The tears were in her eyes when she laid down the three letters, after twice reading the one signed, "For ever your devoted old chum, Kell." It had been full of the good times she was having at home.
Eugenia looked around the elegantly furnished room with a discontented sigh.

No girl in the school had as much spending money as herself, or as wealthy and as indulgent a father, and yet--just at that moment--she felt herself the poorest child in New York.

There was one thing she lacked that even the poorest beggar had, she thought bitterly,--companionship.

In a listless sort of way she picked up the remaining letter, postmarked Lloydsboro Valley, and began to read it.
Eliot, who was busy in the adjoining room, heard an excited exclamation, and then the call, "Oh, Eliot, Eliot! Come here, quick!" She was stooping over the bed inspecting some clean clothes that had been sent in from the laundry.

Before she could straighten herself up to answer the call, her elbows were seized from behind, and Eugenia began waltzing her around backwards at a rate that made her head spin.
"Dance! You giddy old thing!" cried Eugenia.