"Just what Tom said, 'Keep jolly'; but, dear me, how can one, when everything is so stupid and tiresome?"
"If ever a girl needed work, it's you!" cried Polly. "You began to be a young lady so early, that you are tired of everything at twenty-two. I wish you'd go at something, then you'd find how much talent and energy you really had."
"I know ever so many girls who are just like me, sick to death of fashionable life, but don't know what to take in its place. I'd like to travel; but papa says he can't afford it, so I can only drag about and get on as I may."
"I pity you rich girls so much, you have so many opportunities, and don't seem to know how to use them. I suppose I should do just the same in your place, but it seems now as if I could be very happy and useful with plenty of money."
"You are that without it. There, I won't croak any more. Let us go and take a good walk, and don't you tell any one how I came and cried like a baby."
"Never!" said Polly, putting on her bonnet.
"I ought to go and make calls," said Fanny, "but I don't feel now as if I ever wanted to see any of the girls again. Dreadful state of mind, isn't it?"
"Suppose you come and see some of my friends instead! They are not fine or ceremonious, but lively, odd, and pleasant. Come, it will amuse you."
"I will," cried Fanny, whose spirits seemed improved by the shower. "Nice little old lady, isn't she?" added Fan, as she caught sight of Miss Mills, on their way out, sitting at a table piled with work,
