In the same mail with this letter came another from Maine, directed to “Miss Ruth Elmer.”  It was from her dearest friend, Edna May; and as Ruth handed it to her mother, who read it aloud to the whole family, we will read it too: 

“Norton, Maine, May 5, 188-.

“My own darling Ruth,—­What is the matter?  I haven’t heard from you in more than a week.  Oh, I’ve got such a plan, or rather father made it up, that I am just wild thinking of it.  It is this:  father’s ship, Wildfire, has sailed from New York for Savannah, and before he left, father said for me to write and tell you that he couldn’t think of letting me go to Florida next winter unless you came here and spent this summer with me.

“The Wildfire will leave Savannah for New York again about the 15th of May, and father wants you to meet him there and come home with him.  His sister, Aunt Emily Coburn, has gone with him for the sake of the voyage, and she will take care of you.

“Oh, do come!  Won’t it be splendid?  Father is coming home from New York, so he can bring you all the way.  I am sure your mother will let you come when she knows how nicely everything is planned.

“I have got lots and lots to tell you, but can’t think of anything else now but your coming.

“What an awful time poor Mark has had.  I don’t see how he ever lived through it.  I think Frank March must be splendid.  Write just as quick as you can, and tell me if you are coming.

“Good-bye.  With kisses and hugs, I am your dearest, lovingest friend,

“Edna may.”

These two letters from the far North created quite a ripple of excitement in that Southern household, and furnished ample subject for discussion when the family was gathered on the front porch in the evening of the day they were received.

Mr. Elmer said, “I think it would be a good thing for Mark to go, and I should like to have Ruth go too; but I don’t see how you can spare her, wife.”

“I shall miss her dreadfully, but I should feel much easier to think that she was with Mark on this long journey.  Poor boy, he is far from strong yet.  Yes, I think Ruth ought to go.  It seems providential that these two letters should have come together, and as if it were a sign that the children ought to go together,” answered Mrs. Elmer.

Mark, who had listened quietly to the whole discussion, now spoke up and said, “I should like to go, father.  As long as I stay here I shall keep thinking of that terrible underground river over there.  I think of it and dream of it all the time, and sometimes it seems as if it were only waiting and watching for a chance to swallow me again.  I should love dearly to have Ruth go with me too, though I am quite sure I am strong enough to take care of myself”; and he turned towards his mother with a smile.

Ruth said, “Oh, mother, I should love to go, but I can’t bear to leave you! so, whichever way you decide, I shall be perfectly satisfied and contented.”