n to
quarrel, and I suppose there will be nothing but trouble and
unpleasantness all winter."

"She was so sweet and unselfish about it!" How those words hurt
Marjorie, and all the time she had been thinking that Elsie had looked
forward to meeting her almost, if not quite as much, as she had looked
forward to knowing the cousin who was "the next best thing to a sister."
It was only by a mighty effort that she managed to choke back the flood
of scalding tears, which threatened to overwhelm her.

"I'm very sorry, Aunt Julia," she said tremulously; "I didn't mean to
quarrel with Elsie. If she had told you what it was about perhaps you
would have understood."

"Well, she wouldn't tell," said Mrs. Carleton, crossly, "so there is no
use in talking about that. All I want to say to you is that I am very
much annoyed, and sincerely hope nothing so unpleasant will happen
again. Elsie has gone to dancing-school, and Hortense has gone with her,
as my head was so bad. Now I am going back to my room to lie down for a
while; perhaps I may be better by luncheon time."

That was the most unhappy day Marjorie had ever spent in her life. It
seemed to her as if the morning would never end, and when her aunt
appeared at luncheon she still wore an air of injured dignity, and
entertained Marjorie during the meal, with a long account of Elsie's
many accomplishments, a subject of which her niece was becoming heartily
tired, although she would scarcely have admitted the fact even to
herself. Soon after luncheon Mr. Carleton telephoned to say that he
would come uptown in time to drive with his wife, and Aunt Julia
proposed that Marjorie should go for a walk with Hortense. The girl's
own head was aching by this time, and she was glad of a brisk walk in
the keen, frosty air, but she was so unusually silent and preoccupied,
that the maid asked her anxiously if she "had the homesickness."

"Yes," said Marjorie, with a catch in her voice, "I've got it badly
to-day."

"Ah, I understand," murmured Hortense, softly, "Mademoiselle is like
me--I, too, often have the homesickness."

Elsie did not reach home till after five, as Carol's mother had taken
the two girls to the theater, and even then she took no notice of
Marjorie, but went at once to her mother's room, where Marjorie heard
her giving a long and animated account of the play she had seen.

"By the way," remarked Mr. Carleton at dinner that evening, "I forgot to
ask about the Club--how d