where we are till the end of the
year, and then you and nursie shall come and live with us,' she
explained.

'We shall see,' put in nursie, who had her own ideas upon the subject,
and proved to be right.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THINGS STRAIGHTEN OUT.

It is three months later, a lovely evening in June, and the back garden
of No. 2 Heather Road was a blaze of fine flowers, and under the
apple-tree in the centre of the lawn sat four girls in dresses which
looked a little too elaborate and costly for a quiet tea in a little
suburban villa.

So apparently thought the thrifty old housekeeper, who came out in a
plain alpaca gown, and said, 'Ah, my bairns, but you'll soil your
beautiful frocks sitting on those garden-seats!'

'We can't possibly wear our ordinary frocks to-day, nursie; it would be
a dreadful come down. Why! you have taken off your "silken gown," and
it's Stella's wedding-day!' cried Vava merrily.

Evidently she had forgiven her sister the surprise she had given her on
that eventful breaking-up day, for she looked the picture of happiness.

'And do you think I'm going to cook in a silk gown, whatever the day?
No, indeed! it's safely packed away, as yours ought to be, young
leddies!'

'We are going back to the workaday world to-morrow, nursie; let us stop
in fairyland for to-day,' said Eva.

Mrs. Morrison smiled at her; they all called her nursie now, even Doreen
had been allowed this privilege, and that was not the only privilege she
had been allowed, for, to her amazement, she had been invited to be a
bridesmaid to her goddess of beauty at the quiet wedding at a West-End
church. Perhaps Vava was as surprised as Doreen; Amy and Eva she
understood, but Doreen she had not expected to be asked, although the
Stella of the last three months had been a Stella she had not known
before.

Stella had explained it very simply. 'I should like to have those who
have been good to me in my days of adversity,' she said, 'and among
these were the Hackneys.'

And the four fashionably dressed girls were Stella's four bridesmaids,
for Mr. James had begged for an early wedding; and when Stella demurred
because of the new responsibilities she had taken upon her with the new
house, Mrs. Morrison had come to the rescue, and offered to keep house
for Amy and Eva.

'But, nursie,' Stella had said, 'we want you at Lomore; your rooms are
there waiting for you, and why should you stay down here away from your
home when the