Then the tears came with a rush, and the girl hurried out of the room. Going to the dormitory, she threw herself on her cot and sobbed and sobbed.
Eva looked at her uncle with brimming eyes. “I’m the only friend Amanda has,” she said simply, and then she told the story of the lonely orphan’s life. “It doesn’t seem right for me to go and leave her,” Eva added sadly.
Then all of a sudden a bright smile lighted the face of Uncle Dick, and he exclaimed, “We won’t leave her, Eva. We’ll take her with us! The ranch-house is big, and it will be splendid for you to have a girl companion, for our nearest neighbor is eight miles away.”
“Uncle Dick,” Eva cried, scarcely able to believe her ears. “Do you really mean that? Truly, may Amanda go with us? Oh, you can’t guess how happy she will be!”
Then Eva, entirely forgetting that Mrs. Friend ought first to be consulted, flew up-stairs to the dormitory, where she felt sure she would find the heart-broken orphan. “Amanda!” she called joyously. “Don’t you cry another tear. Something wonderful has happened. Uncle Dick is going to take you, too. He suggested it all himself.”
Amanda, springing to her feet, caught her friend’s hands as she exclaimed, “Eva Dearman, am I dreaming, or is it really true?”
“It’s really true,” the other replied. “And do hurry, dear, for we are to take the noon train.”
Hastily Amanda washed, combed her hair, and donned her best blue alpaca dress, and then, all of a sudden, she thought of something. “Why, Eva,” she said, “won’t I have to ask Mrs. Friend if I may go?”
Before the other girl could reply, the matron herself appeared with such a bright smile that the girls knew that everything must be all right.
“Eva and Amanda!” she said as she kissed one and then the other. “I am so happy for you both. It is not customary to dismiss a child from the Home without the approval of the board of directors, but this time I myself will assume the responsibility.”