in
English composition, but I will write to you again on Saturday.

"Your loving niece,

"HONORA."

The Christmas holidays came, and went by like mileposts from the window
of an express train. There was a Glee Club: there were dances,
and private theatricals in Mrs. Dwyer's new house, in which it was
imperative that Honora should take part. There was no such thing as
getting up for breakfast, and once she did not see Uncle Tom for
two whole days. He asked her where she was staying. It was the first
Christmas she remembered spending without Peter. His present appeared,
but perhaps it was fortunate, on the whole, that he was in Texas, trying
a case. It seemed almost no time at all before she was at the station
again, clinging to Aunt Mary: but now the separation was not so hard,
and she had Edith and Mary for company, and George, a dignified and
responsible sophomore at Harvard.

Owing to the sudden withdrawal from school of little Louise Simpson, the
Cincinnati girl who had shared her room during the first term, Honora
had a new room-mate after the holidays, Susan Holt. Susan was not
beautiful, but she was good. Her nose turned up, her hair Honora
described as a negative colour, and she wore it in defiance of all
prevailing modes. If you looked very hard at Susan (which few people
ever did), you saw that she had remarkable blue eyes: they were the eyes
of a saint. She was neither tall nor short, and her complexion was not
all that it might have been. In brief, Susan was one of those girls
who go through a whole term at boarding--school without any particular
notice from the more brilliant Honoras and Ethel Wings.

In some respects, Susan was an ideal room-mate. She read the Bible every
night and morning, and she wrote many letters home. Her ruling passion,
next to religion, was order, and she took it upon herself to arrange
Honora's bureau drawers. It is needless to say that Honora accepted
these ministrations and that she found Susan's admiration an entirely
natural sentiment. Susan was self-effacing, and she enjoyed listening to
Honora's views on all topics.

Susan, like Peter, was taken for granted. She came from somewhere, and
after school was over, she would go somewhere. She lived in New York,
Honora knew, and beyond that was not curious. We never know when we are
entertaining an angel unawares. One evening, early in May, when she went
up to prepare for sup