eved possible. The tears
sprang to her eyes. There was a little tremor in her voice that she
tried to hide with a laugh.

"Oh, Rob! I'm so glad! Nothing could make me happier than to have you
think that!"

They started on down to the gate together. The only sound in all the
late afternoon sunshine was the soft rustling of the leaves overhead.
How many times the old locusts had watched their yearly partings! As
they reached the gate, Rob balanced the letter on his palm an instant.
Evidently he had been thinking of it all the way. "Yes," he said, as if
to himself, "that proves a right to the third leaf." Then he dropped the
letter in his pocket.

Lloyd looked up, almost shyly. "Rob, I want to tell you something. Even
after that letter was written I was tempted not to send it. I was
sitting with it in my hand, hesitating, when I heard yoah whistle in the
hall, and then it came ovah me like a flash, all you'd said, both in
jest and earnest, about friendship and what it should count for. Well,
it was the old test, like jumping off the roof and climbing the
chimney. I used to say 'Bobby expects it of me, so I'll do it or die.'
It was that way this time. So if I have found the third leaf, Rob, it
was _you_ who showed me where to look for it."

Then it was that the old locusts, watching and nodding overhead, sent a
long whispering sigh from one to another. They knew now that the two
children who had romped and raced in their shadows, who had laughed and
sung around their feet through so many summers, were outgrowing that
childhood at last. For the boy, instead of answering "Oh, pshaw!" in
bluff, boyish fashion, as he would have done in other summers gone,
impulsively thrust out his hands to clasp both of hers.

That was their good-by. Then the Little Colonel, tall and slender like
Elaine, the Lily Maid, turned and walked back toward the house. She was
so happy in the thought that she had found the golden leaf, that she did
not think to look behind her, so she did not see what the locusts
saw--Rob standing there watching her, till she passed out of sight
between the white pillars. But the grim old family sentinels, who were
always watching, nodded knowingly and went on whispering together.

THE END.

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

* * * * *

THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS
(Trade Mark)

_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_

_Each 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per v