her page, and she
had been careful in dividing her words, so when Aunt Emma had looked it
all over very carefully, she could say that it was just as nice as Ruby
could possibly have written.

Then Ruby folded it and put it into one of her new envelopes; and then
came the most exciting part of all. Ruby had never been very fond of
letter-writing before, but she thought she would be perfectly willing
to write a letter every day, if she might always seal them up with wax.

She put the little pond-lily candlestick out upon the table, on a
folded piece of paper, which Aunt Emma told her she had better put
under it lest the melted wax should drop upon the table-cloth, and then
she took out her little box of colored tapers, and tried to decide
which one she should use first.

She decided upon the pink one, because that matched the color of the
paper she had been using; and so she took out a pink taper, and set it
in the candlestick. It fitted very snugly, so there was no danger of
its falling out.

Aunt Emma showed her how to open the little silver match-box that Ruby
had not discovered before in the outfit, and she lighted the taper, and
then held a stick of green sealing-wax in the flame.

When the end had grown quite soft in the heat, Ruby watched it
carefully, and let the big drop at the end fall just at the right time,
and in just the right place upon her envelope. Then she pressed the
seal down upon it, and you can guess how proud she was when she saw her
initial in the wax.

"Won't mamma be surprised when she gets this letter?" she asked
gleefully. "She will wonder where I got the wax, and I am sure she
will hardly believe that I made such a nice seal the very first time I
ever used it."

[Transcriber's note: page 145 missing from book]

[Transcriber's note: page 146 missing from book]

her, which made a very great difference; and then she was very much
interested in listening to the talk of the girls who had been there
before, as they crowded about Aunt Emma and told her of what they had
been doing during their vacation.

Maude was not at all pleased when she found that no one paid any
particular attention to her, and she sat by herself with a very
discontented look upon her face.

One of the girls came up to her after a time, and asked her if she
would like to take part in a game, but Maude refused, sullenly, and
after that no one else spoke to her.

"I shall go home just as soon as mamma can come