ard of calling hour. But you see we
were caught in this awful downpour and had to seek your house for
refuge."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" exclaimed the lady, opening the door wider and
motioning them into the cheerfully lighted living room. "I didn't mean,"
she added with a smile, as they most willingly accepted her invitation,
"that I was sorry you came, but that you were forced to come by such
conditions. Won't you take off your things? But you are wet!" she
exclaimed, as the girls started to remove their dripping wraps.

"And we got it all," said Mrs. Ford with a wry smile, "just running
about twenty feet from our cars to your porch."

"Your cars!" the hostess repeated. "Then you motored down. If I had
known that I shouldn't have been so surprised at seeing you. Pedestrians
are rather rare on a night like this."

"Yes, and motorists, too, if they have any sense," said Mollie dryly, at
which they all laughed and their hostess looked still more interested.

"Please sit down and dry out a little," said the lady, indicating a
grate fire which had evidently only recently been lighted on account of
the chill in the air. "I'm glad I had the fire made. I must have known,"
she added with a gracious smile, "that you were coming to-night."

Then she excused herself, and the girls held out eager hands to the
fire.

"This is bliss," sighed Amy.

"Well, this is some contrast to about five minutes ago," chuckled Grace.
"I thought we were in for a night in the mud at least."

"I'll never say we aren't lucky again," agreed Betty, leaning an arm on
the mantel and getting her wet skirt as close to the fire as she could.
"We were just wondering," she added, addressing Mrs. Ford, "whether, if
Mollie's car got stuck, you would rather have Grace and me struggle on
to Bensington and get some help or stay and keep you company. Although,"
she added ruefully, "if we couldn't pull through that mud, I don't know
what we could find in Bensington to do it."

"Probably the only gasoline vehicles they have in the place are
jitneys," agreed Mollie, with a chuckle.

"I wonder," Amy broke in, apropos of nothing, "who our charming hostess
is. She seems so lovely. It seems odd to meet a person like her and a
house like this out in the wilderness."

"Yes, one does rather expect a farmer's wife and a rambling old
farmhouse so far out in the country," agreed Mrs. Ford.

"Well, maybe her husband is a scientific farmer," suggested Mollie,
adding wicked