But Hertha, who gave her affection to few and who, finding it
hard to give, found it equally difficult to take away, had sought her
old friend more than once, ignoring Kathleen's refusal to cross the
river. It was some weeks now since they had had a chat together, and as
she stood outside the door the young girl found her heart beat fast in
hope of a cordial welcome and perhaps a dinner at the little table with
Billy sitting between them. If Kathleen would only invite her to dinner,
she would help to get it.

The lower hall door had been open and she had no intimation as to
whether or not Kathleen was home. Her knock brought no response.
Thinking that her friend might return shortly, she sat on the stairs and
waited until one o'clock had passed and she felt sure that Kathleen was
out at work or dining elsewhere. She was miserably disappointed and
wished that at least she had her old key and might enter and look in at
the rooms. Probably the flowers were wilting, needing, like herself, a
friend. With a white face and drooping mouth she turned downstairs.

An ice cream soda at a drug store is not a sufficient Sunday dinner and
it was with a feeling of faintness, a desire to eat her meal alone and
sulk if she wished, that Hertha sat down at the supper table.

"Hallo," Dick called out from his seat as she slipped into hers, "where
did you get your Sunday dinner?"

"In New York," was the answer.

"You missed a peach at home. A fried chicken peach with corn fritters. I
can taste it now!" And Dick ostentatiously smacked his lips. "What did
you have?" he asked.

"Nothing especial."

"Well, you missed it."

"I suppose I did," said Hertha, with more than a touch of crossness,
"but that doesn't prevent my eating my supper."

"Indeed you are not seeing that any of us are helped," Mrs. Pickens
cried, calling Dick's attention to his duties at the head of the table,
and Hertha soon found herself making the best of the left-overs of the
previous meal.

No one seemed in good spirits. Mrs. Wood told them all a half dozen
times that her head ached, and her daughter showed on her face that she
had heard the same tale at regular and irregular intervals during the
day. She looked more than ever as though she wished she were a man, a
desire that was rarely absent from her thoughts. "A man," she was wont
to say, "is not expected to earn the family income and also be a
companion and nurse, and if by any chance he did take all three