ran the short distance from Mollie's home to Grace's,
and the people they met on the way, greeted them heartily, musing as he
or she turned to go on: "There's probably something interesting in the
air--the Outdoor Girls always look like that when they have some new
adventure in tow." For Deepdale was very proud and fond of its Outdoor
Girls.

Mrs. Ford was just coming down the stairs dressed to go out when the
quartette burst in upon her. She did look very tired and worn, as Grace
had said, but the smile that lighted her face at sight of the girls made
her appear ten years younger.

"Mother," said Grace, taking one of her mother's carefully gloved hands
in her own and leading her gently but firmly into the library, "we have
something very important to say to you."

"Will it take long?" queried Mrs. Ford, smiling at the other girls over
her shoulder. "Because, if it will, I'm very much afraid I can't wait.
I'm a little late now."

"That," said Grace decidedly, as her mother sank into a chair and the
other girls grouped themselves about her, "is exactly what we have come
to talk about. We think you need a little vacation."

"Vacation!" cried the lady, half rising from her chair. "Why, my dear!
how can I take a vacation when my hands are so full of work now that I
am--"

"You don't have to take it," Grace interrupted argumentatively, "we'll
just give it to you."

Mrs. Ford laughed helplessly and regarded the eager young faces with
amusement.

"Out with it, girls," she commanded. "I know you are plotting some
terrible thing. What do you intend to do, kidnap me?"

"No, we're keeping that for a last resort," returned Betty, and Mrs.
Ford laughed outright at the confession.

"We want," explained Grace, speaking fast for fear of being interrupted,
"to have you go with us to Bluff Point. We need a chaperone, you know."

"I've no doubt of it," retorted her mother, laughing, adding, with
another anxious glance at the clock: "But I'm afraid you will have to
get someone else, Honey. If I were free, I should like nothing better,
but you see how rushed I am--"

"But you're terribly tired, Mother, you know you are," said Grace with
unusual gentleness, adding diplomatically: "What good will you be to the
Red Cross or to anyone else, I'd like to know, if you let yourself get
sick?"

"But I'm not sick," protested her mother, then added with a sudden
longing as the wild solitude of Bluff Point rose before her eyes
sugges