uld ever be
wakened by the blossoms and bird-calls of the dear old garden.

She sat up and looked around the room from one familiar object to
another, oppressed and miserable at the thought that she would never see
them again. Then her glance rested on Lloyd's picture, and for once the
make-believe companionship of Lloyd's shadow-self brought a comfort as
deep as if her real self had spoken. She held out her arms to it,
whispering brokenly:

"Oh, _you_ understand how hard it is, don't you, dear? You're the only
one in the world who does, because you had to give up all this, too."

Gazing at the pictured face through her tears, she recalled how Lloyd
had met _her_ disappointment, trying to live each day so unselfishly
that she could go on, stringing the little pearls on her rosary.

"If you could do it, I can too," she said presently. "And the best of
having such a chum is I needn't leave you behind when I leave school.
You are one thing that I don't have to give up."

That picture was the last thing she put into her trunk. She left it
hanging on the wall while she did all the rest of her packing, that she
might glance at it now and then. It helped wonderfully to remember that
Lloyd had had the same experience. Madam Chartley came in while she was
in the midst of her preparations for leaving, glad to find her making
them with her usual energy and interest When in answer to her offers of
assistance Mary assured her there was nothing any one could do, she
said, "I'll not stay then, except to say one thing that I may not have
opportunity for later." She paused and laid her hands on Mary's
shoulders, looking down at her searchingly and kindly.

"I want you to know this--that I have never had a pupil whom I parted
from as reluctantly as I shall part from you. Your enthusiasm and love
of school have been a joy to your teachers and an inspiration to every
girl in Warwick Hall. If it were merely a matter of expense I would not
let you go, but under the circumstances I have no right to interfere.
You ought to go. And my dear little girl, remember this, whenever
regrets come up for the school days brought so suddenly to a close, that
school is only to prepare us to meet the tests of life, and already you
have met one of its greatest--'_To renounce when that shall be
necessary, and not be embittered_!' And you are doing that so bravely
that I want you to know how much I admire and love you for it."

To Madam's surprise the w