treet as the motor-car drew near.

"Doctor Davison!" cried Helen and Ruth together.

The chauffeur slowed down and stopped as the doctor waved his hand.

"I must bid you girls good-bye here," he said, coming to the automobile
to shake hands. "I have a call and cannot be at the station. And I
expect all of you to do your best in your studies. But look out for
your health, too. Take plenty of gym work, girls. Tom, you rascal! I
want to hear of you standing just as well in athletics as you do in
your books. Ah! if Mercy was going with you, I'd think the party quite
complete."

"What do you hear from her, Doctor?" questioned Ruth, eagerly.

"My little Goody Two-sticks is hopping around pretty lively. She will
come home in a few days. Too bad she cannot see you before you go.
But then--perhaps you'll see her, after all."

"What do you mean?" demanded Helen, looking sharply at the physician.
"You're hiding something. I can see it! You've got something up your
sleeve, Doctor!"

"Quite so--my wrist!" declared the physician, and now, having shaken
hands all around, he hurried away, looking vastly mysterious.

"Now, what do you suppose he meant by that?" demanded Helen. "I'm
suspicious of him. He's always bringing unexpected things about. And
poor Mercy Curtis----"

"If she could only go to Briarwood with us," sighed Ruth.

"She would make you and Helen hustle in your work, all right," declared
Tom, looking over the back of his seat. "She's the smartest little
thing that I ever saw."

"That's what Dr. Davison says," Ruth observed. "If the surgeons have
enabled her to walk again, and dispense with the wheel chair, why
couldn't she come to Briarwood?"

"I don't think Sam Curtis is any too well fixed," said Tom, shaking his
head. "And Mercy's long illness has been a great expense to them.
Hello! here we are at the station, with plenty of time to spare."

Mrs. Murchiston was not going with them; the trio of young folk were to
travel alone, so Tom took the tickets, got the trunk checks, and
otherwise played escort to the two girls. There were several friends
at the station to bid the Camerons good-bye; but there was nobody but
the stationmaster to say a word to Ruth Fielding. It was his lame
daughter whom they had been discussing with Dr. Davison--an unfortunate
girl who had taken a strong liking for Ruth, and for whom the girl from
the Red Mill, with her cheerful spirit and pleasant face, had done a