tty beamed.

"Isn't it a lark to be getting flowers from a _man_? I feel awfully
grown up!"

She lifted the cover, removed a mass of tissue paper, and revealed a
blue-eyed, smiling doll.

The three girls stared for a bewildered moment, then Patty slid to the
floor, and buried her head in her arms against the bed and laughed.

"It's got real hair!" said Harriet, gently lifting the doll from its bed
of tissue paper, and entering upon a detailed inspection. "Its clothes
come off, and it opens and shuts its eyes."

"Whoop!" shouted Kid McCoy, as she snatched a shoe-horn from the bureau
and commenced an Indian war dance.

Patty checked her hysterics sufficiently to rescue her new treasure from
the danger of being scalped. As she squeezed the doll in her arms, safe
from harm's way, it opened its lips and emitted a grateful, "_Ma-ma!_"

They laughed afresh. They laid on the floor and rolled in an ecstasy of
mirth until they were weak and gasping. Could Uncle Bobby have witnessed
the joy his gift brought to three marooned St. Ursulites, he would have
indeed been gratified. They continued to laugh all that day and the
following morning. By afternoon Patty had just recovered her
self-control sufficiently to carry off with decent gravity Uncle Bobby's
promised visit.

As a usual thing, callers were discouraged at St. Ursula's. They must
come from away, accredited with letters from the parents, and then must
pass an alarming assemblage of chaperones. Miss Sallie remained in the
drawing-room during the first half of the call (which could last an
hour), but was then supposed to withdraw. But Miss Sallie was a social
soul, and she frequently neglected to withdraw. The poor girl would sit
silent in the corner, a smile upon her lips, mutiny in her heart, while
Miss Sallie entertained the caller.

But rules were somewhat relaxed in the holidays. On the day of Uncle
Bobby's visit, by a fortuitous circumstance, Miss Sallie was five miles
away, superintending a new incubator house at the school farm. The
Dowager and Miss Wadsworth and Miss Jellings were scheduled for a
reception in the village, and the other teachers were all away for the
holidays. Patty was told to receive him herself, and to remember her
manners, and let him do a little of the talking.

This left her beautifully free to carry out the outrageous scheme that
she had concocted over night. Harriet and Kid lent their delighted
assistance, and the three spent the mo