ad them on ten minutes.

"We've been friends more than a week now," she said, as she finished
her cake in one large bite and brushed a few stray bits out of her lap.
"And I think you're just fine! I'm _so_ glad we came to live in Berwick.
I like you better than any girl I ever knew." Dotty spread her hands
wide as if embracing all the girls who had figured in her previous
existence. "Do you like me as much as that?"

As she spoke, she touched her toes to the floor and sent the swing up in
the air with a mad jump.

"Oh!" gasped Dolly, as her cake flew out of her hand; "how--how sudden
you are!"

"Never mind! _Do_ you like me as much as I like you?"

"I don't know," and Dolly looked thoughtful; "I like you, of course, but
I wish you'd sit stiller."

"Can't; I'm always jumpy. But you _do_ like me, don't you, Dollyrinda?"

"Yes, but I can't hop into a liking the way you do. We're awfully
different, you know."

"'Course we are! That's what makes us like each other. Just think,
Dolly, we'll be fifteen soon. Don't you think we ought to be called by
our full names and not Dolly and Dotty any more?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"Oh, 'cause we're too big for baby names. I'm going to stop wearing
hair-ribbons."

"You are! How ever will you keep your hair back? And you've such a lot
of it."

"I know. So've you. Why, I'll just braid it, and let the end flutter.
But Mother says she won't let me till I'm sixteen. Well, we'll see. Do
you want to grow up, Doll?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know anything! I never saw such a girl! Well, what are you
going to do when you're fifteen?"

"I haven't thought about it. Do I have to do anything different from
when I'm fourteen?"

"You don't _have_ to! But don't you _want_ to? What do you want to be
when you're grown up?"

"Oh, _then_! Why, then I'm going to be an opera singer."

"Can you sing?"

"Not much yet. But Trudy says I have a nice voice and I'm going to
learn."

"Pooh! I don't believe you'll ever sing in opera. I'm going to be an
actress."

"Huh! Can you act?"

"Not yet; but I'm going to learn." Dotty smiled as she realised that
their ambitions were at least equally promising. "Wouldn't it be fun if
we did both get to be famous! Me an actress and you a singeress. But I
may change my mind about mine. I do sometimes. Last winter I was crazy
to be a trained nurse; but Mother wouldn't let me."

"Will she let you be an actress?"

"I haven't asked her yet. There's