“Read,” said Helen, as she looked at Mavis over her spectacles.

Mavis read as follows: 

“To dear Mavis, from her friend, Helen Allpress Mee.

“Are not two sparrows sold for A farthing?  And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.

“Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.—­St Matthew x. 29, 31.”

Mavis thanked Miss Mee and was about to press on her the trinket that she had previously purchased as a parting gift for her old friend; but Helen checked the girl with a gesture signifying that her sister was about to speak.

Mis Annie was less prosy than her sister.

“Take this, dear, and God bless you.”

Here she handed Mavis her much-prized copy of Sesame and Lilies, likewise containing the autograph of the great Mr. Ruskin; at the same time, she presented Mavis with a box of gloves.

Mavis thanked the generous old ladies and gave them the little presents she had bought for this purpose.  To Miss Helen she handed a quaint old workbox she had picked up in the shop of a dealer in antiquities; to Miss Annie she gave her A three-quarter-length photograph in a silver frame.

The two old ladies’ hands shook a little when they took these offerings; they both thanked her, after which Miss Helen rose to take formal farewell of Mavis.

She spoke the words that she always made use of when taking final leave of a pupil; usually, they came trippingly to her tongue, without the least effort of memory; but this morning they halted; she found herself wondering if her dignity were being compromised in Mavis’s eyes.

“Dear Mavis,” she said, “in—­in issuing from the doors—­er—­portals of Brandenburg College to the new er—­er—­world that awaits you beyond, you—­you may rest assured that you carry—­”

The old lady stopped; she did not say any more; she sat down and seemed to be carefully wiping her spectacles.  Mavis rose to go, girl-like; she hated anything in the nature of a scene, especially when made over such an insignificant person as herself.  At the same time, her farewell of the two old ladies, with whom she had lived for so long, affected her far more than she would ever have thought possible.  Halfway to the door, she hesitated; the noise made by Miss Annie blowing her nose decided her.  In a moment, she had placed her arms about Miss Helen and Miss Annie, and all three women were weeping to their hearts’ content.

Some seventy minutes later, it was two very forlorn-looking old ladies who stumbled into the train that was to take them to Worthing.  Meanwhile, Mavis had packed her few remaining things and had gone down to the kitchen to say good-bye to Amelia.