h returned. "And I have too, in fact, though I try not
to be superstitious. Besides they've had the third--and it's all over
now."

"They have? When?" Amanda sat up in surprise.

"While we were camping. Kitty told me about it and said it was all her
fault. The last one wasn't, you know. First it's one and then the
other that's to blame."

"Kitty and Blue Bonnet aren't going to stop at three tiffs, you may
depend on it," Ruth said wisely. "They're going to have three times
three and then some. Because Kitty is Kitty, and Blue Bonnet is--Blue
Bonnet!"

As the gay music ceased Grandmother Clyde looked in at the door. "It
is time for the travellers to rest. They must be fresh for the great
occasion to-morrow," she said, nodding to Susy and Ruth.

Blue Bonnet glanced over to the couch where Ruth reclined among the
pillows. Her face, with its crown of short dark hair, looked very thin
and white.

"I reckon the girls had better go to your room, Grandmother,--it's
about the only place where they can be quiet. Benita is putting two
cots in the nursery, but it's never quiet in there till we're all
asleep."

Ruth rose regretfully, "I'll go rest if I must. But I hate to miss
anything that's going on. If you only knew how deadly dull it has been
in Woodford! I think the inhabitants have learned to appreciate the We
are Sevens, for the place has seemed empty without them. And everybody
wants to know when the Texas Blue Bonnet is coming back."

They all looked towards Blue Bonnet. "I--why--there's Uncle Cliff
looking for me," she said, and left the room precipitately.

"Blue Bonnet's usual way of avoiding an answer," thought Kitty.

"When does the Fall term of school begin?" asked Sarah.

"The tenth of September,--and that means we must leave here about the
third," said Susy. "Only two weeks of this for us, girls!"

"We'll see that they are two busy weeks," Kitty promised.

Blue Bonnet drew Uncle Cliff into a secluded spot on the side veranda.
"You just saved my life, Uncle Cliff."

"Were you being talked to death, Honey?"

"No,--but I just escaped a pitfall. People do ask the
most--uncomfortable questions."

"Suppose you tell me what sort?"

"Well, Ruth says people want to know when the Texas Blue Bonnet is
going back to Woodford."

"So that's come up again, eh?" Uncle Cliff knitted his brow. "I reckon
you're doing some thinking along that line, Blue Bonnet?" He watched
her face anxiously.

She nodded. "Yes,