“Where do you suppose Vic can be?” Honor was saying. “I really feel quite anxious about her. Vic, are you here?” she called, coming into the house. “Why, child, what happened to you? Here she is, Katherine, working on the typewriter. What made you run away, Vic?” “Shy,” replied Victoria, as she slowly fingered the keys. “Nonsense!” said Katherine. “It was something else, Vic. You never were shy in your life.” “Frightened, then,” said Victoria. “Frightened? What at?” “Miss Madison’s big brother.” Which was certainly the truth. “Vic, how absurd!” cried Katherine. “He is just as nice as he can be. Wasn’t it too ridiculous that we should have supposed that he was a small boy of Peter’s age? We had a great laugh over it, and I was really glad that we had made the mistake, for it was such a joke it quite broke the ice. I feel as if I had known them both for years, don’t you, Honor?” “Yes, they are very nice, both of them,” replied her sister, “and I am very glad, girls, that you made me go there to call. After all, it would have been silly to hold aloof from them just because we are poor. I don’t think they are at all the kind to look down on us because we are—” “Of course not,” said Katherine with some impatience. “They are true gentle-people, and not in the least snobbish. The mother is lovely, Vic.” “Is she?” Victoria bent over her machine, examining the result of her labor. She was indeed glad that she had decided not to divulge her secret, now that she heard what a pleasant impression the new neighbors had made, especially upon Honor; but she wished that she were at liberty to enjoy their society herself. “I am doing this quite nicely,” said she, taking out the paper and showing it to her sisters. “Why, so you are!” exclaimed Katherine. “I had no idea you would learn so quickly, though you have spelled some of these words in a new and rather remarkable way. But, Vic, how funny you are! You were wild to have us call on the Madisons, and apparently most anxious to go there yourself, and now you seem to take so little interest in them, and you rushed away after you were actually in the house. It was a frightfully rude thing to do, and they didn’t know what to make of it. Honor and I had the greatest time explaining to them.” “What did you tell them?” asked Victoria. “Oh, we said that you were very busy, as you were still at school, and had probably remembered some lesson, or something that you hadn’t done. We were perfectly at a loss to know what to say, weren’t we, Honor?” “Yes. It was really rude, Vic. I think you ought to apologize to Miss Madison. You had better go there very soon and explain, though I can’t imagine what you are going to tell her. It will be rather peculiar to say that you were frightened. They are coming here very soon and perhaps you can make it right then.” “All of them?” asked Victoria. “No; only Miss Madison and her brother. Mrs. Madison is an invalid and doesn’t go anywhere, but they are coming.”