Friendships grow rapidly when people have just gone through the same sickness; people have so much in common to talk about, get to know one another so much more intimately--the real essence of one another. For instance Missy within a few days learned that Louise Briggs was an uncommonly nice, sweet, “cultured” girl. She enlarged on this point when she asked her mother to let her accept Louise's invitation to visit in Keokuk. “She's the most refined girl I've ever met, mother--if you know what I mean.” “Yes--?” said mother, as if inviting more. “She's going to a boarding-school in Washington, D. C., this winter.” “Yes--?” said mother again. “And she's travelled a lot, but not a bit uppish. I think that kind of girl is a good influence to have, don't you?” Mother, concentrated on an intricate place in her drawn-Yu-ork, didn't at once answer. Missy gazed at her eagerly. At last mother looked up. “But what about your work on the Beacon?” she asked. “Oh, I've thought about that,” Missy returned glibly. “And I really think a trip of this kind would do me more good than just hanging round a poky newspaper office. Travel, and a different sphere--Keokuk's a big town, and there seems to be a lot going on there. It's really a good chance to enlarge my field of vision--to broaden my horizon--don't you see, mother?” Mother bent her head lower over her work. “Are you sure the thought of parties and a lot going on and--” mother paused a second--“and Archie has nothing to do with it, dear?” Missy didn't mind the teasing hint about Archie when mother said “dear” in that tone. It meant that mother was weakening. Nor did thoughts of the abandoned Cosmos trouble her very much during the blissfully tumultuous days of refurbishing her wardrobe and packing her trunk. Nor when she wrote a last society item for Ed Martin to put in the Beacon: “Miss Melissa Merriam of Locust Avenue has gone for a two weeks' visit at the home of Miss Louise Briggs in Keokuk, Iowa.”' The little item held much in its few words. It was a swan-song. As Ed Martin inelegantly put it, in speaking later with her father, Missy had “canned the Cosmos.” End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Missy, by Dana Gatlin