" said Mrs. Clyde, softly, "--there goes the sun."

They followed her glance across the prairie that stretched away, green
and softly undulating, in front of the veranda, and watched the red
disk as it sank in a blaze of glory at the edge of the plain.

"Now you know," said Blue Bonnet, "why I felt like pushing back the
houses in Woodford--at first they just suffocated me."

Mrs. Clyde smiled with new understanding. "You probably agree with our
Massachusetts writer who complained that people in cities live too
close together and not near enough," she said, patting Blue Bonnet's
head as the girl, sitting on the step below her, leaned against her
knee.

"Didn't you ever get lonesome here?" asked Debby, snuggling up to
Amanda. She had been brought up among houses.

"Lonesome?" echoed Blue Bonnet. "I never knew what lonesome
meant--till my first day in school!"

All too soon came bedtime.

"Where are we all to sleep?" Blue Bonnet asked Benita. It was like
Blue Bonnet not to give the matter a thought until beds were actually
in demand.

Benita led the way proudly. "The Senora will have the little Senora's
room," she said, throwing open the door of that long unused chamber.

Mrs. Clyde entered it with softened eyes.

"Senorita's own room is ready for her, and here is place for the
others." Benita proceeded to the very end of a long ell to a huge airy
room, seemingly all windows. It was Blue Bonnet's old nursery, and,
next to the living-room, the largest room in the house. Four single
beds, one in each corner, showed how Benita had solved the sleeping
problem.

The girls gave a shout of delight; visions of bedtime frolics and long
talks after lights were out, sent them dancing about the place.

"I tell you what," announced Blue Bonnet, "--if you imagine I am going
off by myself when there's a sleeping-party like this going on, you're
mistaken. I say--" here she turned on Sarah, "--you've always wanted a
bed-room all to yourself; you told me so, one day. Well, here's your
chance--you're welcome to every inch of mine!"

Sarah, quite willing to confine her "parties" to daylight hours,
accepted the proposition eagerly. Maybe then she could get a peek at
those Spanish books.

"Are you sure you're willing to give it up?" she asked quite honestly.

And Blue Bonnet with an incredulous stare returned: "Are you quite
willing to give _this_ up?"

"Perfectly!" exclaimed Sarah with such promptness that Blue Bonnet
dism