"And to-morrow is another day," observed Elfreda.

"So it is, my child," agreed Miriam, "but we shall spend it on the train."

"Do you remember one day, ages ago, when Elfreda Briggs deposited her suit case on Grace Harlowe's feet and made herself comfortable. Wasn't I a vandal?"

"Think what we all might have missed if we hadn't acquired a proprietary interest in Elfreda that day."

"And now you can't lose me. There, that is the first slang I've used for months, and on commencement day, too."

"Never mind, Elfreda. It is forcible at least. But we don't wish to lose you. You must keep your promise and come to Oakdale this summer."

"I will," promised Elfreda; "and now suppose we have one last sad tea party."

It was almost midnight before Miriam and Elfreda went softly down the oppressively quiet hall to their room.

"Are you happy, Anne?" asked Grace, slipping her arm about her friend and drawing her to the window where, dark against the moonlit sky, rose the tower of Overton Hall.

"Almost too happy for words, and yet I dread leaving Overton."

"You must come back next year and visit me. I do hope I shall make a good house mother. Do you know, Anne, in my mind I've already picked out a motto to hang over my door. It is, 'Blessed are they that have found their work.'"

CHAPTER XXIV

CONCLUSION

The full moon shone down with his broadest smile on the group of young people who occupied Mrs. Gray's roomy, old-fashioned veranda.

"We're here because we're here," caroled Hippy Wingate, balancing himself on the edge of the porch rail, both arms outspread to show how successfully he could sit on the narrow railing without support.

"You won't be 'here' very long," cautioned Miriam Nesbit. "You are likely to land in that rose bush just below you. It's a very th.o.r.n.y one, too. I know, because I tried to pull a rose from it only a little while ago. Remember, I have warned you."

"Don't worry over me, Miriam," declared Hippy airily, pretending to lose his balance and recovering himself with an exaggerated jerk.

"Oh, I am not worrying," retorted Miriam. "If _you_ fall backward into that rose bush it won't hurt _me_."

"Did I say it would, my child?" asked Hippy serenely.

"Don't answer him, Miriam," advised Nora. "He is like Tennyson's 'Brooklet,' he goes on forever."

"How peaceful and quiet it was in Oakdale until yesterday," was Hippy's sorrowful comment. "'Gone are the days when my heart was light and gay,'

etc."

"It will be not merely a case of bygone days, but bygone Hippy as well,"

threatened David. "Reddy and I intend to defend our friends against your personal attacks."

"I wasn't personal," beamed Hippy. "I didn't say anything about any one.

I merely observed that since yesterday Oakdale had become a howling wilderness----"

Hippy did not stop to finish his speech, but, nimbly dodging David and Reddy Brooks, who rose from the porch, determination written on their faces, bounded down the steps and disappeared around the corner of the house.

"He is the same Hippy who made life merry for us eight years ago when we were high school freshmen," smiled Grace. "He hasn't changed in the least."

"None of my Christmas children have changed," was Mrs. Gray's fond retort.

"Neither has our fairy G.o.dmother," reminded Anne.

"I never feel grown up or responsible when we all gather home," said Jessica.

"And yet Tom is on his first vacation from work, David and Reddy are rising young business men, and Hippy is studying law," reminded Grace.

"Yes, but I don't like it," remarked a plaintive voice, as a fat face appeared around the corner of the porch. "I want to be a brakeman."

It was impossible not to laugh at Hippy, and, encouraged by the merriment, he cautiously climbed the steps of the porch and returned to his precarious perch upon the railing.

"I want to be a brakeman, And with the brakemen stay, I'd ride upon the choo-choo cars Through all the livelong day,"

he warbled, rocking backward and forward in time to his song.

"Why don't you go down to the railroad yard and put in your application, then?" was Reddy's stolid advice. "If I intended to be a brakeman I wouldn't study law."

"Alas! I am obliged to obey the wishes of my cruel parents," whined Hippy. "I am seriously contemplating wrapping a few little things in a handkerchief and leaving home forever. I remember once when I was very young and unsophisticated I decided upon this step. I was deeply incensed with Father because he had punished me for playing truant from school. I went upstairs to my room and packed three neckties, a boxing glove, two books, a baseball and a picture of myself in baseball clothes in a suit case. I carried the bat, and as a last precaution I took a toy pistol and my bank, which boasted of sixty-four cents. I started at about eight o'clock in the evening and went as far as the summer house at the lower end of our grounds. I sat down to rest, went to sleep and woke up about two o'clock in the morning. Then I discovered that I was afraid of the dark and didn't dare go even as far as the house. I crept into the summer house and stayed there until morning; then I went home, suit case and all. I managed to get into the house before any one else was up, but I decided there were worse places than home. However, if the brakeman aspiration proves too strong I may be obliged to leave home again. After all, it may be my vocation."

"Hippy Wingate, when will you be sensible?" asked Nora O'Malley.

"Never, I am afraid. You see, my a.s.sociations tend to make me foolish.

Birds of a feather, you know, and when one's intimate friends----" Hippy paused. "You understand I don't like to say that you in particular are responsible, but----"

"I'll never forgive you for that," declared Nora.

"Then that means that our engagement----"

Hippy was not allowed to finish. A shout went up from the others, and he and Nora were surrounded.

"Hippy, how could you?" The pink in Nora's cheeks deepened, but she did not deny his statement.

"Nora, come here," commanded Mrs. Gray.

Nora obeyed with a shyness entirely foreign to her. Putting her finger under Nora's rounded chin, Mrs. Gray looked smilingly into the piquant face. Then she drew the girl within her circling arm and kissed her.

Grace, Miriam, Anne and Jessica followed suit.

"Now it is your turn, Jessica and Reddy," said Nora pointedly.

Jessica's pale face grew scarlet. She looked appealingly toward Reddy, who sat beside her, then they rose and, taking her hand in his, Reddy said with a world of affection in his voice, "Jessica has promised to marry me in the fall." Jessica and Reddy were immediately surrounded.