Anne laughed. "I don't wonder you think so. I just barely remember father speaking of her. Read it, Claire!"
Claire had seized the letter and opened it. "It is signed 'Your loving aunt.' Isn't it the most ridiculous mystery? Why couldn't it have been something else besides an aunt!"
"Well, I'm awfully afraid it is for me. We never could both have aunts on North Hero Island. Go on, blessed child—I'm prepared for the worst!"
Claire rose dramatically.
"My dear Niece," she read, adding: "I want you to know, Anne, that she honors you by spelling that with a capital." "Of later years it has been a matter of deep regret to me that though the same blood runs in our veins we are like strangers, and that you have been allowed to grow to womanhood without knowing the home of your forefathers on this historic island. It is for that reason that now, after considerable debate with my conscience, I am writing to you at your college address which I have obtained through a chance article in an Albany newspaper ('that was the Senior Play write-up,' interrupted Nancy, excitedly) to urge you to avail yourself of the earliest opportunity to visit me in the old home.
"I feel the burden and responsibility of my increasing years, and I know that soon I will be called to that land where our forefathers have gone before us. You are, I believe, my nearest of kin—the family, as you must know, is dying out and I would have preferred that you had been a boy—I will tell you frankly that I am considering changing my will and that upon your visit depends whether or not you will be my beneficiary. I would wish to leave the home and my worldly wealth—the wealth of the past Leavitts, to a Leavitt, but before I can do so to the satisfaction of my own conscience, I must know that you are a Leavitt and that you have been brought up with a true knowledge and respect for what being a Leavitt demands of you,
"I await your reply with anxiety. Your visit will give me pleasure and I assure you that you will learn to love the spot on which, for so many generations, your ancestors have lived."
"Your Loving Aunt,
"SABRINA LEAVITT."
"Well, I'll be——" In all her college vocabulary Anne could not find the word to express her feelings.
"Isn't that rapturous? A great-aunt and a fortune! And will you please tell me why she had to debate with her conscience?" cried Claire.