"Oh, how delightful it will be to see dear old Ruthie," she continued; "I expect her box is packed by this time. I wonder how they will manage without her at home!"
"It is very good of your mother to spare her to us," said Mrs. Reed, entering the room at that instant; "we must try to make her visit a happy one."
"Oh, I am sure it will be that!" Violet cried sanguinely, her brown eyes softening with gratitude as she turned them upon Mrs. Reed who was glancing around to see that everything was as it should be. "You are so very, very kind," she proceeded, "it was so like you to give this invitation to Ruthie, and I can't express how glad I am that she could accept it. It seems so wonderful that we should have such friends! As for me—I shall never be able to repay you for your goodness to me as long as I live! I know I must have worried you a great deal at first, I was so untidy and careless, but I've really improved in that way of late, haven't I?" she questioned anxiously.
"Yes," assented Mrs. Reed, with a smile; "you most certainly have. The room looks very nice, girls, I don't think there is anything more to be done to it."
"We must be in good time to meet Ruth at the station to-morrow," remarked Ann; "I hope her train will not be overcrowded. She has never travelled alone before, has she, Violet?"
"Never," Violet answered. "I wonder how Agnes Hosking is feeling," she observed reflectively, a moment later, a sudden gravity overshadowing her countenance; "she must be a good way on her journey by this time—she will have a very long journey, as she has to go right through London and on to Bath."
"I am afraid she will have a miserable Christmas," said Ann; "I think I never saw anyone more depressed and unhappy than she was when we said good-bye to her yesterday. 'I shall never see you again,' she said, 'and you will have only unpleasant memories of me.' We did not know what to say to her, as you may imagine, mother, for of course we could not contradict her."
"I have the greatest difficulty in realising that she is poor, it seems incredible," said Violet; "I used to think she was to be envied because she always had plenty of money to spend and we had so little, and Ruthie used to get so vexed with me. Well, I certainly have no cause to be envious of Agnes now, for she is more wretched than anyone I ever knew."
"She is intensely selfish and pities herself extremely," said Ann; "I believe she is rather inclined to blame her father for losing his money; she said she thought he must have been foolish and reckless, and yet I am positive she loves him."
"Poor girl!" exclaimed Mrs. Reed. "Perhaps poverty will teach her a great deal she has never learnt yet," she proceeded thoughtfully, "and to be kinder and more considerate to other people; she will be called upon to make sacrifices now, and that may be the very discipline she wants."