“Oh, Mr. Drakely!” Adele exclaimed, skipping down the walk to meet him. “Have you really a letter for me? Thank you so much! Letters are a rare treat,” she confided to Gertrude, “because all of my friends live in Sunnyside, and so there is no one to write to me except Uncle Jerry, but this letter hasn’t a foreign post-mark and so it isn’t from him. Why, it’s from Dorchester, and so, of course, Madge Peterson must have written it. She is that charming artist that I have been telling you about, Gertrude. I am so eager to have you meet her.”
Then Adele, reseating herself in the porch-swing, tore open the pale blue envelope, with its delicate odor of spring violets, and read aloud:
“Dear Dryad Oakleaf:
“I just happened to remember that you once told me that you belong to a clan of seven girls. Are there any among them who have talents which they are eager to cultivate? If so, do bring them with you on Saturday mornings to attend the Institute. The more the merrier, and I shall be glad to have them take luncheon with me, as I shall always expect you and Eva and Amanda to do.
“Your loving friend,
“Madge Peterson.”
“Oh, Gertrude!” Adele cried joyfully. “Could anything be nicer? I have so wished that you might go with me to take composition. I am just sure that you have talent for writing. Do you suppose that your mother could spare you?”
“If mother will permit me to do my share of the cleaning on Friday,” Gertrude said, “I would be glad to go, and, since it is vacation, I am sure that I can. I do want to study everything that will help me to become a writer. I enjoy that more than anything else, and I am eager to find some way to earn money, so that I may help educate the babies. There are so many of us, and a minister’s salary is not princely.”
“Then I will write Miss Peterson this very day and tell her that one of my dearest, bestest friends will gladly accept her invitation,” Adele exclaimed happily, as she gave Gertrude an impulsive hug.
Although Adele loved all of the Sunny Six, some way Gertrude was a little nearer and dearer, and she was beginning to think that, next to her, she loved Eva Dearman most among her friends.