abitha in watching the queer procession that she had not
noticed the quiet approach of a bevy of happy-faced girls; but now, as
she turned toward Myra with the remark, "She's clear grit. I'd choose
a wife like that if I were a man," she found the laughing eyes of Grace
Tilton staring at her, and before she could find her tongue to voice
her surprise, Gwynne's regal head bobbed through the crowd toward her.
Jessie and Julia, Vera and Kate, all her particular friends at Ivy
Hall, seemed to spring up around her, and although half expecting to
find them there, she stood transfixed with amazement, silently
regarding them one by one, while they in silence stared back at her.
Then the circle parted, and among the familiar faces of her schoolmates
appeared another, which dimpled and smiled and nodded engagingly, and
Tabitha awoke with a start.

"Carrie Carson!" she cried, and ran straight into the outstretched arms
of the golden-haired girl.

"Kitty, my puss!" whispered Carrie, cuddling the black head dropped on
her shoulder; and the other girls thoughtfully turned away to watch the
sea-gulls careening about the mastheads of the big _Cabrillo_.

But after a moment, that sweet, familiar voice spoke again, and turning
back, the Ivy Hall girls saw Carrie stretching out her hands to timid
Gloriana, as she said, "So this is my other sister, my Gloriana! It
seems as if I had always known you. We are going to have great times
at Ivy Hall this year. Come on, girls, the glass bottom boat is to
take us to the Marine Gardens right after dinner, and we'll have to
hurry, or be late."

Myra turned to Tabitha with a comical grimace, and said, "What did I
tell you? Hurry's the word."

Then a babel of voices broke loose, all laughing and talking at once,
and in triumph Tabitha and Gloriana were escorted to Ivy Hall Camp.

CHAPTER XV

MYRA'S CLIMAX

"Well, vacation is over, and we had just begun having a good time,"
sighed Tabitha mournfully, drawing back the curtains and peering out of
the window that September morning into the gray fog of early dawn. "It
doesn't seem possible that we are back in Los Angeles again. I 'most
wish we had stayed at Catalina for this last day."

The Catalina campers, after a delightful two weeks' outing on the
Island, had returned to mainland the day before; but as Ivy Hall had
not yet opened its doors to its pupils, and most of the girls lived in
neighboring towns, Myra Haskell had invited t