"Well, if it hadn't been for you I would never have been traipsing over the country on errands for the Girl Scouts and you wouldn't have been waiting for me in the hall, and I wouldn't have been so fussed at seeing you that I would forget to tell my mamma first. And she won't like it unless she gets told right quick," added Uncle Robert, getting up.

Rosanna wiped her eyes, whereupon Uncle Robert sang:

"There, little girlie, don't you cry, We'll have a wedding by and by,"

and ran up the stairs, three at a time, whistling as he went in search of his mother.

Uncle Robert was not one to take chances. After seeing his mother, who was truly pleased and had the good sense to show it, he started to Mrs.

Hargrave's, and after a short visit left that dear old lady busy at the telephone. The result was a wonderful announcement luncheon a week later, given by Mrs. Hargrave, at which the little Captain looked dimplier and sweeter than ever. After the luncheon she went over to Rosanna's house, where she found all her Girl Scouts ready to congratulate her.

"You won't give us up, will you?" they all asked anxiously, and she a.s.sured them that she would not. Seeing that they were really anxious, she made them all sit down close around her, and one by one they sang the Scout songs. They were happier after that, and only Rosanna was just a little lonely when she thought of the days when Uncle Robert was away, and reflected that all the days would be like that by-and-by. Just her grandmother and herself in the great stately old house, not occupying half of the rooms, and making so little noise that it made her lonely just to think of it. However, she put it out of her mind as bravely as she could.

Miss Hooker stayed to dinner, and Mrs. Horton was so charming that Rosanna could not help thinking what a very lovely young lady she must have been. After dinner, Mrs. Horton calmly carried her little guest away to her own sitting-room for what she called a consultation, and Rosanna and Uncle Robert who had nothing whatever to consult about now, sat and read. Upstairs, Mrs. Horton sat down opposite her son's sweetheart, and said smilingly:

"I want to say something to you that Robert does not dream I am going to say, and if you do not approve, I want you to be frank enough and brave enough to tell me. Will you?"

"Yes, indeed I will," Miss Hooker promised.

"I am an old woman, my dear, and silent. Sometimes I fear I am not very agreeable. It is a hard and unchildlike life that our little Rosanna leads here with me. I want you to ask yourself if for her sake you could bring yourself to live here for a few years. I know how dear a new little house is to a bride's heart, and I tremble to ask you such a favor. But Rosanna has a lonely life at best, and with you here this house could be made gay indeed.

"I would never ask it for myself, but I do for Rosanna. I would gladly do anything I could for her, but I cannot fill the house with the sort of joy and gayety that she should have. She loves you deeply, and her Uncle Robert is her ideal.

"Wait a moment, dear," she added as she saw her guest was about to speak. "I want to tell you what we could do. There are nine large rooms on this floor. You could select what you want for a suite, and you and Robert could decorate and furnish and arrange them to suit yourselves. I would be so glad to do this just as you wish, and then of course, my dear, the house is all yours besides. Could you consider it?"

"I don't have to consider it," said the little Captain. "I have already thought about it, and was worried about Rosanna, but I knew that she could not come to us and leave you all alone here. I am sure Bob will be glad to arrange it as you suggest, for he is very devoted to his mother and to Rosanna as well."

Mrs. Horton gave a sigh of relief. "I can't thank you enough, my dearest girl," she said. "No one wants to make your life as happy as I do, and if there is anything I can ever do for you, you have only to tell me.

Now we must have everything new in the rooms you want, so we will go down and tell Robert and Rosanna. How glad that child will be!"

Rosanna was tired and very nervous, and when Mrs. Horton and Miss Hooker came down with their great plan, Rosanna once more, to her own horror, commenced to cry.

"Well, for goodness' sake," her uncle cried, "I never _did_ see anything like this! What ails the child? This certainly settles me! I shall never, never plan to get married again. Rosanna is turning into a regular _founting_; yes, ma'am, a regular _founting_!"

"Oh, I am so sorry--no, I mean I am so _glad_," said Rosanna.

"You mean you are all tired out, and ought to go to bed," said her grandmother.

