Sarah. "And
he'll come out as many week-ends as he can; will you really come, Jack?"

"I always did yearn to be a hired man," Jack answered earnestly, "and
they tell us there is no time like the present to put one's ambition in
training. I'm awfully afraid I'll have to earn my living after I leave
school and a nice trade, like that of hired man, might be useful in my
later life. I'll think it over and let you know, Sarah; but don't let
Mr. Hildreth build on my coming--I can't face his grief and
disappointment in case I fail to turn up."

"You think you're smart!" was Sarah's retort and Rosemary said to
herself that it was impossible to tell when Jack was in earnest.

Winnie came out and told them that lunch was ready just then, and Jack
took his fishing tackle and retreated to his own home which was next
door, first thanking Rosemary fervently for the unknotted line she
handed him.

There were times during the days of preparation for the eventful Monday
when Mrs. Willis wondered whether they were really wise to go to so
much trouble, times when she thought wearily that her own home, noisy
as it might be, would be far preferable to the effort required to adapt
her family to a new environment.

Rosemary put the feeling into words one noon when the doctor came home
to lunch and found her sitting on the floor beside a trunk with a
lapful of rusty keys.

"Nothing fits," complained Rosemary. "All the keys to everything are
lost. And I don't see what good a restful summer will do Mother if she
has nervous prostration before she gets off."

Doctor Hugh settled several difficulties in as many minutes--he had a
gift for that--by dispatching Sarah to the locksmith with soft-soap
impressions of the keyless locks and orders to get keys to fit them and
insisting that his mother must stay quietly in her room the remainder
of the day and be served with luncheon and supper there.

"You girls try to talk all at once," he told his three sisters when
they sat down at last to Winnie's rice waffles, "and that is enough to
tire anyone.

"Can't I take the cat, Hugh?" urged Sarah anxiously. "You can take it
in the car for me and I know fresh country air will be good for poor
Esther."

"Esther wouldn't appreciate Rainbow Hill," said Doctor Hugh with
conviction. "Cats don't like to change their homes, Sarah. Besides,
you'll have all the animals you want once you are on the farm. And
that reminds me I want to say one thing to