Aura's red cheeks turned a deeper shade, and she said hesitatingly:
"She is married now, you know!"
"Yes, I have heard so, and I wish very much to write to her, as we were so fond of each other last summer," answered Precious, with such a loving light in her deep blue eyes for her old friend that Aura hated Ladybird more than ever.
Tossing her dark head with a careless grace she exclaimed:
"Indeed, I'm very sorry, Miss Precious, that I can't give you her address; but, really, I have not the faintest idea where she is at present. She was such an ungrateful girl that she has never written us a line since she married Jack Tennant and went away."
"Oh, I am so sorry, for we all loved Ladybird dearly, and I wished to invite her to my wedding," murmured Ethel, suddenly taking part in the conversation.
"Perhaps your father knows her address," Mrs. Winans said, looking suspiciously at the changing color of the crafty girl.
"Oh, dear, no, papa hasn't the slightest idea where—" began Aura hastily, but just then she was interrupted.
The curtains at the door had been twitching nervously several moments, and now they suddenly parted, and a slender little figure rushed into the room. It was all in black, and the pretty face was pale and sad, but they knew it in a minute by the mass of dancing golden-brown curls for Ladybird!