st have seen the
adoration in my poor little embarrassed face, for I went quite red I am
sure. I could fairly feel the hot blood surge over me. She said
something pleasant to cover my confusion, and then swept her skirts
aside for me to share her seat. She wanted to ask some questions about
the customs of the school, she said.

"That was the beginning of our acquaintance. Next day she waved her
handkerchief over the hedge to me, and the next called me over for a
little chat. She was lonely in the great garden. After awhile I plucked
up courage to tell her how I had watched her through the hedge, and
dreamed about meeting her. I could not put it into words, but she could
readily see that the good Victoria and the queen of the May were not the
sovereigns who claimed my dearest allegiance. It was the 'Queen Rose of
the rosebud garden of girls,' the beautiful Alicia Raeburn.

"She went away that summer, but we had grown to be such friends that she
promised to write to me once a year, in order that I might not lose her
entirely out of my life. She knew what a lonely little orphan I was, and
she never denied me the joy of that yearly letter. They were full of her
travels and the interesting experiences of her life, for she married a
young English officer and went to India.

"They came back to England once. I saw her then. It was at a great ball
given for the Prince of Wales when he honoured the little cathedral town
with a visit. She could hardly believe that I was the little schoolgirl
who had eyed her so adoringly through the hedge. I had grown so large.
But she found from others what a lonely life I had, and, knowing how
much her friendship meant, she still gave me the pleasure of that yearly
letter, written on the queen's birthday. That she should remember
through all her busy years shows one of the finest traits of her
character.

"Once she was too ill to write, but the message came just the same. She
sent this spoon with the May-pole handle, and on her card was scrawled
the one line, 'I keep the tryst.' She had told me the story of their
family crest. You don't know how many times in the next few years the
sight of that card and the souvenir spoon helped me. Her fidelity to a
promise made me rely on her and her friendship when all others failed
me. My guardian died and left my property in such shape that I found I
would have to support myself, and I began to take training for a
professional nurse. When she heard of