Patricia watched her making her sociable way out of the room, and she
decided that she liked her.

"I wonder why I never met her before?" she thought, and then realized
how completely Rosamond had blocked her view of all the other girls. "I
guess I'll not be half so lonely as I thought. They all seem so kind."

She felt still better content when, as the twilight gathered and Doris
came to make one of their group, one of the girls went to the big piano
and illustrated her idea of the Swan Song in Lohengrin, striking
passionate chords with her finger-tips and throwing her full-toned
contralto into the dimness with an effect that was thrilling to
Patricia.

Then another girl pushed her from the seat and, interrupting herself
from time to time with explanations of the method, sang part of the
scene where Louise leaves her home.

The magic of the dim hour was on them and they gave themselves to the
music entire. The great winged Victory above the bookshelf showed back
of the singer's dark head. The real everyday world dropped away and a
more real and vital world took its place. One after another, the music
students took their place eagerly on the seat, and sang or played the
melody that was surging within them, to which the magic moment had
given utterance.

Patricia never knew how it ended or if it were herself that was back in
the everyday world of the cafe, eating dinner with Rosamond as usual, or
whether she was still in that twilit world of melody listening to the
voices, until Rosamond said rather sharply for her:

"Are you ill, Miss Pat, that you look so strange?"

Then Patricia drew herself together and managed to appear as normal as
she could, but her one desire was to get away by herself to gloat over
the riches that had been flung in her lap.

"I'd never, never known how splendid it was if I hadn't left Rosamond,"
she marveled. "Oh, how much I've been missing all this time!"

She was so taken out of herself by the beautiful experience that she
hurried to her room and sat down to write a note to Elinor, begging her
to forgive her silly conduct and her rank ingratitude for all their
care. She made it as strong as that, and when she had sealed it she
went down and put it in the mail-box herself, so eager was she that it
should speed on its way.

She went to her room with a lighter heart and the day ended triumphantly
with her. She counted the good things that had come to her on her
fingers. First, she