very nice; she knows
all about brownies--"

"Don!"--the elder boy spoke so sharply that Phyllis was startled.

"Thank you very much," he continued, looking at her. "My small cousin
is always getting lost, I hope he hasn't bothered you."

"Not a bit," Phyllis laughed. "We've had a fine time. I'm sorry if
you have been worried."

"Oh, I haven't," the boy replied, "but I think his nurse has the whole
police force out looking for him. I knew he'd show up."

"Good-by, Don." Phyllis held out her hand, and Don put his little one
in it.

"Don't get lost again, will you!"

"It depends," Don replied gravely. "I can't promise. Anyway I'll look
for you every time I go to the park, and I'll ask the brownies about
you, 'cause I like you, oh, heaps better than Chuck. He doesn't know
anything about brownies."

Phyllis looked at the boy still standing in the doorway. He was
blushing.

"How silly of him," she said to Don. "We do anyway, don't we?"

"'Course," Don replied, and he insisted in spite of his cousin's
threats to watch and wave until Phyllis was out of sight.

Phyllis, hidden by the corner, paused to laugh.

"That wasn't a very polite thing to say," she admitted. "I wonder what
made me think of it. He looked quite nice too. I wonder who he is?"

Don for the moment was forgotten.

As Phyllis hurried home, many were the thoughts that kept her company,
for the brisk wind had blown all her doubts away and only the joy of
Janet's arrival remained.

People passing her saw a slender girl of thirteen with a delicate oval
face and well-shaped features framed in a wealth of gold brown hair.
Her eyes were soft and limpid, and they held an expression of
dreaminess in their depths.

This afternoon, however, they sparkled and seemed to challenge the
whole world to find a happier mortal.

She walked along, her step light as a fairy's, her skirts still blowing
at the whim of the breezes.

"I think I will stop and see some of the girls," she said to herself,
but she changed her mind the next minute and went home instead. It was
like Phyllis to make up her mind one minute and change it the next.

She found the house deserted on her return, and she had to go down to
the basement to get in.

"Where's everybody?" she demanded of Lucy, the fat good-natured cook.

"Out, my dear," Lucy told her. "Your aunt is out calling, and Annie
has gone to the grocery for me."

"What did you forget to-night?" Phyllis tea