flagstaff--isn't far.... Aunt
Mary, I think I'll go."
"I would. You're certainly wasting your time here."
"But I could only go for a visit," rejoined Carley, thoughtfully. "A
month, perhaps six weeks, if I could stand it."
"Seems to me if you can stand New York you could stand that place," said
Aunt Mary, dryly.
"The idea of staying away from New York any length of time--why, I
couldn't do it I... But I can stay out there long enough to bring Glenn
back with me."
"That may take you longer than you think," replied her aunt, with a
gleam in her shrewd eyes. "If you want my advice you will surprise
Glenn. Don't write him--don't give him a chance to--well to suggest
courteously that you'd better not come just yet. I don't like his words
'just yet.'"
"Auntie, you're--rather--more than blunt," said Carley, divided between
resentment and amaze. "Glenn would be simply wild to have me come."
"Maybe he would. Has he ever asked you?"