Chapter 26
Spring Recess, April 1898
Why do you speak so faintly?
Are you not well?
III.iii
Concordia rang the bell of her mother’s house in the Frog Hollow section of Hartford.
The housekeeper opened the door wide. “Miss Concordia! So glad you’ve come for a visit.” She reached for Concordia’s valise. “Here, let me take that. Come in!”
“It’s nice to be home,” Concordia said. “How are you, Mrs. Houston?”
The housekeeper bobbed her head. “Doin’ just fine, dear, but you look a bit thinner than when I saw you last, if you don’t mind me sayin’ so. You’ve been working too hard, I expect.”
Concordia smiled at the housekeeper’s maternal ways. Some things never change. “Where’s Mother?”
“She’s resting,” Mrs. Houston said, “but she’ll be getting up any minute now. Why don’t you go into th
