With steady hands Miriam turned the closely-written sheets reading a phrase here and there ... "regularly in the seat behind us at All Saints' for months--saw her with the Pooles at a concert at the Assembly Rooms and made up his mind then--the moment he saw her--joined the tennis-club--they won the double handicap--a beautiful Slazenger racquet--only just over sixteen--for years--of course Mother says it's just a little foolish nonsense--but I am not sure that she really thinks so--Gerald took me into his confidence--made a solemn call--_admirably_ suited to each other--rather a long melancholy good-looking face--they look such a contrast--the big Canadian Railway--not exactly a clerk--something rather above that, to do with making drafts of things and so on. Very sweet and charming--my own young days--that I have reached the great age of twenty-three--resident post in the country--two little girls--we think it very good pay--I shall go in September--plenty of time--that you should come home for the long holidays. We are all looking forward to it--the tennis-club--your name as a holiday member--the American tournament in August--Harry was the youngest lady member like you--of course Harry could not let you come without knowing--find somebody travelling through--Fräulein Pfaff--expect to see you looking like a flour-sack with a string tied round its waist--all the dwarf roses in bloom--hardly any strawberries--we shall see you soon--everybody sends." Miriam got up and swung the half-read letter above her head like a dumb-bell. She looked about her like a stranger--everything was as it had been the day she came--the little cramped basement hall--the strange German girls--small and old looking, poking about amongst the baskets. She hardly knew them. She passed half-blindly amongst them with her eyes wide. The little dressing-room seemed full of bright light. She saw everyone at once clearly. All the English girls were there. She knew every line of each of them. They were her old friends. They knew her. Looking at none of them she felt she embraced them all, closely, and that they knew it. They shone. They were beautiful. She wanted to cry aloud. She was English and free. She had nothing to do with this German school. Baskets at her feet made her pick her way. Solomon was kneeling at one, sorting and handing out. At a little table under the window Millie stood jotting pencil notes in a pocket-book. Judy was at her side. The others were grouped about the piano. Gertrude sat on the keyboard her legs dangling. Miriam plumped down on a full basket. "Hullo, Hendy, old chap, _you_ look all right!"