as they rode up the avenue at Randolph Place, in the light of
the setting sun. "I shall never forget it as long as I live, and I shall
have so much to write home in my next letter, that I believe it will
fill a volume."

CHAPTER XIX

A VIRGINIA CHRISTMAS

"Randolph Place,
"December 26th.

"DARLING AUNT JESSIE:

"Christmas is over, and it really wasn't half as
bad as I thought it was going to be. But before I
begin writing about anything else, I must tell you
how happy I was to get all your dear home letters.
Uncle Henry was so kind about forwarding them as
soon as they reached New York, and I had them all
on Christmas Eve. Aunt Julia wrote me the box has
come, too, but she will have to keep that until I
get back the end of next week. How I shall adore
every single thing in it!

"I sent mother a few lines the morning I got here,
but that was before I had found out how beautiful
it all is. It is just like the Southern
plantations one reads about in stories, and
everything is very interesting. There is even a
dear old black mammy, who lives in a cabin, and
has asked Beverly and me to come and have waffles
some afternoon. All the servants are black, and
the butler has lived in the family nearly forty
years. Then the neighbors are just the kind one
reads of, so kind and hospitable, and always
having good times. I think I like Southerners
better than New Yorkers; they make me feel much
more at home. I have met a good many of them, for
we went to a Christmas dance at the Pattersons',
on Christmas Eve, and I had a perfectly gorgeous
time. The Pattersons are cousins of the
Randolphs', and Grace, the girl, is just my age,
and awfully nice; but then everybody here is nice,
and I am having the very best time that it is
possible for a girl to have.

"The riding is the greatest pleasure of all.
Beverly and I have been out for a ride every day,
and he enjoys it almost as much as I do. They have
given me the dearest little chestnut to ride, and
it is a great honor, beca