"Yes, of course, my baby, we'll be homesick for each other, but we'll be brave, and when we feel _very_ lonesome, we'll sit down and write each other nice long letters." "Oh, that will be fun, I love letters; and here comes Clara, may I tell her about it?" "Yes, and tell her she must come to see me once in a while, and cheer me after I lose my own little girl." Clara Hayden was Patty's intimate friend and both the girls' hearts grew sad at the thought of parting. "But," said Patty, who was determined to look on the bright side, "after a year, papa and I will have a house of our own, and then you can come and make us a long, long visit. And we can write letters, Clara, and you must tell me all about the girls, and about school and about the Magnolia Club." "Yes, I will; and you write to me about all you do at your aunts' houses. Where do they live, Patty?" "Well, I shall go first to Aunt Isabel's, and she lives in Elmbridge. That's in New Jersey, but it's quite near New York. Next I'm going to Aunt Hester's; she lives in Boston. Then I'm going to visit Aunt Grace. They live in Philadelphia, but I'll be with them in the summertime, and then they're at their country place somewhere on Long Island, wherever that may be. And the last one is Aunt Alice, and I forget the name of the town where she lives. Isn't it nice, Clara, to have so many aunts?" "Yes, lovely! I suppose you'll go to New York often." "I don't know; I think I'm afraid of New York. They say it's an awful dangerous place." "Yes, it is. People get killed there all the time." "Fiddlesticks! I don't believe they do. Well, I reckon I won't get killed. Uncle Robert will take better care of me than that." CHAPTER II TRAVELING NORTH As a result of many letters back and forth between Mr. Fairfield and the Northern aunts, Patty stood one morning on the platform of the railway station, all ready to depart for her new homes. It was the first week in December, and the little girl shivered as she thought of the arctic cold to which she imagined herself going. "Of course they'll meet me in a sleigh, won't they, papa?" she said. "Perhaps so, but I doubt it," he replied. "They don't have such snowstorms in Jersey now as they used to when I was a boy. Last winter they had no sleighing at all. But here comes Miss Powers; let us go to greet her." Miss Powers was a sharp-faced lady who came marching along the platform with a firm step. Patty was to travel in her care, not because she was an especially desirable traveling companion, but because she was the only acquaintance of the Fairfields who chanced to be going North at that time. "Good-morning," she cried, "are you here already? I was certain you'd be late and miss the train. Not a very pleasant day, is it? I wish we had planned to go to-morrow instead. Why, Patty, you are wearing your best hat! You'll spoil it, I'm sure. Have you your trunk check? Give it to me, you'll certainly lose it else."