p an idea she was apt to keep to
it.

"Uncle David likes Dorothy," she argued. "He told Mother not to be
ridiculous. I heard him say so. Perhaps in time I shall get my own way."

Mrs. Clarke, anxious not to thwart her darling more than was necessary,
had many times proposed that some other classmate from Avondale should
be asked to Lindenlea. But Alison had flatly refused.

"I can't possibly have Grace Russell or Ruth Harmon without inviting
Dorothy. She'd think it most peculiar and unkind. No, Mother dearest, if
I mayn't have her I'd rather not ask anybody at all."

"But you ought to have young companions, Birdie," protested Mrs. Clarke
fretfully. "Your uncle was speaking to me on that very subject before he
went to Scotland; and he is your guardian, so he is partly responsible
for you. I believe I shall have to send you to a boarding school after
all."

"No, no; I should be miserable, and so would you without me. I'd hate to
leave the Coll. Don't worry, Motherkins, Uncle David shan't lecture you.
Naughty fellow! I won't be friends with him if he hints at boarding
school again."

"I shall certainly talk it over with him when he returns from Lochaber,"
said Mrs. Clarke.

"When is he coming back? Is he really going to take a house near here,
Mother?"

"I don't know. He may possibly settle in the South, in which case I
should certainly decide to remove, and to go and live near him."

"Oh, please no! I don't want to leave Latchworth or the Coll.,"
protested Alison.

Alison was indeed absolutely happy at Avondale. For a day school the
arrangements were perfect, and there were many features of the course
there which suited her tastes. She liked the Ambulance Guild and the
Tennis Club, and both the gymnasium and the laboratory were large and
specially well equipped, far more so than in most boarding schools. This
term, also, Miss Carter, the science mistress, had begun a very
interesting series of Nature Study lessons, which included birds and
insects, and made a special point of botany; and Alison, who adored
flowers, threw herself into it heart and soul. It was the one subject
over which she really gave herself much trouble. She collected specimens
and pressed them, identified them from the big volumes of "Sowerby" in
the library at Lindenlea, mounted them on sheets of cardboard, and
printed their names neatly underneath.

"I shall have something to send to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition," she
said, "though I