ge?"

"Oh, auntie, why do you suggest the impossible?" Dorothy's face went
again from gay to grave. "Dear Molly is in California with her
father, who is ill, and they may not return for months."

"I'd forgotten you had not heard. Molly returned east with her father
some two weeks since, hence may be reached any time at her old
address."

"That's the best news I have heard since you told me I was to study
under Herr Deichenberg," Dorothy declared. "I'll write Molly to-day,
and if she comes, she shall have a reception at Bellvieu fit for a
queen."

Molly and Dorothy had first met during Dorothy's schooldays at the
Misses Rhinelanders' boarding academy in Newburgh, where they had
been the life of the school. Their acquaintance had ripened into more
than friendship when, together, they traveled through Nova Scotia,
and later met for another good time on the western ranch of the
railroad king, Daniel Ford. More than any of her other girl friends
Dorothy liked Molly, hence the news that she had returned east, and
that she might invite her to share the outing in the South Mountains,
caused Dorothy's eyes to glow with a deep satisfaction.

"And now that we have discussed so thoroughly our prospective
outing," said Aunt Betty, "we may change the subject. It remains for
me to arrange an early meeting for you with Herr Deichenberg. The
Herr has a little studio in a quiet part of the city which he rarely
leaves. It is quite possible, however, that I can induce him to come
to Bellvieu for your first meeting, though I am sure he will insist
that all your labors be performed in his own comfortable domicile,
where he, naturally, feels perfectly at home.

"I visited the studio some weeks ago--shortly after I received your
Uncle Seth's letter, in fact. The Herr received me cordially, and
said he would be delighted to take a pupil so highly recommended as
Miss Dorothy Elisabeth Somerset-Calvert."

"To which I duly make my little bow," replied the girl, dropping a
graceful curtsey she had learned from Miss Muriel Tross-Kingdon.

"My dear Dorothy, that is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen
you do. As Ephraim would express it, it is 'puffectly harmonious.'
Indeed, you _have_ improved since going to Canada, and it pleases me
immensely."

Aunt Betty's admiration for her great-niece was so thoroughly genuine
that Dorothy could not refrain from giving her another hug.

"There, there, dear; you overwhelm me. I am glad to be ab