deth me of the graceful ostrich," chanted Mollie cruelly, "who
hideth his head and thinks thereby--"

"Now I know you're calling me names," cried Grace, raising the flushed
face and glaring threateningly at the back of the mischievous Mollie.

"Well, she at least said you were graceful," chuckled Betty, tearing open
a letter from Deepdale and still reserving the best till the last.
"Anyway," she added, "we have better things to do than to engage in
useless controversy."

"I don't know what it's all about," said Mollie, settling herself
luxuriously to enjoy her own small pile of letters. "But I'll take your
word for it, Betty, just the same."

And while they read the dusk came down upon them softly like a mantle, and
the setting sun sent ruddy rays to touch their young, bowed heads.

The last paragraph of Allen's letter Betty read and reread, finally
through a mist of tears that blurred the words and ran them in together.

"It won't be long," he wrote, "before we fellows will receive the orders
that we've all been crazy for--the orders that will take us to the front.
And then, Betty, there's not a Hun that can stand before me. For I've a
memory, little girl, that will make me carry on to victory--and you. Will
you be waiting for me, Betty, when it's over? Will you want me then? For
I'm coming to you, little girl. As surely as the sun rises every morning
and sets again at night, I'm coming to you. Betty, dear, I'm loving you--"

And Betty, raising a transfigured, tremulous face, gazed straight into the
heart of the setting sun.

"Yes, I'll be waiting," she whispered to herself. "Oh, Allen, come back to
me--come back to me--soon--"

And so, in the midst of stirring scenes, with martial music always ringing
in their ears, with pride in the past and courage in the future, we once
more wave farewell to our Outdoor Girls.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT THE HOSTESS
HOUSE***

******* This file should be named 14136.txt or 14136.zip *******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/1/3/14136

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright ro