"Come right in, come right in!" she said. "I'm delighted! Tickled to death to see some one I know!"
She ushered them into a room guiltless of carpet, meagerly furnished, but immaculately clean. Then she excused herself to send some one to attend to the horses, and to tell her landlady she would entertain two guests over night. She soon returned.
"But how did you happen to come so far from civilization, Esther?" she questioned.
"Oh, a combination of circumstances; but chiefly through Mrs. Clayton, whom I met in England. What brought you out here?"
"I came for restoration of health," she answered, laughing merrily, as though it were all a joke.
"I don't look very sickly now, do I? I had had double pneumonia, and my physician ordered me to leave Boston, and go to a dry climate. So I came to Arizona. I happened to meet the superintendent of education. He needed teachers. So I came here, just for the fun of the thing."
"And has it been fun?", asked Esther, joining in her friend's laughter.
"Fun? There have been so many funny things I have laughed myself into stitches. For example, my landlady refuses to let me have any extra bedding for to-night."
"Never mind. We have our cushions and lap-robe to help out. Who would have dreamed, Grace, when we were at Wellesley, that we should meet way out here in the wilds of Arizona? Oh, I'm so glad to see you!"
"So am I, to see you. Now tell me all you know about the girls of our class, Esther."