a mischievous twinkle in her eyes: "I imagine you would
have been still more impatient if you had known--" she paused wickedly
and just looked at them.

"Don't tease, Betty! What is it?" they implored in chorus, fairly
pouncing upon her, while Grace added, eagerly:

"Is it possible you have anything really interesting to tell us?"

"I shouldn't wonder if you would think so," Betty teased, adding quickly
to forestall the outburst she saw was coming, "It really isn't anything
at all--only--I met the postman on my way--"

"Betty!" they cried, unable to contain their impatience another moment.
"You have letters! Letters from our soldier boys!"

"How did you guess it?" said Betty, her eyes dancing as she brought from
a convenient pocket three--yes, three--fat letters, each containing the
longed-for foreign postmark.

"How much will you give me?" teased Betty, holding the precious missives
behind her back.

"Not one other word, Betty Nelson!" they cried, and after a merry but
brief struggle the letters were seized and delivered to their rightful
owners.

"Now I wonder," drawled Grace with a twinkle, as she hastily tore open
her envelope, "who could possibly be writing to us from the other side?"

"Now I wonder," chuckled Betty, as she happily drew from the convenient
pocket the last, but in her estimation decidedly not the least, fat
letter and proceeded to devour its contents without delay.

And indeed the Outdoor Girls had little reason to wonder who their
correspondents might be, for as regularly as clockwork those precious
letters with the strange foreign postmarks were delivered to their eager
hands.

There were other letters with that foreign postmark, too, for in
addition to their work at the Hostess House, the girls had faithfully
kept up a large correspondence with the brave boys who had already
crossed the water and were waiting impatiently for their chance "at the
Huns."

But the four special letters were from their closest friends--boys who
had lived in Deepdale before the war and were now in France preparing
for the last stage of their journey.

Allen Washburn, on his way to make a great name for himself in the law
before the war put a temporary check upon his ambitions, had been in
love with the Little Captain for--oh, yes, ever since he could remember,
while Betty--but Betty would never really admit anything, not even to
herself.

Then there was Will Ford, Grace Ford's brother, who was not on