Alice" wrote to her brother: "I am delighted
that you are coming up, for I am so lonesome, and the weeks drag so
hard! Bring your friend up, by all means, and I'll sing 'Ben Bolt' until
he hates the name of Sweet Alice. The country will be looking finely
then, and he can go over to the cemetery, and select the corner I am to
occupy. Pardon the joke, and don't tell him I uttered it."

To Frank she wrote: "Be sure to come up with Bert. I will sing all the
old songs, and the new ones you have sent me, as well. If you come up
on a Thursday you may visit my school Friday afternoon, if you will
behave, and then you can see the girl you sent the candy to. She wears a
calico pinafore, and comes to school barefooted."

Consistency, thy name is woman!

From all this it may be inferred that Alice was just a little
coquettish, and that verdict is no doubt true. Like all her charming sex
who are blessed with youth and beauty, she was perfectly conscious of
it, and quite willing to exert its magic power on a susceptible young
man with dark curly hair and earnest brown eyes. Neither was she
impervious to the fact that this said young man was a possible heir to
plenty of money. She never had much lavished on her, and, while not
having suffered for the necessaries of life, she had had to deny herself
all luxuries, and, most vexatious denial of all, a new gown and hat many
times when she needed them. Her tactful reply to her brother's letter,
coupled with his own sincere affection for her, brought her a response
by return mail in the form of a check for one hundred dollars, with
explicit orders to spend every cent of it before he came.

Whether she did or not we will leave to the imagination of all young
ladies so situated.

CHAPTER XVII

A BY-WAY SCHOOLHOUSE

Sandgate was just budding forth in a new suit of green, the meadows
dotted with white and yellow daisies, and here and there a bunch of
tiger lilies waved in the breeze, when one Friday afternoon the teacher
at the north district school heard a knock.

The class in reading, then in evidence, were halted in their sing-song
of concert utterance and Alice Page opened the door to find two stalwart
young men standing there. With a quick impulse of propriety she stepped
out and closed the door behind her, only to find herself clasped in a
big brother's arms and to receive a smack that was heard by every pupil
in the little schoolroom. With a very red face she freed herse