The weather had become beautifully soft and balmy for the middle of April, and the girls were able to sit out of doors, and do many of the things they had not hoped to do till May should burgeon and bloom.

A few days after the frolic Toinette was sitting in one of the pretty little summer-houses, of which there were several dotted about the grounds, when Miss Howard came in and took her seat beside her.

"You have been playing at hide-and-seek with me without knowing it," she said, "for I have been searching for you everywhere, and only discovered you here by the glint of the sunshine upon your hair."

"Did you want me, Miss Howard? I'm sorry you had to hunt for me," answered Toinette. "What can I do for you?"

"Give me some wise advice," said Miss Howard, smiling.

"_I_ give you advice!" exclaimed Toinette.

"Yes; don't you think you can?"

"I shall have to know what it is about before I dare say yes or no, Miss Howard."

"You know that I am going to leave you in a few weeks, dear, and I want my leave-taking to be closely identified with my girls, whom I have learned to love so dearly, and whom, I think, love me as well as I love them. I have spent many happy years in this school, first as pupil and then as teacher, and it has been a very dear home to me. Now I am going away from it forever, and though the future looks very enticing, and I have every reason to believe that it will be happy, still I cannot help feeling sad at the thought of leaving the old life behind. These are serious confidences for me to burden you with, Toinette, but you have crept into a very warm corner of my heart since you became a pupil here, and I know that there is a wise little head upon these shoulders," said Miss Howard, as she placed her hand on Toinette's shoulder.

The girl reached up, and drawing the hand close to her cheek held it there, but did not speak.

"So now," continued Miss Howard, "I am going to ask you to help my outgoing from this happy home to be a pleasant one, by being my maid of honor when the time comes; will you, dear?"

"You want _me_ to be the maid of honor, Miss Howard? You don't truly mean it? There are so many other girls whom you have known so much longer, and whom you must love better than you do me; although I don't believe they _can_ love _you_ any better than I do," said Toinette, naively.

"That is just it, dear. I do love them all, and am sure that they are very fond of me. But in your case it is just a little different. All these girls have pleasant homes, and many loved ones in them who plan for their happiness, and to whom they will go directly vacation begins. For many years you, like myself, have had no home but the one a school offered, and which, unlike mine, was sometimes not as happy a home as it might have been, I fear. So, you see, we have, in one way, had a bond of sympathy between us even before we knew it to be so. And now we have still another, for when we leave here in June we shall each go to our own dear home; you to one your father shall make for you, I to the one my husband will provide for me."

A soft, pretty color had crept over Miss Howard's face as she spoke, and a very tender look came into her beautiful eyes. Truly, she was carrying something very sweet and holy to the one who was to bear that name.

"So we shall step out into the new life together, shall we not, Toinette, and each will be the sweeter for our having done so?" asked Miss Howard.

"It is too lovely even to think about, Miss Howard. I don't know how to make you understand how proud and happy it makes me to think that you chose me from among all the others, and I hope they will not feel that you should not have done so. Do you think they will mind?"

"On the contrary, they are delighted with my choice, for I told them my reasons, as I have told them to you, and they see it in the same light that I see it."

"Then I shall be the happiest girl in Montcliff," cried Toinette.

"No, _next_ to the happiest," said Miss Howard, laughing softly.

"Well, I shall be the happiest in _my_ way, and you in _yours_," and Toinette wagged her head as though it would be of no use for Miss Howard to try to make her concede _that_ point.

"And now let us plan our maid of honor's toilet, and also what our six bridesmaids must wear. It was upon that important question I wished your advice, and, now that you know, do you feel qualified to give it?"

"Oh, how lovely!" cried Toinette. "Why, Miss Howard, it is almost like planning for my own wedding, and you are too sweet for anything to let me."

CHAPTER XXVIII

"WHEN BUDS AND BLOSSOMS BURST"

The planning of the toilets took considerable time, and Miss Howard felt that she had made no mistake when she asked the girl's advice. Like her father's, Toinette's taste was unerring, and when she said:

"Wouldn't it be pretty to have the girls represent flowers?" Miss Howard was delighted with the idea.

"What flowers would you suggest, dear?" she asked.

"Let me think just a moment, please," said Toinette, and she rested her chin upon her hands, a favorite att.i.tude of hers when thinking seriously of anything. "How would a lily, a violet, a pansy, a daffodil, a narcissus, and a snowdrop do?"

"How pretty!" exclaimed Miss Howard. "What put such a picturesque idea in your head? It is beautiful, and can be carried out admirably. You must be my fair and lovely lily; then shall come my violet and daffodil; then my narcissus and lilac; then my pansy and modest little snowdrop. That will exactly suit Helen."

