out walking and teaches us composition, is such a
ridiculously strict old maid--you would laugh at her. And the
Sundays are terrible. Miss Turner makes us read the Bible for a
whole hour in the afternoon, and reads to us in the evening. And
Uncle Tom was right when he said we should have nothing but jam and
bread and butter for supper: oh, yes, and cold meat. I am always
ravenously hungry. I count the days until Christmas, when I shall
have some really good things to eat again. And of course I cannot
wait to see you all.

"I do not mean to give you the impression that I am not happy here,
and I never can be thankful enough to dear Cousin Eleanor for
sending me. Some of the girls are most attractive. Among others,
I have become great friends with Ethel Wing, who is tall and blond
and good-looking; and her clothes, though simple, are beautiful.
To hear her imitate Miss Turner or Miss Hood or Dr. Moale is almost
as much fun as going to the theatre. You must have heard of her
father--he is the Mr. Wing who owns all the railroads and other
things, and they have a house in Newport and another in New York,
and a country place and a yacht.

"I like Sarah Wycliffe very much. She was brought up abroad, and we
lead the French class together. Her father has a house in Paris,
which they only use for a month or so in the year: an hotel, as the
French call it. And then there is Maude Capron, from Philadelphia,
whose father is Secretary of War. I have now to go to my class in
English composition, but I will write to you again on Saturday.

"Your loving niece,

"HONORA."

The Christmas holidays came, and went by like mileposts from the window
of an express train. There was a Glee Club: there were dances, and
private theatricals in Mrs. Dwyer's new house, in which it was imperative
that Honora should take part. There was no such thing as getting up for
breakfast, and once she did not see Uncle Tom for two whole days. He
asked her where she was staying. It was the first Christmas she
remembered spending without Peter. His present appeared, but perhaps it
was fortunate, on the whole, that he was in Texas, trying a case. It
seemed almost no time at all before she was at the station again,
clinging to Aunt Mary: but now the separation was not so hard, and she
had Edith and Mary for company, and George, a dignified and