baby is she'd send it
something. She is always helpin' poah people."

"But I have a special reason for keeping it a secret," urged Eugenia.
"Promise not to say anything about it for awhile anyhow. Wait till I am
ready to go home."

"Why?" asked Lloyd, with a puzzled expression.

"She's afraid for godmother to know," said Betty, unable to control her
tongue any longer, and still smarting with the recollection of some of
the things with which Eugenia had answered her refusal to go into the
camp with them.

"It is no such a thing!" cried Eugenia. "It was all right for us to go,
and I've a private reason of my own for not saying anything about it for
awhile. It is a very little thing to ask, and I'm sure that, as a guest
of Lloyd's, it is a very little thing for her to do, to respect my
wishes that much."

"Oh, of course, if you put it that way," said Lloyd, "I'll not say
anything about it till you tell me that I can."

"You boys don't mind promising, either, do you?" asked Eugenia, flashing
a smile of her black eyes at each one in turn.

"Cross your hearts," she cried, laughing, as they gave their promise,
"and swear 'Really truly, blackly, bluely, lay me down and cut me in
twoly,' that you won't tell."

Joyce laughingly followed the boys' example, and Eugenia gave a
significant smile toward Betty, riding on alone in dignified silence.
"Then it is all right," she exclaimed, loud enough for her to hear,
"that is, if Miss Goody-goody doesn't feel it her duty to run and
tell."

Betty was too angry to make any answer. She rode on with her cheeks
burning and her head held high. Mrs. Sherman was sitting in the wide,
cool hall when the little party stopped at the steps. The boys had
ridden down the avenue, too, and dismounted to speak to her.

"I have left invitations for you all to come to dinner to-night," she
said, as Malcolm and Keith came up to shake hands. "Your Aunt Allison
has consented to play fortune-teller for us. Have you ever had your
fortune told, Rob? You are to come, too."

"Yes, once," answered Rob, cautiously, catching a warning look from
Eugenia. "It wasn't very satisfactory, though, and I'll be glad to try
it again."

Such a flush had spread over the Little Colonel's face that Mrs. Sherman
noticed it. "I am afraid you have ridden too far in this noonday heat,
little daughter," she said. "You'd better go up-stairs and bathe your
face."

The boys took their leave, and Lloyd escaped from her mo