n appreciative little laugh was the only answer to this and five
minutes later the moon was looking in upon a picture hard to duplicate
in this great world: Two sweet, unspoiled, beautiful girls in the first
flush of untroubled slumber.

The following morning being Saturday and Peggy's and Polly's belongings
having arrived, the girls set about arranging their room, half a dozen
others having volunteered assistance. For convenience in reaching "up
aloft" Peggy and Polly had slipped off their waists and were arrayed in
kimonos which aroused the envy of their companions. Captain Stewart had
given them to his "twins" as he now called the girls. Peggy's was the
richest shade of crimson embroidered in all manner of golden gods and
dragons; Polly's pale blue with silver chrysanthemums.

"Oh, _where_ did they come from?" cried Natalie.

"Daddy Neil brought them to us," answered Peggy, as she stepped toward
the door to take an armful of pictures and pillows from old Jess who had
followed his young mistress to Washington to care for Shashai and Silver
Star, the horses having been sent on also, for Columbia Heights School
had large stables for the accommodation of riding or driving horses for
the use of its pupils, or they could bring their own if they preferred.
So Shashai and Silver Star had been ridden down by Jess, taking the
journey in short, easy stages, and arriving the previous evening.
Tzaritza, to her astonishment had not been allowed to accompany them,
and Roy was inconsolable for days. Peggy's departure from Severndale had
left many a grieving heart behind.

"What I gwine do wid all dis hyer truck, Missie-honey?" asked Jess,
coming in from the corridor with a second armful: riding-crops, silver
bits, a fox's brush, books and what not.

"Just plump it down anywhere, Jess. We'll get round to it all in due
time," laughed Peggy from her perch upon a small step-ladder where she
was fastening up some hat-bands of the _Rhode Island_, _New Hampshire_,
_Olympia_ and the ships which had comprised the summer practice
squadron, the girls all gathered about her asking forty questions to the
minute and wild with curiosity and excitement. Never before had two
"really, truly Navy girls" been inmates of Columbia Heights and it sent
a wild flutter through many hearts. What possibilities might lie at the
Annapolis end of the W. B. & A. Railroad!

Jess's white woolly head was bent down over the armful of books he was
placing upon th