We must get the things first that
will have to be sent away."

"I've fixed all that," stammered Tavia. "I won't have to get anything to
send home."

"I didn't want to take her money," Tavia tried to tell herself, "and I was
willing to tell her all about it, but she wouldn't listen. Now, if only I
can manage to get Nat to keep quiet. But, at any rate, I did not mean to
deceive Dorothy."

But all the same Tavia did not relish the handling of Dorothy's Christmas
savings, and somehow she took little interest in all the possible gifts
Dorothy made notes of, in preparation for the day's shopping in the city.

"I will have to tell Nat, I suppose," she was thinking, as she finally
picked up the little shopping bag and was ready to start off with Dorothy.
"I'll tell him to-night--but I do hate to. I wish Doro would not be so
over-generous," and she crushed the money in the leather case and put it
securely within the satchel.

"Come, Tavia, we will surely miss that train if you do not make haste,"
declared Dorothy for she could not understand why Tavia should not be more
alert and more interested.

"I forgot my muff," pleaded Tavia, "and had to go back for it. I suppose I
would forget my head, as mother says, if it were not tied on."

Dorothy smiled and hurried on, with Tavia following.

Surely Christmas shopping was something any girl should love, Dorothy
thought, as she wondered why Tavia appeared so indifferent.

Meanwhile, Tavia was struggling with her conscience. She had accepted
Dorothy's money reluctantly, it might have been, but at the same time she
had taken it. And she told Dorothy her own money was spent for--

Tavia jerked her fox fur boa impatiently. How complicated the whole thing
was getting! What difference did it make to Dorothy for what the five
dollars had been expended? It was Tavia's own money. Her mother--

"Dear me!" sighed the girl secretly. "That makes it so much worse! Mother
did try so hard to save that money for me so that I might not always have
to depend upon the goodness of Dorothy and her folks."

"There's the train," called Dorothy, who was somewhat in advance of Tavia.
"We will have to run! Look out for your purse!"

The mere mention of purse or money brought the hot blood to Tavia's cheeks
again.

"I'll just tell her the whole thing when we get on the train," she
promised herself. "If there is one thing I simply cannot stand it is a
secret that threatens to pop out every time one