I am named after her . '' Mrs. Fairweather suddenly put her arm about Penelope and drew the young girl to her , her lovely old face aglow with delight and tenderness . `` Then you are my grandniece , '' she said . `` Your grandmother was my half-sister . When I saw your dress , I felt sure you were related to her . I should recognize that rosebud silk if I came across it in Thibet . Penelope Saverne was the daughter of my mother by her first husband . Penelope was four years older than I was , but we were devoted to each other . Oddly enough , our birthdays fell on the same day , and when Penelope was twenty and I sixteen , my father gave us each a silk dress of this very material . I have mine yet . `` Soon after this our mother died and our household was broken up . Penelope went to live with her aunt and I went West with Father . This was long ago , you know , when travelling and correspondence were not the easy , matter-of-course things they are now . After a few years I lost touch with my half-sister . I married out West and have lived there all my life . I never knew what had become of Penelope . But tonight , when I saw you come in in that waist made of the rosebud silk , the whole past rose before me and I felt like a girl again . My dear , I am a very lonely old woman , with nobody belonging to me . You do n't know how delighted I am to find that I have two grandnieces . '' Penelope had listened silently , like a girl in a dream .
Now she patted Mrs. XXXXX 's soft old hand affectionately .
Fairweather Father Penelope Saverne aglow birthdays grandniece grandnieces rosebud years