found her, an hour later, sitting in a
heap on the side of her bed.

"Don't mind, dear," she said gently. "I knew Babe had been saying
something hateful; but it's only her way. Mrs. Farrington wants you to
have a good time, and I'm so glad you are going. Three weeks in New York
will be good for you, and you will see ever so much. Just think how
lonely we are going to be without you and Archie!" Her voice broke a
little.

Theodora kissed her impulsively.

"Truly, are you going to miss me so much, Hope? I'll stay at home, if
you will. I really shouldn't mind."

"Of course we shall miss you, Ted, you and Archie both. Hu and I are
going to be forlorn and dull enough; but that's no reason you are to
stay here, and lose such a chance. Archie has asked me to write to him,"
she added a little inconsequently.

Not even Phebe's cutting remarks could blunt the edge of Theodora's
happiness, three days later, as she went gliding into the vast babel of
the Grand Central Station. It had been her first real journey; it was
her first sight of New York, that Mecca of all true and loyal Americans,
and she gave a little gasp of sheer delight while she followed Mrs.
Farrington from the car and turned to wait for Patrick and Billy. She
watched it all with open-eyed content, the uniformed porters, the throng
of hungry-looking cabmen, the comfortable carriage, and the broad,
crowded streets through which they drove to reach the hotel. The hotel
itself completed her satisfaction. Mrs. Farrington liked luxury, both
for herself and for the sake of her invalid son, and Theodora could not
wonder enough at the greatness and glitter of it all, the halls and
parlors, the huge dining-room and their own cosy suite of rooms near by.
Strange to say, after the first night, she was quite at her ease, and
settled into her luxurious surroundings with an apparent unconsciousness
which was as gratifying to Mrs. Farrington as it was amusing.

It was all old ground to Mrs. Farrington and Billy; but they enjoyed
exploring the city with their eager young guest, who revelled in it with
all the enthusiasm of her years. Wherever a carriage could go, wherever
the faithful Patrick could help his young master, there they went, until
Theodora, with the aid of her well-studied map, knew the city from the
Battery to the fastnesses of Harlem. It seemed to the young girl that
the ordinary laws of time and space had been suspended, and that she was
living in a gilded f