OLD COMRADES
[CHAPTER I]
A CHRISTMAS CARD
"DOROTHEA!"
The voice was deep-toned, verging on gruffness, and it lingered over the name, not affectionately, but as if the speaker's mind were absent.
No answer came in words from the girl seated beyond the round table. She lowered the book in her hands, and waited.
"Dorothea!"
"Yes," she said.
"Fetch me the first volume of the Encyclopædia."