The girls were eagerly awaiting her return, and when she displayed her roll of bills and informed them that she had brought them ninety-one dollars and twenty-five cents, they could scarcely believe her. Honor looked grave over the account of the young man’s generosity, as Victoria had supposed that she would, and she also expressed the hope that they might never see him again. “It would be simply unendurable to feel that we were under obligations to him,” said she; “but it isn’t at all likely that we shall ever meet him. We don’t see many people but those who live in Fordham, and if he lived anywhere in this neighborhood, you would have known him by sight. You are sure you never saw him before, Vic?” “Perfectly sure. He was probably some Boston swell, but he was an awfully nice one, and if it were not for that ten dollars, I should really like to know him.” “You may as well say if it were not for that whole ninety-one dollars and twenty-five cents,” said Honor. “I am glad enough to get the money, but I can’t bear to think of your having to go to those shops by yourself and sell things. I ought to have gone with you, Vic. Indeed, I ought! It was very cowardly and selfish for me to let you go alone—a young thing like you. Some one might have been impertinent to you, and then I should never have forgiven myself.” “Oh, nonsense, Honor!” laughed her young sister. “You are not so very much older yourself, and I went to such respectable places that of course no one would be impertinent. And, besides, I wanted to surprise you about the gold. I wanted to go alone.” But Honor shook her head. She knew that she had been remiss, and that her father would not have approved of Victoria’s solitary expedition. If the young man whom she had met was truly a gentleman, as Vic declared that he was, what could he have thought of such a proceeding? He certainly must suppose that her relatives were very careless and very peculiar people, to say the least, and Honor hoped with all her heart that he would never cross her path again. But it was a great source of comfort to feel that their bills could now be paid; and the girls went to bed that night feeling comparatively happy, for the consciousness of their debts had weighed upon them all. Katherine—though she would not acknowledge it—had felt particularly uncomfortable, for the unused typewriter continued to stare her in the face. Now she felt quite relieved about it, and she had serious thoughts of running into Boston Monday afternoon to buy Christmas presents for the family. It would be such a surprise to them, and she should of course use her own money. Within half an hour she had fully made up her mind to do this, and was already planning what she should bestow upon each one, when a remark of Honor’s warned her that it would be wiser not to carry out her intentions.