“I thought Lorna was here,” she said, as she seated herself. “Did n't I hear her voice?”
“Miss Susan called her into the kitchen,” said the other. “I think she will be out in a moment.” Miss Henrietta held up an envelope.
“See what I've got?” she said, smiling.
“Not another letter from Bill?”
“Just that,” said Henrietta. “And the dearest letter! There's a part I want to read to you and Lorna. I don't bore you with my Bill, do I, Gay?”
“Bore? What an idea!”
“Sometimes I'm afraid I do. If it wasn't that his letters are so intelligent. They don't seem to me like ordinary love-letters. They don't seem to you like the common wishy-washy stuff men write, do they?”
“Well, you know I have no experience in love-letters—”
“Poor Gay!” said Miss Bates, and laughed. “But I do think I'm fortunate in having a man like Bill choose me, don't you? I do wish he could come East this summer. I wish you and Lorna could meet him. He's so—so different from the men here.”
The three, who had become close friends, were school teachers, and that was how two of them happened to be boarding at Miss Redding's, which was an exceptionally pleasant boardinghouse. This was the third year Lorna Percy had boarded with Miss Redding. Miss Bates had a year more to her credit. Gay Loring lived at home, across the street, with her parents.