the girls began to notice, in his listener as well.

Lucy Bennett was frightfully romantic, and jumped to conclusions at
once. "Oh, do you suppose he will marry her?" she cried under her breath
to Silvia, as the two kept together.

"Who? What are you talking about?" demanded Silvia, who was very
matter-of-fact.

"Why, that old man--Mr. Whatever his name is," whispered Lucy.

"Mr. Clemcy? do get names into your head, Lu," said Silvia crossly, who
wanted to look at things and not be interrupted every minute.

"I can't ever remember names, if I do hear them," said Lucy, "so what is
the use of my bothering to hear them, Sil?"

"Well, do keep still," said Silvia, trying to twist away her arm, but
Lucy clung to it.

"Well, I can't keep still either, for I'm mortally afraid he is--that
old man, whatever you call him--going to marry her."

"Who?" demanded Silvia sharply.

"Our Miss Salisbury, and--"

"Lu Bennett!" Silvia sat down in the first chair she could find. It was
very fortunate that the other groups were so absorbed that nobody
noticed them.

"Oh, you do say such perfectly silly things!" declared Silvia,
smothering the peal of laughter that nearly escaped her.

"Well, it isn't silly," cried Lucy in an angry whisper, "and it's going
to happen, I know, and she'll give up our school to Miss Anstice, and
come and live here. Oh my!" She looked ready to cry on the spot. "Look
at them!"

Now, Silvia had called Lucy Bennett "silly" hundreds of times, but now
as she looked at Mr. Clemcy and Miss Salisbury, she began to have an
uneasy feeling at her heart. "I won't go to school to Miss Anstice," she
declared passionately. Then she began to plan immediately. "I'll get
mother to let me go to boarding school."

"And I'll go with you," exclaimed Lucy radiantly. All this was in stage
whispers, such a buzz going on around them that no one else could
possibly catch a word. And so in just about two minutes, they had their
immediate future all planned.

"Well, you better get up out of that chair," said Lucy presently, and
picking at Silvia's sleeve.

"I guess I'm not hurting the chair," said Silvia, squinting sideways at
the high, carved back. "They asked us in here,--at least _he_ did."

"Well, he didn't ask us to sit down," said Lucy triumphantly.

"And if he's going to marry her," said Silvia, in a convincing whisper,
"I guess I can sit in all the chairs if I want to."

"Hush!" warned Lucy, "here comes Miss An