"Lottie!" the latter exclaimed.
"Flora!"
Joel stood by, smilingly, while Lottie was introduced to the rest of the family.
"It seems so strange that both your brother and mine should be returned runaways, doesn't it, Flora?" remarked Lottie, when all were seated.
"How about Lottie?" slyly whispered Joel, as he sat by her side.
Lottie deigned no reply, but tossed her head willfully, while she thought: "No, I will never go back to Aunt Emmeline's."
It was a very pleasant little home party that sat and chatted in the old dining room that evening, but it was not until Lottie and Flora were alone in the room which they were to share for the night, that Lottie opened her heart, and poured out her woes into Flora's sympathetic ear.
"Oh, Lottie, how could you?" asked Flora, when the recital was over.
"Oh, Flora, of course I could do it, and so would you have done, in my place," returned Lottie, in an injured tone.
"Is it possible that you have left your poor, sick aunt all alone?"