rt warmed towards her more and
more. The next half-hour slipped away very pleasantly. Mrs. Randolph was
one of those rare people who have the power of drawing others out, and
Marjorie chatted away to her of school and school-friends, and all the
little unimportant happenings of her New York life, with almost as much
freedom as she would have talked to her mother or aunt. Then Mrs.
Randolph asked her if she liked reading aloud, and when Marjorie
assured her that she had read a great deal to Aunt Jessie, she explained
that, owing to a cold in her eyes, she had not been able to read herself
for several days. Marjorie was delighted to be of real use, and they
were soon deep in an interesting story. Marjorie read aloud very well,
and it was an accomplishment of which she was rather proud.

At five o'clock Beverly, who had gone to his room to "cram," as he
expressed it, returned, and his mother rang the bell for tea.

"Marjorie and I have had a delightful afternoon," she said; "she seems
to be almost as fond of reading aloud as I am of listening. I am going
to be very selfish and ask her to come again to-morrow, provided she can
spare the time. The doctor doesn't want me to use my eyes much for
several days."

"I shall just love to come," declared Marjorie eagerly, "and I can
easily manage it. My lessons aren't very hard, and I always have a good
deal of time to myself every day."

"Don't you and your cousin ever go off together in the afternoons?"
Beverly inquired bluntly.

Marjorie blushed.

"Not very often," she admitted reluctantly. "You see, Elsie has so many
more friends than I have, and they are always doing things together. I
like the girls at school ever so much, and they are all very nice and
kind to me, but of course they don't know me very well yet."

"How did the last meeting of the Club come off?" Beverly asked. "I was
sorry I couldn't go, but I had another engagement."

Marjorie was conscious of a sensation of embarrassment at this mention
of the Club, for she had not forgotten the secret that she and Beverly
shared together, but she tried to answer quite naturally.

"Oh, it was very pleasant. The girls have decided to sew for the little
blind children at the 'Home For Blind Babies.' We sewed for three
quarters of an hour, and then Carol said we might as well stop, and
begin to get ready for the boys. They weren't invited till nine, but
some of the girls seemed to think it would take some time to get