asked Eleanor.

"Yes; we've gone through school together since we were little shavers.
And that's quite a record for boys in New York, where folks are always
moving from one district to another," replied Jim.

"I believe your brother Tom said you were going to Yale?" continued
Eleanor.

"We will, if we pass the tests. I'm sure Ken will, but I'm not so sure
of myself."

"Now--don't belittle yourself. You know you will pass," added Kenneth.

"I'm sorry you both will be away from home, because Polly and I expect
to attend school in New York this Winter," remarked Eleanor.

"Me? School in New York?" cried Polly, astonished.

"Why, yes, of course! Didn't you know what was in my mind when I decided
I would like to go to New York with Anne Stewart?"

"But that doesn't mean _I'm_ going there!" exclaimed Polly.

"Of course you are. I don't want to go without you, so I shall scheme to
win your folks over to my way of thinking."

"Well, all I can say, is this: If you win them over to see how important
it is for me to go to school in New York, you are a wizard--that's all!"
declared Polly, laughingly.

"Your laugh sounds dubious, but I'll show you, pretty soon."

"Now, if you two girls should find yourselves in New York, we will have
our folks meet you and pilot you through the wilderness. It's worse
than out here on the mountains, you know," laughed Jim.

"In case I don't pass for college, I won't mind so much, as long as you
girls will be in the city to console me," added Kenneth, gallantly.

They laughed. "We won't waste much time consoling any one, I can tell
you," added Polly.

"No; Polly and I are going to study some profession, you know, and begin
business as soon as we complete our education."

"What?" exclaimed Jim, surprised to hear such young girls plan for a
business life.

"Yep! Polly is just daffy over interior decorating, and since she showed
me all her magazines and other books on it, I am crazy about it, too."

"But you don't have to study _that_!" declared Kenneth.

"That shows how little a man knows about it. Why, not only must a
decorator--a real one, we mean--know all about periods in architecture
and furnishings of all kinds, but she must know at a glance, whether an
object is genuine antique or a counterfeit," explained Eleanor, glad to
impress her male friends with her understanding of what is essentially a
woman's profession.

"Besides that," added Polly, "a good interior decorator m