"Oh, Nance, you are not changed one bit!" cried Molly.
"You are changed a lot," said the truthful Nance, "but you are more beautiful. In fact, you never were really beautiful before, but now, now----"
"Oh, spare my blushes!" cried Molly, who did not spare herself but blushed and blushed and blushed again.
Nance was the same little brown-eyed person with the same honest look out of those eyes. In repose her mouth did have a slight droop at the corners but otherwise she might have been a college girl still, so youthful were her lines and so clear and rosy her healthy skin. Her hair was as Molly had always remembered it, smooth and glossy with much brushing and every lock in place.
"Are you tired, honey? If you are, we can go home in the bus," suggested Molly. "Look what a fine motor bus we have now! Do you remember the old yellow one with the lame horses?"
"Do I? And also that I met you right at this station when we were both freshmen and we rode up in that bus together. Oh, Molly, it is wonderful to be here with you! No, I'm not tired, so let's walk."
The professor was due for lectures and the girls left him without reluctance. Even husbands were superfluous when such old friends met after being separated for so many years. There was so much to talk about, so many loose threads to catch up, so much belated news that had not seemed important enough to write.
"They are lovely! There is Mildred now waving to us from your window. I wonder what she is doing in there. I do hope she has not got into mischief," said Molly uneasily.
The guest chamber was still spotless and Molly breathed a sigh of relief. She had had visions of the irrepressible Mildred's making dolly sheets of the bureau scarf or of putting her black kitten to sleep in the snowy bed. The chubby imp was standing with her back to the window, her hands behind her. Her golden curls made a halo around her charming face, her brown eyes were soft and dreamy and her rosebud mouth looked as though butter would not melt in it.
"Come, darling, and speak to Aunt Nance," said Molly.
"Never mind, Molly! Don't force her. She and I will end by being sweethearts, I am sure," said Nance laughing.
"Never mind, Dodo will be your sweetheart now," declared Molly, going through all the agony of motherhood when the offspring refuses to be polite. "You may go to Katy, Mildred," in a tone as severe as she could make it.