"For he is lying in wait
for you with such a box of lunch as never went out of this establishment
before. He asked Madam's permission to put it up for you himself. He
told her about your binding up his hands the day the chafing-dish turned
over and burned him so badly, and about the letter you wrote for one of
the maids that got her sister into a school for the blind, and several
other things, winding up with 'There's a young lady with a _'eart_ in
'er, Ma'am!'"

Betty mimicked his accent so well that Mary laughed for the first time
since her return. "Well, he's got a 'eart in _'im_!" she answered,
"though I never would have imagined it the day I made my entrance here.
He was like a grand, graven image. Oh, Betty, it _is_ nice to know that
people like you and are sorry that you are going. Even if it does make
you feel sort of weepy it takes a big part of the sting out of leaving."

Betty went with her in to Washington, and stayed with her until the
train left. Hawkins was the only one they encountered on their way out,
and Mary took the proffered lunch-box with a smile that was very close
to tears. Her voice faltered over her words of thanks, and when she had
been handed into the 'bus she dared not trust herself to look back at
the faithful old servitor in the doorway. Once, just as they swung
around the curve that hid the beautiful grounds from sight, she leaned
out for one more look, then hastily pulled down her veil.

At the station, as they sat waiting for her train, Betty said, "I'll
write every week and tell you all the news, but don't feel that you must
answer regularly. I know how your time will be occupied. But I should
like a postal now and then, telling me how Jack is. You know," she went
on, stooping to retie her shoe, "he and I have been corresponding for
some time, and I think of him as one of my oldest and best friends. I
shall always be anxious for news of him."

Betty could fairly feel the surprise in Mary's face, even though she was
stooping forward too far to see it, and she heard with inward amusement
her astonished exclamations. "Well, of all things! I didn't know you
were writing to each other! Jack never said a word about it, and yet he
sent you a message nearly every time he wrote to me!"

She was still puzzling about it when her train was called, and she had
to take leave of Betty. All too soon the last familiar face was out of
sight, and the long, lonely journey home was begun.

It was n