And yet, you look different —"
"Miss Randolph will not shame anybody belonging to her," said
Mme. Ricard, graciously.
"Well, I suppose not," said my aunt. "I was going to tell you
what your father said, Daisy. He said — you know it takes a
long while to get to China and back, and if it does him good
he will stay a little while there; and then there's the return
voyage, and there may be delays; so altogether it was
impossible to say exactly how long he and your mother will be
gone. I mean, it was impossible to know certainly that they
would be able to come home by next summer; indeed I doubt if
your father ever does come home."
I waited, in silence.
"So altogether," my aunt went on, turning for a moment to Mme.
Ricard, "there was a doubt about it; and your father said, he
charged me to tell Daisy, that if she will make herself
contented — that is, supposing they cannot come home next
year, you know, — if she will make herself happy and be
patient and bear one or two years more, and stay at school and
do the best she can, then, the year after next or the next
year, he will send for you, your father says, unless they come
home themselves, — they will send, for you; and then, your
father says, he will give you any request you like to make of
him.
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