d at dinner they tried to
cheer her up by being very cheerful themselves; but the effort proved a
vain one. After a rather depressing meal, Eva got up and went to bed, as
she said; at all events, she retired to her room. Vava went off to do
her lessons with Doreen, and Amy and Stella were left together.

'Stella, what are we to do? We can't let her go on like this!' cried
Amy.

'I don't see what we are to do. Of course it is easy to see that
something is upsetting her, and I suppose it is the payment for that
furniture; but I do not think she is in the mood to be spoken to about
it. We must just wait until she says something herself, and be as nice
to her as we can meanwhile,' was Stella's advice.

'I am so afraid she will get into more and more trouble; this friend,
whoever she is, with whom she lunched to-day has not a good influence
upon her. I always notice that she propounds some of her reckless ideas
after she has been with her, and I have no doubt it was she who
persuaded her to buy that wretched furniture, which is far too large for
her room,' said Amy.

'She must buy her own experience, as nursie says; and, by the way, she
told me the other day not to worry about Eva, as she would come all
right, for her heart was in the right place,' said Stella.

'One consolation is that she is going to her old home for Easter, and I
am hoping that seeing her old friends will bring her back to what she
was when she came up to town. I am going there too. I know most of her
friends, and I am sure they will do her good,' said Amy.

The object of all this solicitude had gone to bed, and was lying there
reading a book she did not wish them to see downstairs, which engrossed
her so much that she fell asleep over it and left her gas burning all
night!

CHAPTER XXII.

DANTE'S IDYLL.

'We shall just have a quiet Easter here with nursie, Vava; you won't
mind not having sea-breezes now that you have her, will you?' Stella
inquired of her sister a week before the Easter holidays began.

They were sitting in the Enterprise Club waiting for Amy, who now had
frequently to go home alone, as Eva was often very late, and had told
her friend not to wait for her. So, as it only meant getting home
half-an-hour later, the sisters had promised to wait for Amy to-day.

All round them were girls talking of their Easter holidays, and every
one was going away somewhere, either to the sea or to the country, or to
their respective h