'I?' said Meenie, with a sudden slight touch of reserve.
'It'll not be a nice thing going away among strange folk,' said her companion, 'but I'll no grumble if it's to do Ronald good; and even among strange folk—well, I don't care as long as I have Ronald and you, Meenie. And it's to Glasgow, and not to Edinburgh, he thinks he'll have to go; and then you will be in Glasgow too; so I do not mind anything else. It will not be so lonely for any of us; and we can spend the evenings together—oh no, it will not be lonely at all——'
'But, Maggie,' the elder girl said gravely, 'I am not going to Glasgow.'
Her companion looked up quickly, with frightened eyes.
'But you said you were going, Meenie!'
'Oh no,' the other said gently. 'My mother has often talked of it—and I suppose I may have to go some time; but my father is against it; and I know I am not going at present anyway.'
'And you are staying here—and—and Ronald and me—we will be by ourselves in Glasgow!' the other exclaimed, as if this prospect were too terrible to be quite comprehended as yet.
'But if it is needful he should go?' Meenie said. 'People have often to part from their friends like that.'
'Yes, and it's no much matter when they have plenty of friends,' said the smaller girl, with her eyes becoming moist, 'but, Meenie, I havena got one but you.'
'Oh no, you must not say that,' her friend remonstrated. 'Why, there is your brother in Glasgow, and his family; I am sure they will be kind to you. And Ronald will make plenty of friends wherever he goes—you can see that for yourself; and do you think you will be lonely in a great town like Glasgow? It is the very place to make friends, and plenty of them—