"And if I am to come here to live," said Robert's sweetheart, dimpling, "I may as well see how I shall like putting a girl in her little bed."

Rosanna, nearly as tall as the little lady, laughed through her tears.

She went over and kissed her uncle good-night.

"I am sorry I was so silly," she whispered. "I was _so_ lonely when I thought you were going away that somehow when I found you were not, why, I just couldn't help myself."

"I know how you felt. It is all right, sweetness," Uncle Robert whispered back. Rosanna's clasp tightened round his neck.

"Uncle Robert, shall I--do you suppose--will I be your sweetness just the same even after you are married?"

Uncle Robert kissed her hard. "Before and after, and forever and ever more!" he said. "Just as soon as I get to be a sober married man, I shall be your uncle and your daddy too, and you are going to be the happiest little girl in the world."

"Oh, Uncle Robert!" was all Rosanna could say, but her look thanked him and tears were very near his own eyes as he watched the little orphaned girl skipping off with her arm around the shoulders of his future wife.

But they were tears of happiness.

"Don't you love this room, Captain?" asked Rosanna, as she switched on the soft flood of light.

"Indeed I do!" said Miss Hooker. "I expect to spend a great deal of my time here. Between us, Rosanna, we ought to be able to plan the most wonderful things for our Scout troop. And next summer Bob says he will find a place for us to camp, and fit us out with tents and all that, so we will not have to go to a boarding-house or hotel, but stay right in the open. Won't that be splendid?"

"Think of it!" said Rosanna. "Won't the girls be wild when they hear about it? Oh, dear, I wish I was eighteen so I could be a lieutenant!"

"I don't wish you were eighteen," said Miss Hooker. "I like you just as you are."

"Oh, Miss Hooker, you are _so_ sweet!" said Rosanna.

Miss Hooker dimpled. "One thing we had better settle right now," she said. "What are you going to call me?"

Rosanna looked blank. "I hadn't thought about that at all. Of course I can't go on calling you Miss Hooker, and then Mrs. Horton. And you are too little and too young to be anybody's aunt."

Miss Hooker watched her with a smile.

"What are you going to do about it then? I want you to call me just what you like. You are to choose."

"Then I will tell you what," said Rosanna brightly. "I was reading the sweetest little story the other day about a Spanish family, and they called each other _Cita_. It means _dear_."

"_Cita_," repeated Miss Hooker. "Why, I think that is just as sweet as it can be, and I should love to have you call me that."

"Then that is what you are, little Cita," said Rosanna with a kiss. And to her devoted household, Cita she remains to this very day.

Cita and Uncle Robert did not seem able to agree on a date for their wedding. Cita declared that it would take at least six or eight months to get what she mysteriously called her "things" together. Uncle Robert declared with equal fervor that she had everything she needed, and that they were not going to go off and live on a desert isle where there were no shops.

Finally Uncle Robert had an inspiration. "I tell you what let's do," he said after a long argument. "Let's leave this to an outsider: someone with no special interest in the affair. And as a business man, I will name the agent."

"Very well," said Cita. "See that you play fair."

"I name and nominate Miss Rosanna Horton, and as her aids and a.s.sistants I name and nominate Miss Helen Culver and Miss Elise Hargrave."

"That is not playing fair at all!" cried Cita. "You know perfectly well that they want us to be married soon."

Robert shook his head. "Not at all! Our marriage is detrimental to those persons named, insomuch as I shall take you off on a wedding trip, and by so doing shall interfere with the routine of work in your Scout troop. That is a good committee, and I shall trust them. I shall now call them in."

The three girls were working in the Scout room on the tarleton stockings, filling and tying them. Robert stepped to the door and summoned them. Putting the question before them in the most serious manner, he told them that they were to decide.

"I should think I ought to decide my _own_ wedding day!" cried Cita.

"You don't seem able to do it," said Robert. "You have been trying to decide for the last ten days. You see it is a business proposition with me. Perhaps if these good, kind young ladies succeed in fixing a wedding day, say before Christmas, I won't have to buy you any Christmas present."

"I don't _want_ to be married before Christmas," wailed Cita, looking appealingly at the girls.

Rosanna nodded her head understandingly, and the three girls left the room.