t, since they had done many strange things of late.

A word or two more before I go on.

The girls, as I have intimated, lived in the city of Deepdale, in the
heart of the Empire State. Deepdale--Dear Deepdale as the girls called
it--lived up to its name. It was a charming town, with some country
features that made it all the nicer. It nestled in a bend of the Argono
River, a stream of some importance commercially.

The four girls I have already named--Grace Ford, Mollie Billette, Betty
Nelson and Amy. In the first volume the latter was Amy Stonington, but a
mystery concerning her had been solved, and a brother who had long
sought her, at last found her. He was Henry Blackford, who was concerned
in the five hundred dollar bill mystery, and he recognized Amy as his
sister in a peculiar way. So Amy Stonington became Amy Blackford, and
Mr. and Mrs. John Stonington, instead of being her uncle and aunt, were
mere strangers to her.

No, not mere strangers, either, for they had not brought her up from a
baby to so easily relinquish her now. They could not bear to give her
up, and as she had no other relatives, except her brother, as far as she
knew, and as he had to travel about considerably in his business, Amy
remained with those she had so long regarded as her parents. She was
very glad to do so.

Betty was the only child, while Grace had, as I have mentioned, a
brother Will. Mollie had a small brother and sister--the twins, Dora (or
"Dodo") and Paul. Her mother was a well-to-do widow, and the parents of
the other girls were wealthy, but made no display of their means.

As I have noted, Will's foolish prank had brought its punishment, though
perhaps he did not merit it as much as did some of his chums. One, Frank
Haley, had been expelled, and another had been suspended for three
weeks. But to Will would seem to have come the heavier punishment, now
that he was away from home, no one knew where.

Mr. Ford came down from his wife's room. Grace glided out to him.

"How is she?" the girl inquired.

"I have made her feel a little easier," he announced. "Now we will hear
what Uncle Isaac has to say."

It was not a great deal.

"I put Will right to work, as you directed me, Jim," the visitor said to
his brother. "Work is good for boys, and I started him at the bottom of
the ladder. That's what you wanted; wasn't it?"

"Well, I did think so at the time, after he got into that scrape," said
Mr. Ford. "I was pretty well