nd the train started when I was sitting
inside, and--here I am!"

Sylvia laughed softly, it was such an age since she had laughed, and it
was such a happy, contented little sound that she was quite startled
thereat. The custom-house officials were going through the farce of
examining the luggage, and while the rest of the passengers groaned and
lamented at the delay, Jack and his companion stood together in the
background, blissfully unconscious of time and damp.

"Are you glad to see me, Sylvia?" he asked, for the joy of hearing her
say in words what voice and eyes had already proclaimed; and she waved
her hand round the bleak landscape, and said tersely--

"Look! It felt like that; black and empty, and heart-breaking, and all
the others seemed to have friends--everyone but me. I think I was never
so glad before. I shall bless you for coming all my life!"

Jack laughed softly, and pressed her hand against his arm. "Poor little
girl! I knew just how you would be feeling; that's why I came.
Wouldn't you have come to meet me, if you had been the man and I the
girl?"

"Yes, to the ends of the earth!" Sylvia replied, but not with her lips,
for there are some things which a self-respecting girl may not say,
however much she may feel them. Instead she murmured a few non-
committal phrases, and gave the conversation a less personal tone, by
inquiring after the various friends at home--Miss Munns, Bridgie, Pixie
and the boys, and Jack answered in his usual breezy fashion, relating
little incidents which made Sylvia smile with the old happy sense of
friendship, repeating loving speeches, which brought the grateful tears
to her eyes. The world was not empty after all, while she possessed
such faithful, loving friends.

When the luggage had passed the inspection of the custom-house and
received the magic mark in chalk, Jack led the way down the platform,
before which the train was already drawn up, and passed by one carriage
after another, until at last an empty compartment was discovered, of
which he immediately took possession.

"Now we can talk!" he said, and sat himself down opposite Sylvia,
looking at her with compassionate eyes.

"I have gone through it myself," he said. "Tell me all you can."

And as the train steamed onward, Sylvia told the story of the past
weeks, told it quietly, and without breakdown, though the dark eyes grew
moist, and tears trembled on the lashes which looked so long and black
ag