`She's in Europe with her mother. I dare say you'll meet, Katy, and what a pleasure that will be! And have you heard about Bella? She's teaching school in the Indian Territory. Just fancy that scrap teaching school!'
`Isn't it dangerous?' asked Mary Silver.
`Dangerous! How? To her scholars, do you mean? Oh, the Indians! Well, her scalp will be easy to identify if she has adhered to her favourite pomatum; that's one comfort,' put in naughty Rose.
It was a merry luncheon indeed, as little Rose seemed to think, for she laughed and cooed incessantly. The girls were enchanted with her, and voted her by acclamation an honorary member of the SSUC. Her health was drunk in Apollinaris water with all the honours, and Rose returned thanks in a droll speech. The friends told each other their histories for the past three years, but it was curious how little, on the whole, most of them had to tell. Though, perhaps, that was because they did not tell all, for Alice Gibbons confided to Katy in a whisper that they strongly suspected Esther of being engaged, and at the same moment Ellen Gray was convulsing Rose by the intelligence that a theological student from Andover was being `very attentive' to Mary Silver.
`My dear, I don't believe it,' Rose said, `not even a theological student would dare, and if he did, I am quite sure Mary would consider it most improper. You must be mistaken, Ellen.'
`No, I'm not mistaken, for the theological student is my second cousin, and his sister told me all about it. They are not engaged exactly, but she hasn't said no; so he hopes she will say yes.'
`Oh, she'll never say no, but then she will never say yes, either! He would better take silence as consent! Well, I never did think I should live to see Silvery Mary married. I should as soon have expected to find the Thirty-Nine Articles engaged in a flirtation. She's a dear old thing, though, and as good as gold, and I shall consider second cousin a lucky man if he persuades her.'
`I wonder where we shall all be when you come back, Katy,' said Esther Dearborn, as they parted at the gate. `A year is a long time; all sorts of things may happen in a year.'
These words rang in Katy's ears as she fell asleep that night. `All sorts of things may happen in a year,' she thought, `and they may not be all happy things, either.'
Almost she wished that the journey to Europe had never been thought of!
But when she woke the next morning to the brightest of October suns shining out of a clear blue sky, her misgivings fled. There could not have been a more beautiful day for their start.
She and Rose went early into town, for old Mrs Redding had made Katy promise to come for a few minutes to say goodbye. They found her sitting by the fire as usual, though her windows were open to admit the sun-warmed air. A little basket of grapes stood on the table beside her, with a nosegay of tea-roses on top. These were from Rose's mother, for Katy to take on board the steamer; and there was something else, a small parcel twisted up in thin white paper.
`It is my goodbye gift,' said the dear old lady. `Don't open it pow. Keep it till you are well out at sea, and get some little thing with it as a keepsake from me.'
Grateful and wondering, Katy put the little parcel in her pocket. With kisses and good wishes she parted from these new-made friends, and she and Rose drove to the steamer, stopping for Mr Browne by the way. They were a little late, so there was not much time for farewells after they arrived, but Rose snatched a moment for a private interview with the stewardess, unnoticed by Katy, who was busy with Mrs Ashe and Amy.