end a "ghost" led to the finding of the missing documents,
and Dodo was cured, so that all came out right. Then had followed more
delightful times cruising and camping, and now, with the advent of fall,
and Mollie's touring car, more glorious times were in prospect. The
girls had not been long back from Rainbow Lake when Mollie received her
auto.

I might mention that Betty Nelson was the daughter of a wealthy carpet
manufacturer, with a large plant near Deepdale, while Mollie Billette
was one of three children, her mother being a widow. Little Paul and
Dodo I have already mentioned. Grace--the "Gibson girl," as she was
often called, had a peculiar longing for sweets, and not being stinted
as to pocket money--her father being a wealthy lawyer--she indulged her
taste rather too much, so some of her friends thought.

There was a mystery about poor Amy Stonington, for the details of which
I must refer my readers to the first book. Sufficient to say that since
a baby she had been cared for by her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John
Stonington. Amy had lived in the West, and had been rescued from a
great flood when an infant. What became of her parents, or her brothers
or sisters--if she had any--no one seemed able to say. In a way this
mystery embittered Amy's life, but she was of too sweet and good a
disposition to allow it to make a difference with her friends.

The four girls had been chums since grammar school days, being now High
School students. In addition to the "inseparables," as they were often
called, my former readers will recall Will Ford, the brother of Grace;
his chum, Frank Haley, and another friend, Allen Washburn, now a young
lawyer, with whom Betty--but there, why should I give away Betty's
little secret?

Quite in contrast to these boys was Percy Falconer, a rather foppish
lad, who greatly admired Betty--as who did not? But as for Percy--Betty
did not care for him in the least. She was too fine a character to
permit herself to be really angry at him, but Betty and Percy never
could get along well.

"Dear Deepdale," as the girls alliteratively referred to it, was a
charming country town, nestling in a bend of the Argono River, which,
some miles below the village, widened out into Rainbow Lake. It was on
this lake that the girls had cruised, and had such fun, and Betty's
boat was now docked in the new house constructed for it near Mollie's
home. The girls lived within short distance of one another, and