But Georgia was the merest episode during the vacation, and though several of "The Merry Hearts" went back on the same train with Betty, the talk was all of Christmas presents and Christmas gaieties--dances, dinners, skating and sleighing parties--and Georgia was not even mentioned. Tom Alison, being a politic youth, had not allowed himself to be forgotten during the vacation. He sent Betty candy for Christmas and violets for New Year's, and she was not at all surprised, when she opened the Belden House door, to see a letter for her on the hall table, addressed in Tom's sprawling, illegible hand. Betty wondered if he was going back to New Haven by way of Harding--which would have been decidedly the longest way round. But she glanced at the letter, and, as it seemed to be all about Georgia, she put it aside to read later in the day, when she had more time.