to meet you!" she cried. "I wish that I had known that
you girls were here yesterday before papa left. He is Major Melville,
and he was such a friend of your father's. He was on that long Indian
campaign with him in Arizona, and I've heard him talk of him by the
hour. And last week"--here she lowered her voice so that only Allison
and Kitty heard, and were thrilled by the sweet seriousness of it. "Last
week he took me out to Arlington to carry a great wreath of laurel. When
he'd laid it on the grave, he stood there with bared head, looking all
around, and I heard him say, in a whisper, 'No one in all Arlington has
won his laurels more bravely than you, my captain.' You see it was as a
captain that papa knew him best. He would have been so pleased to have
seen you girls."

Kitty squeezed the hand that still held hers and answered, warmly: "Oh,
you dear, I hope we'll be as good friends as our fathers were!" And
Allison answered, winking back the tears that had sprung to her eyes:
"Thank you for telling us about the laurel. Mother will appreciate it so
much."

While this conversation was going on at Lloyd's elbow, Betty came up to
her on the other side. "Please see if my dress is all right in the
back," she whispered. "It feels as if it were unfastened." Then, as
Lloyd assured her it was properly buttoned, she added, in an undertone:
"Have you met Maud Minor? She's one of the new girls."

Lloyd shook her head.

"Then I'm going to introduce you as soon as I can. She knows Malcolm
MacIntyre."

"Knows Malcolm!" exclaimed Lloyd, in amazement. "Where on earth did she
ever meet him?"

"At the seashore last summer. She can't talk about anything else. She
thinks he is so handsome and has such beautiful manners and is so
adorably romantic. Those are her very words. She has his picture.
Evidently he has talked to her about you, for she's so curious to know
you. She asked a string of questions that I thought were almost
impertinent."

"Where is she?" asked Lloyd.

"There, that girl in white crossing the room with the fat one in
lavender."

Lloyd gave a long, critical look, and then said, slowly: "She's the
prettiest girl in the room, and she makes me think of something I've
read, but I can't recall it."

"I know," said Betty, "but you'll laugh at me if I say Tennyson again.
It's from 'Maud'--

"'I kissed her slender hand.
She took the kiss sedately.
Maud is not seventeen,