l scold me to death if I let you
get away."

"I am afraid we can't stay but a moment or two, dear," objected Mrs.
Tolman. "It is growing late, you know, and we must get to the hotel
before it is too dark."

"But I won't delay you a second, Mother--truly, I won't. I do want you
to meet Jane. I'll ask the girls if they have seen her anywhere."

"If you get out into that mob they'll fall all over you and you'll never
get back," growled Steve, who was beginning to feel hungry and was none
too graciously inclined toward the prospective stranger.

"Oh, yes, I will," laughed Doris as she darted away.

In spite of this sanguine prediction, however, she did not return as
promptly as she had promised, and Mr. Tolman began to fidget uneasily.

"We really ought to be starting on," he said at last. "Where is that
child?"

"I knew she'd stop to admire everybody's new hat and talk over the whole
summer," grumbled Steve scornfully.

"You are thinking of your dinner, son," his mother put in playfully.

"You bet I am! I'm hungry as a bear."

A pause followed in which visions of a big beefsteak with crisply fried
potatoes blotted out every other picture from Steve's mind.

"Perhaps we ought not to have waited," he heard his mother murmur. "But
I had not the heart to disappoint Doris. She is so fond of Jane and has
talked so much about her! I had no idea it would take her so long to--"

"Here she comes!" Mr. Tolman broke in.

Stephen glanced up. Yes, there was Doris hurrying across the grass and
beside her, walking with the same free and buoyant swing, was the girl
of the golden hair,--Jane Harden.

With the same reserve and yet without a shadow of self-consciousness she
came forward and in acknowledgment of the hurried introductions extended
her hand with a grave smile of welcome; but both smile and gesture
carried with them a sincerity very appealing. When she greeted Steve he
flushed at being addressed as _Mr. Tolman_ and mentally rose six inches
in his boots. Yes, she was decidedly pretty, far prettier than she had
been in the distance even. In all his life he had never seen a more
attractive girl.

"I hope, Jane, that you are coming home with Doris for a visit sometime
when your own family can spare you," he heard his mother say. "We all
should like to have you."

"And I should like to come," was the simple and direct answer.

"Do plan on it then. Come any time that you can arrange to. We should
very much enjoy ha