why he had refused to accept her answer as final--that last
evening they had been together.

"And I made him promise on his honor not to tell you that I had told.
So don't be cross at him," Claire pleaded, a little worried at Nancy's
expression. "He has gone back to Judson's and he said--he asked me to
ask you if you would go out to Bird's-Nest--after supper--and----"

Claire, failing in words, threw her arms around Nancy's neck and kissed
her. Anne, who had been impatiently waiting for an opportunity, took
up her part of the story.

"Goodness, Nancy, you can be thankful you've been up here and not at
the apartment--it's unbearably stuffy and hot. Although it ought to
have seemed like paradise after my quarters in London," snapping her
lips together. Poor Anne, her dream of service was now only a bitter
recollection. "I was sitting there as forlorn as could be when in
blew--no other word could describe it--Claire's brother. You wouldn't
have dreamed from the way he acted that he'd never laid eyes on me
before. He told me about the confession you'd written him and he said
he knew you were unhappy up here because of your false position and
that I ought to come back up here with him and get you out of it. He
didn't want me to lose a moment. Then, while we were talking, your
letter came with its astonishing news. Isn't it all like some
nightmare--all the aunts and things mixed up the way they were? We had
to read your letter over and over to understand it. Then when we
finally got it through our heads, we decided we'd get Claire and start
the next day for North Hero."

"But Dad?" asked Nancy.

"We were all ready to go when a taxi drove up to the door and out
jumped your father. Of course he had to hear the whole story way back
to the letter Noah brought to our room. Barry didn't give him a chance
to even wash his face, he bundled him straight into the automobile as
though it were a matter of life and death. And here we are. And this
place looks like Heaven," Anne finished.

It was a merry party that gathered around Miss Sabrina's table.
B'lindy wanting to express all that was in her heart, had spread a
supper fit for the gods. Nancy's father had carried Miss Milly
downstairs and sat between her and Nancy. Every now and then Nancy
slipped her hand into his, under the tablecloth. Miss Sabrina, at the
head of the table, beamed down upon them all in a pathetic ecstasy of
happiness. From the kitchen ca