which Judith made so
prodigious. "Never mind, Judy-pudy, you shall come and look me over
every once in a while and see that I am being well treated. Miss Merton
may be a perfect monster, after all."

Judith was not to be won to speech by any such bald nonsense, and
stalked homeward in thoughtful silence, hardly seeming to hear the gay
chat of the other two in regard to what Miss Pat should or should not
take with her to Artemis Lodge.

At the door of their own apartment Patricia stood quite still with a
rather blank expression.

"We forgot all about asking Doris Leighton," she said. "How perfectly
stupid of us."

Elinor had her key in the door and she flung it open on an unlighted
interior as she spoke.

"Very stupid indeed, my dear," she admitted cheerfully, "but it's too
late to remedy it now. Besides, I don't see how you'd have got a room in
Artemis Lodge in any other way."

"And that was the most important thing, after all," agreed Patricia,
stumbling over a stool in the dimness. "Mercy! What's that?"

The small figure which rose at their approach gave a familiar chuckling
laugh and before it could speak, Judith exclaimed, "Marty Sneath, all by
herself, too!"

And Marty Sneath it proved to be, ahead of her schedule by nearly
twenty-four hours and very much pleased with the chance to be installed
in her new quarters that much sooner than had been planned.

After the lights were turned on and they had all commented encouragingly
on the improvement in Marty's dress and appearance, she gave them an
enlivening account of all that had happened in the village since their
departure, particularly dwelling on the changes in the modest home of
the Sneath family since Danny's removal to the far-away school where Mr.
Long had sent him.

"I tell you it ain't like it used to be," she said with a shake of her
elfish head and a twinkle in her brilliant eyes. "Clara's got real well
and Pop's swore off, and there ain't no lively times like there used to
be. Of course," she prophesied cheerfully, "Pop'll fall off in about a
week--he ain't one to stick to water long, you know. Then I bet there'll
be some scrimmages. He's dead set on Clara goin' for service and she
wants to be a typewriter. And they're both awful set. But it won't be
nothin' without Danny. It's awful flat at home now."

It was rather hard to sympathize with this peculiar point of view, so
they kept to the safer side by asking about Danny, whether he liked