Amanda hurried home with friends to enjoy a festive summer among the verdant plains of Cape Cod. With deep regret did her mates bid her adieu, and nothing but the certainty of soon embracing her again would have reconciled Livy to the parting; for in Amanda she had found that rare and precious treasure, a friend.
"Addio, my beloved Granny, take care of your dear bones and come home soon," said Amanda, in the little back entry, while her luggage was being precipitated downstairs.
"Heaven bless and keep you safe, my own Possum. I shall not stay long because I can't possibly get on without you," moaned Livy, clinging to the departing treasure as Diogenes might have clung to his honest man, if he ever found him; for, with better luck than the old philosopher, Livy had searched long years for a friend to her mind, and got one at last.
"Don't be sentimental, girls," said Matilda, with tears in her eyes, as she hugged her Mandy, and bore her to the cab.
"Rome and Raphael for ever!" cried Amanda, as a cheerful parting salute.
