school, having a secret hope that she might persuade her mother to ask
her friend home with her, but May Spencer had already given an
invitation which Miss Kaye had allowed Mercy to accept.

Linda's parents drove over to fetch her, so Sylvia had the pleasure of
making their acquaintance. There was not time to do much more than
shake hands, still it was nice to see the father and mother of whom
Linda had spoken so often, and hear them express a wish that she
should some day pay a visit to Craigwen.

Sylvia was to travel with Miss Coleman, who would pass through Crewe,
where Mrs. Lindsay had arranged to meet her, and she had the four
Camdens and Sadie and Elsie Thompson as companions for part of the
way. The Camdens were welcomed at a wayside station by a jolly crew of
brothers, who appeared to have reached home first, and the Thompsons
were handed over at Chester to a gloomy-faced aunt, who did not look
particularly pleased to receive them, and remarked at once how fast
they had worn out their clothes.

"I wish I could have taken them home with me, poor little dears," said
Miss Coleman afterwards in the train, "but my sister is ill, and
could not do with any noise. Perhaps their aunt may brighten up more
at Christmas, and remember that she too was once a child, and then we
must see what can be managed for them at Easter."

At last came the longed-for arrival at Crewe, the anxious search among
the crowd in the station, and the joyful sight of not only Sylvia's
mother but her father also, hurrying along the platform. She hugged
them both as if she had not seen them for years instead of eleven
weeks.

"My precious child," exclaimed Mrs. Lindsay, "I declare you have
grown, and are ever so much fatter, and you've quite a colour too!"

"School evidently agrees with you, Sylvia," said her father. "It's a
good thing you went, isn't it?"

"It was quite different from what I thought it would be," Sylvia
confided to her mother when they sat in the drawing-room together for
a long talk after tea. "Miss Kaye isn't cross, she's lovely and kind;
and even Miss Arkwright isn't bad, and I like Marian better than I
did, and I just love Linda and Mercy. I tried to explain about Mercy
in my letters, but I'm afraid you didn't exactly understand, so I'll
have to tell it you over again. And Marian and I were both bracketed
together top, and Miss Arkwright said we must be friends and not
rivals, and I quite forgot the middle of "John G