"Who are to be the bridesmaids?"

"Edith, May, Ruth, Marie, Natala and Helen."

"How nice of you to choose all the younger girls; it makes us feel so important. Now, let's plan just what the dresses are to be," said Toinette, becoming quite excited, and looking at Miss Howard as though all must be completed ere they left the summer-house.

"I am waiting for your suggestions," said she.

"Wouldn't it be pretty to have all the dresses made of white chiffon, or something soft like that, and have white, violet and yellow slips under them? Then have the hats trimmed with the flowers they represent. Would you like that, Miss Howard?"

"Yes, immensely; but now I want to think about Helen. You know she has very limited means, and what might seem a small outlay for the others would probably be a large one for her, and I do not want to tax her resources, much as I wish to have her for one of my bonny maids."

"Yes," said Toinette, meditatively, "I suppose the dresses will be rather expensive, but it would be too bad not to have Helen; she is so sweet and is so fond of you, Miss Howard."

"Yes, she is a dear child, and I have felt a great interest in her from the moment she entered the school. I wish I knew of some way of bettering her circ.u.mstances. Mr. Burgess is a most estimable man, but not one liable to advance rapidly through his own efforts, I fear. He is most reliable and capable, but seems to lack the push so essential in this bustling day and age. He would prove invaluable in any position of trust, but would never secure such if it depended upon his own efforts to do so."

Toinette had listened very attentively while Miss Howard was talking, and when she finished said:

"When papa was out here for the dance I spoke to him about Helen, and we had such a nice little talk. The next day he spoke with Miss Preston about those very things, but I do not know what came of it. I wish I did. His business affairs bring him into contact with so many large firms of different kinds that I am almost sure he could secure something for Mr.

Burgess. Do you know what I am going to do?" said Toinette, eagerly, "I am going to write to him right off, tell him all about our plans; may I?

About the wedding, the bridesmaids, and everything; then I am going to ask him if he has heard of anything that he thinks would help Mr. Burgess, and, who knows, maybe, by the first of June all will be fixed up so nicely that Helen can have things as nice as the other girls--and, oh, Miss Howard!--wouldn't it be _lovely_ if she could go abroad with Miss Preston?" and Toinette clasped her hands in rapture at the very thought.

Miss Howard laughed a happy little laugh, and, taking Toinette's face in both her hands, kissed her cheeks very tenderly, saying as she did so:

"I see that I made no mistake in my estimate of your character, dear, although I did not bargain for quite such a wise, resourceful little head and efficient helper as you have proved. How did you manage to think out so much in so short a time?"

"I suppose it is because my brains have never been overburdened with thoughts for other people," said Toinette, with an odd expression overspreading her face, "and so the part of them devoted to that sort of thing has had time to develop to an astonishing degree. But I guess I'd better begin to use the power before it becomes abnormal; Miss Preston says that abnormal development of any sort is dangerous," and she gave a funny little laugh as she glanced slyly into Miss Howard's eyes.

Miss Howard understood the quaint remark, and, rising from her seat, said: "I shall not soon forget our little talk, but must leave you now for the 'school ma'am's' duties. One of them will be to endeavor to persuade Pauline that it was _not_ Henry VIII. who sought to reduce the American Colonies to submission, nor Lafayette who won the battle of Waterloo.

Good-bye," and away tripped Miss Howard over the soft green lawn.

Toinette sat for a few moments, and then, springing up, said to herself: "I might as well go and write that letter this very minute, and I do hope papa will know of something right off. How lovely it would be!"

The letter was soon written, and within two hours was speeding upon its way to New York. Toinette had reasoned well, and, as good luck would have it, the letter arrived at a most auspicious moment. As Mr. Reeve sat reading it, his face reflecting the happiness he felt at receiving it so close upon the one which came to him every Monday morning, a client was shown into his office.

It happened to be one who was about to embark upon a new line of business in which he was venturing large sums of money, and which required capable, trustworthy men to carry out his plans. He had consulted with Mr. Reeve many times before, and nearly all details were completed; the few that remained dealt with minor matters, so Mr. Reeve felt considerable satisfaction at the thought of having brought all arrangements through so successfully. But it was certainly anything but a contented face he saw before him when he glanced up from Toinette's letter upon Mr. Fowler's entrance, and his first words were: "Well, for a prosperous capitalist, you bear a woeful countenance, Ned."

"If mine is woeful, yours certainly is not," was the prompt answer. "You look as though you had been the recipient of some very pleasing news."