e told us that we were to go on a _coon
hunt_, and went racing up to the house to ask godmother herself.

"And she said yes, she was sure they would enjoy a glimpse of real
country Southern life, and some of our informal fun, far more than the
functions they could attend any time in the East. Besides she wanted
everybody to keep in mind that we were still little schoolgirls, even if
we were to be bridesmaids, and that was why she was taking us all off to
the woods for an old-time country frolic, instead of having a grand
dinner or a formal dance.

"Then Rob asked us if we didn't want to beg his pardon for doubting his
word, but Lloyd told him no, that

"'The truth itself is not believed
From one who often has deceived.'

"Then we tried to make him choose which he'd have, right or left, and
held out our hands again, but he said he knew that some great question
of choice was being involved, and that he would not assume the
responsibility. That we'd have to draw straws, if we wanted to decide
anything. So Eugenia held two blades of grass between her palms, and
Joyce drew the longest one. I couldn't help groaning, for that meant
that the Pilgrim Father must fall to my lot.

"But it didn't seem so bad after I met him. They all came out on the
three o'clock train with Phil. When the carriage came up from the
station we had a grand jubilee. Cousin Carl seemed so glad to get back
to the Valley, but no gladder than everybody was to see him. Stuart is
so much like Phil that we felt as if we were already acquainted with
him. He is very boyish-looking and young, but there is something so
dignified and gentle in his manner that one feels he is cut out to be a
staid old family physician, and that in time he will grow into the love
and confidence of his patients like Maclaren's Doctor of the Old School.
But dear old Doctor Tremont is the flower of _that_ family. We all fell
in love with him the moment we saw him. It is easy to see what he has
been to his boys. The very tone in which they call him 'Daddy' shows
how they adore him; and he is so sweet and tender with Eugenia.

"Contrasted with him and Cousin Carl, I must say that the Pilgrim Father
is not a suitable name for Doctor Bradford. Really, with his smooth
shaven face, and clear ruddy complexion like an Englishman's, he doesn't
seem much older than Malcolm. Still his dignity is rather awe-full, and
his grave manner and Boston accent make him seem sort