"Poor Maddy! I dread tellin' her the most, she was so sure," grandpa
whispered, as he stopped before the office door, where Maddy waited
for him.
But Maddy's disappointment was keener than his own, and so after the
sorrowful words, "and I failed, too," he bent himself to comfort the
poor child, who, leaning her throbbing head against his shoulder,
sobbed bitterly, as in the soft spring twilight they drove back to the
low red cottage where grandma waited for them.