. "No one but Ned
was ever so deluded as to call me handsome."

"Where is Ned? It is such a _shame_ that he can't be here,--the only one
of the family missing!"

"He is on his way to China," said Katy, with a little suppressed sigh.
"Yes, it is too bad; but it can't be helped. Naval orders are like time
and tide, and wait for no man, and most of all for no woman." She paused
a moment, and changed the subject abruptly. "Did I tell you," she asked,
"that after I broke up at Newport I went to Rose for a week?"

"Johnnie wrote that you were to go."

"It was such a bright week! Boston was beautiful, as it always is in
spring, with the Public Garden a blaze of flowers, and all the pretty
country about so green and sweet! Rose was most delightful; and I saw
ever so many of the old Hillsover girls, and even had a glimpse of Mrs.
Nipson!"

"That must have been rather a bad joy."

"N--o, not exactly. I was rather glad, on the whole, to meet her again.
She isn't as bad as we made her out. School-girls are almost always
unjust to their teachers."

"Oh, come, now," said Clover, making a little face. "This is a happy
occasion, certainly, and I am in a benignant frame of mind, but really I
can't stand having you so horridly charitable. 'There is no virtue,
madam, in a mush of concession.' Mrs. Nipson was an unpleasant old
thing,--so there! Let us talk of something else. Tell me about your
visit to Cousin Helen."

"Oh, that was a sweet visit all through. I stayed ten days, and she was
better than usual, it seemed to me. Did I write about little Helen's
ball?"

"No."

"She is just nineteen, and it was her first dance. Such a pretty
creature, and so pleased and excited about it! and Cousin Helen was
equally so. She gave Helen her dress complete, down to the satin shoes,
and the fan and the long gloves, and a turquoise necklace, and turquoise
pins for her hair. You never saw anything so charming as the way in
which she enjoyed it. You would have supposed that Helen was her own
child, as she lay on the sofa, with such bright beaming eyes, while the
pretty thing turned round and round to exhibit her finery."

"There certainly never was any one like Cousin Helen. She is embodied
sympathy," said Clover. "Now, Katy, I want you to look. We are just
turning into our own road."

It was a radiant afternoon, with long, soft shadows alternating with
golden sunshine, and the High Valley was at its very best as they slowly
climbed the