said Allie laughing. "If we
don't, Charlie will think it's something ever so much worse that 't is.
All was, the boys didn't mean to like you anyway, and didn't want you to
come. The day you came, they went down to the station, and hid around,
waiting to get a look at you, to see what you were like. And the worst
of it all was"--Allie paused mischievously, and then went on; "they
found you weren't half so bad as they supposed you were going to be."

"If we could only go back again, and start there all over fresh!" sighed
Marjorie.

"We couldn't have a bit better time than we have had," returned Charlie.
"We've made the most of our chance, and we may as well be thankful for
it. Oh, but didn't I feel shaky, that first morning, when the train
stopped, and I had to get out! Allie looked about ten feet high and
thirty years old, when I saw her standing on the platform; and I was
sure I was going to be afraid of her. Wasn't, though," he concluded,
giving her hair a friendly tweak.

"Besides, 't isn't quite so bad as if we had to go right away," added
Allie hopefully, as they rose to go home. "We have two months more; and
there's time for ever so much to happen, between now and then."

But the two months hurried past them, and, before any one realized it,
the Burnams were on the eve of their departure. As Marjorie had said
when the subject was first mentioned, it was harder to stay than to go,
for those left behind had to keep on in the same old routine, where they
so keenly felt the loss of their friends who, on their side, were full
of anticipations for the new places they would see, the new
acquaintances they would make, while the bustle and excitement of
packing kept them too busy to realize all that they were leaving behind
them.

It had been decided that the Burnams were to go away from Blue Creek the
last week in June, and, soon after this plan was arranged, Louise and
Dr. Brownlee had announced their intention of being married on the
twenty-fourth, in order that their friends might be present at the
wedding, so the last few weeks had found the Everett household in as
great excitement as were the Burnams. It was to be only a quiet church
wedding, followed by a small reception. Louise had reduced Allie and
Marjorie to a state of speechless delight, by asking them to be her
bridesmaids; while the doctor had laughingly protested that Charlie and
Ned should act as ushers, since they had been instrumental in bringing
h