Then down the stairs she skipped, and there was Adele Doring waiting for her in the hall.
“What do you think?” Adele exclaimed. “We have an invitation to ride into town with Bob Angel and Brother Jack. They were going in to see a ball game on the high-school campus, and mother said that we might ride in with them.”
“Will wonders never cease?” Eva said, joyously. “I adore riding in autos and I almost never have the chance.”
Mrs. Friend stepped out of her office and greeted Adele. Then she looked over her young charge, to see if all the buttons were in the right holes, for Eva was so excited that she could not keep her mind on ordinary things.
“Have you a clean handkerchief, dear?” Mrs. Friend asked. Eva felt in her pocket. It was empty. “I’ll run back and get one,” she said. “I won’t be half a jiffy.”
Up the stairs she fairly flew and into the dormitory she danced. Suddenly she stopped. She heard some one crying. On the bed next to her own a girl was lying, sobbing as though her heart would break. It was Amanda Brown. Eva flew to her friend, and, putting her arms about her, asked: “Mandy, dear, what is the matter? Has some one been mean, horrid, to you?”
“No-o!” sobbed the girl. “Oh, Eva, I thought you were gone! Please, please don’t let me spoil your day.”
“Mandy,” Eva said firmly, “tell me why you are crying! I shall stay here until you do.”
Amanda knew that Eva meant what she said, and so she replied brokenly, “It’s—it’s my birthday, Eva, and nobody cares.”
Tears rushed to Eva’s eyes, and she held her friend close. She remembered how lonely she had felt on her birthday, when she thought that nobody cared.