"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."