rs who were sure to be of her stamp.

"No," Flossy said, "I did not know what you had decided upon; I said it
was possible that you might want to go, but some one joined us just then
and the conversation changed: I did not think of it again."

"I am glad you didn't," Ruth said, emphatically. "I don't want her
society. I won't go in the morning if I am to be bored with that party;
I would rather wait a week."

"They are going in the morning train," Eurie said; "I heard that tall
man who sometimes leads the singing say so. He said there was quite a
little party to go, among them a party from Clyde, who were _en route_
for Saratoga. That is them, you know; nearly all of them are from Clyde.
'Oh, yes,' the other man said; 'we must expect that. Of course there is
a froth to all these things that must evaporate toward Saratoga, or some
other resort. There is a class of mind that Chautauqua is too much for.'
Think of that, Ruthie, to be considered nothing but froth that is to
evaporate!"

"Nonsense!" Ruth said, sharply. She seemed to consider that an
unanswerable argument, and in a sense it is. Nevertheless Eurie's words
had their effect; she began to wish that letter unwritten, and to wish
that she had not said so much about Saratoga, and to wish that there was
some quiet way of changing her plans.

In fact, an utter distaste for Saratoga seemed suddenly to have come
upon her. Conversation palled after this; Marion came in, and the four
made ready for the night in almost absolute silence. The next thing that
occurred was sufficiently startling in its nature to arouse them all. It
was one of those sudden, careless movements that this life of ours is
full of, taking only a moment of time, and involving consequences that
reached away beyond time, and death, and resurrection.

"Eurie," Ruth had said, "where is your head ache bottle that you boast
so much of? I believe I am going to have a sick headache."

"In my satchel," Eurie answered, sleepily. She was already in bed.
"There is a spoon on that box in the corner; take a tea-spoonful."
Another minute of silence, then Eurie suddenly raised her head from the
pillow and looked about her wildly. The dim light of the lamp showed
Ruth, slowly pulling the pins from her hair.

"Did you take it?" she asked, and her voice was full of eager, intense
fright. "Ruth, you didn't _take_ it!"

"Yes, I did, of course. What is the matter with you?"

"It was the wrong bottle. It was the