ill be broken, and
of course you will invite her to visit you, and all will go well."

"A nice little scheme," responded Blanch, "but what will mamma and Ede
say, do you think?"

"Oh, never mind them," answered the plotter; "they need never know it.
Just tell them you are going to Saratoga with me for a few days. We will
go there, if you like, only we will stop off at Sandgate on the way. Now
do this for me, sis, and I'll buy you the earth when Christmas comes!"

"Well, you will have to stay here until Monday," said Blanch, "and be
real nice to mamma and Ede all the time, or I can't fix it. Lucky for
you, Master Frank, that they are out driving now!"

"But why must we wait four days?" asked Frank petulantly.

"Because, my love-lorn brother," she replied, "in the first place I
don't want to miss the Saturday-night hop, and then we are booked for a
buck-board ride to the Flume to-morrow. Another reason is, I mean to pay
you for turning your back on us and going off on the 'Gypsy.'"

That afternoon our eager suitor wrote Alice the longest letter she had
ever received, for it consisted of nine full pages. As most of it can
easily be imagined, there is no need to quote it; suffice it to say that
it was received with some pleasure and a little vexation by Alice.

"Mr. Nason and his sister are coming here Monday," said she to Aunt
Susan, "and we must put on our best bib and tucker, I suppose. But how
we can contrive to entertain his sister is beyond me." Nevertheless, she
was rather pleased at the prospective visitation, for in a measure it
was a vindication of her own position. Then again as her school had been
closed for over a month, her daily life was becoming decidedly
monotonous. When Albert had written regarding the invitation the Nasons
had extended, she believed it was due solely to Frank's influence, and
when that young man tried to obtain her consent to join a
yachting-party, providing his mother and sister decided to go, she was
morally sure of it. But it made no difference, for if the supposedly
aristocratic Mrs. Nason had sent her a written invitation she was the
last person in the world to accept it. To so go out of her way for the
possible opportunity of allowing the only son of a rich family to pay
court to her was not characteristic of Alice Page. Rather a thousand
times would she teach school in single blessedness all her life than be
considered as putting herself in the way of a probable suitor. Of he