“I was summoned to New York on business and had barely time to make my train.  Mrs. Gibson’s chauffeur had been running the car at a high rate of speed, and just as we reached the little incline above the station, the machine skidded, and we crashed into that tree.  I felt a frightful jar that seemed to loosen every bone in my body, and remembered nothing further until I came back to earth again, here in the hospital.”

“You opened your eyes, once, before the ambulance came,” said Grace.

“Did I!” smiled the stranger.  “I do not remember it.  But, really, I am very rude!  I have not told you my name.”

“It’s coming,” thought Grace, unconsciously bracing herself.  Nora and Anne had also straightened up, their eyes fastened on the speaker.

“My name is Allison,” said the woman, wholly unaware of the bombshell she had exploded.  “I am a widow and quite alone in the world.  My husband died a number of years ago.”

“I knew it, I knew it,” muttered Grace.

“What did you say, my dear?” asked Mrs. Allison.

But Grace was silent.  The woman was too nervous as yet to hear the news.  Perhaps after all the name was a mere coincidence.

Anne, understanding Grace’s silence, hurriedly took up the conversation.

“Are you familiar with this part of the country?” she asked.

“I have not been here for a number of years,” replied Mrs. Allison, “although my friends, the Gibsons, have sent me repeated invitations.  Mrs. Gibson and I went through Vassar together.”

“We expect to go to college next year,” said Grace.  “We are seniors in Oakdale High School.”

“The years a young girl spends in college are usually the happiest of her whole life,” said Mrs. Allison, with a sigh.  “Everything is rose colored.  She forms high ideals that help to sweeten life for her long after her college career is over.  The friendships she forms are usually worth while, too.  Mrs. Gibson and I have kept track of one another even since graduation.  We have shared our joys and sorrows, and in my darkest hours her loyal friendship and ready sympathy have been a heaven-sent blessing to me.”

“We three girls are sworn friends,” said Grace, “and we have another chum, too.  She was very sorry that she could not come to-day.  She will be glad to know that you are so much better.  Her name is Jessica Bright.  She was with us at the station yesterday.”

“I should like to meet her,” said Mrs. Allison, “and I thank her for her interest in me.  I really feel as though I had known you three girls for a long time.  I wish you would tell me more of yourselves and your school life.”

“There isn’t much to tell,” laughed Grace.  “The life of a schoolgirl is not crowded with many stirring events.”

“You have no idea of how much has happened to Grace, Mrs. Allison, since we began High School,” interposed Nora.  “She never will talk about the splendid things she has done for other people.  She is the president of her class, the captain of the senior basketball team, too, and the most popular girl in Oakdale High School.”