d and
thirsted after her.

At last she had a happy thought; she decided that she would read
Italian, read Dante. Miss Arundel had taught her Italian, and she would
write to Miss Arundel, and ask her to recommend a good translation. She
remembered that Miss Arundel and Mrs. Marston had occasionally had
favourite old pupils to stay with them. She imagined how one letter
might lead to another, and how at last Miss Arundel might invite her to
stay too. She wrote her letter with great care and great delight,
constantly changing her words, for none seemed good enough for Miss
Arundel, and making a fair copy, as if it were an exercise to be sent up
for correction.

Miss Arundel received the letter, read it through, came to the
signature, and could not for the life of her remember who Henrietta
Symons was. So many girls had passed through her hands, and she lived in
the present rather than the past. A teacher was ill, she was very busy,
the letter slipped her memory. One evening it came into her head, and
she asked her sister, "By the by, who was Henrietta Symons?"

"I recollect the name perfectly," said Mrs. Marston. "Let me see; yes,
now I know. There were three of them, one was Minnie, I believe, and I
think Etta had a bad headache at the picnic. It was a blazing day that
year, the hottest I ever remember, and I had to come back early with
her."

"Of course; I remember now," said Miss Arundel. "A girl with very marked
eyebrows." And she wrote back a postcard, "Tr. of D.'s D. C. Carey, 2
vols., Ward and Linsell. M. Arundel."

The postcard made Henrietta inclined to back out of Dante. But by this
time she had arranged to read with a neighbour, Carrie Bostock, so she
had to make a start. They did start, but as they neither understood the
Italian, nor the translation, nor the notes, they found continual
excuses for not reading, till Carrie boldly suggested "I Promessi
Sposi," which went much better. They did not read for long, however, for
Carrie became engaged, it seemed to Henrietta that everybody she knew
was becoming engaged, and Carrie considered her engagement an occupation
which gave her no time for anything else, certainly no time for Italian.

Henrietta found she did not read by herself. The two years away from
school made it difficult to start. Perhaps it may seem strange that a
girl who had been so eager at school, should not care to work by herself
at home. But when there are no competitors and no Miss Arundel