“Peregrinations,” laughed Kate, turning
to the window to hide her face. “Oh, Agatha,
you are a dear, but you are too funny! Even a
Fourth of July orator would not have used that word.
I never heard it before in all of my life outside
spelling-school.”
Then she looked at the dollar she was gripping and
ceased to laugh.
“The dear lad,” she whispered. “He
did the whole thing. She was going to let us
‘fight it out’; I could tell by her back,
and Adam wouldn’t have helped me a cent, quite
as much because he didn’t want to as because
Father wouldn’t have liked it. Fancy the
little chap knowing he can wheedle his mother into
anything, and exactly how to go about it! I
won’t spend a penny on myself until she is paid,
and then I’ll make her a present of something
nice, just to let her and Nancy Ellen see that I appreciate
being helped to my chance, for I had reached that
point where I would have walked to school and worked
in somebody’s kitchen, before I’d have
missed my opportunity. I could have done it;
but this will be far pleasanter and give me a much
better showing.”
Then Kate began watching the people in the car with
eager curiosity, for she had been on a train only
twice before in her life. She decided that she
was in a company of young people and some even of
middle age, going to Normal. She also noticed
that most of them were looking at her with probably
the same interest she found in them. Then at
one of the stations a girl asked to sit with her and
explained that she was going to Normal, so Kate said
she was also. The girl seemed to have several
acquaintances on the car, for she left her seat to
speak with them and when the train stopped at a very
pleasant city and the car began to empty itself, on
the platform Kate was introduced by this girl to several
young women and men near her age. A party of
four, going to board close the school, with a woman
they knew about, invited Kate to go with them and
because she was strange and shaken by her experiences
she agreed. All of them piled their luggage on
a wagon to be delivered, so Kate let hers go also.
Then they walked down a long shady street, and entered
a dainty and comfortable residence, a place that seemed
to Kate to be the home of people of wealth.
She was assigned a room with another girl, such a
pleasant girl; but a vague uneasiness had begun to
make itself felt, so before she unpacked she went
back to the sitting room and learned that the price
of board was eight dollars a week. Forty-eight
dollars for six weeks! She would not have enough
for books and tuition. Besides, Nancy Ellen
had boarded with a family on Butler Street whose charge
was only five-fifty. Kate was eager to stay
where these very agreeable young people did, she imagined
herself going to classes with them and having association
that to her would be a great treat, but she never
would dare ask for more money. She thought swiftly
a minute, and then made her first mistake.
