ughter, was
just coming up the steps. "What's this about Mr. Evans buying Lake
Huron?"

"Oh, nothing so startling as that," said Mrs. Evans, laughing in great
amusement. "We haven't started out to own the world yet. But without any
effort on his part, Mr. Evans has become the owner of a small island
somewhere in Lake Huron. Some time ago he lent a large amount of money
to a company owning the island to establish a bottling works for mineral
water, which flowed from a spring on the island. But after the money had
been spent to get the business under way the spring was discovered to be
much smaller than had at first been supposed; in fact, not large enough
to be profitable at all. The company went bankrupt, and the island,
which had been put up as security for the loan, became the property of
Mr. Evans. Owning an island so far away was so much like having a castle
in Spain that none of us thought much about it until just now, when Mr.
Evans has suffered a severe nervous breakdown and the doctor has ordered
him to get away from his work and from the city altogether and spend the
summer living close to nature. This made our trip to the seashore, with
its hotels and its throngs of people, out of the question, and then we
thought of the desert island up in Lake Huron. But when we talked it
over we decided that it would be pretty lonesome up there with just the
three of us, and Gladys suggested that we round up all the girls who
would otherwise stay in town all summer and take them up with us. Do you
suppose any of you could go?" Mrs. Evans looked rather wistfully from
one to the other.

"Will we go?" shouted Sahwah, likewise forgetting the heat and capering
madly about the porch, "I should say we will! We were just resigning
ourselves to the dullest summer that ever happened."

"I would love to go," said Migwan a little less vehemently, but none the
less sincerely, "and I don't think my folks will have the slightest
objection. Mother was really worried about my having to stay here during
the hot weather. She's afraid I've studied too hard."

"And I am sure I can go," said Hinpoha. "The Doctor and Aunt Phoebe are
going East to a lot of conventions, and while I could go along, I
suppose, rather than stay at home, I'd lots rather go with you."

"How about you, Katherine?" asked Mrs. Evans.

Katherine was holding her head up again and her eyes were sparkling with
animation. "You blessed people!" she exclaimed in extravagant