dy might change
jobs with me."

"Not so you could notice it," was the united reply from these two young
men who sat with a basket of English walnuts between them and did great
execution with nut crackers, while Anne and David separated the kernels
from their shells.

The eight originals had repaired to the O'Malley kitchen immediately
after their arrival, and were deep in the preparation of the spread,
long deferred.

Grace stood by the gas range watching the chocolate she was making,
while Nora and Jessica sat at a table making tiny sandwiches of white
and brown bread with fancy fillings.

"This spread will taste much better because we've all had a hand in it,"
remarked David, as he handed Nora a dish of nut kernels, which she
dropped into the mixture over which Hippy labored.

"I never fully realized my own cleverness until to-night," said Hippy
modestly. "My powers as a fudge maker are simply marvelous."

"Humph!" jeered David, "you haven't done anything except stir it, and
you tried to quit doing that."

"But no one paid any attention to my complaints, so I turned out
successfully without aid," retorted Hippy, waving his spoon in triumph.

"Stop talking," ordered Nora, "and pour that fudge into this pan before
it hardens."

"At your service," said Hippy, with a flourish of the chafing dish that
almost resulted in sending its contents to the floor, and elicited
Nora's stern disapproval.

"How fast the time has gone," remarked David to Anne. "Just to think
that it's back to the college for us to-morrow."

"It will seem a long time until Easter," replied Anne rather sadly.

"And still longer to us," was David's answer.

"Oh, I don't know about that," put in Grace, who had heard the
conversation. "I think it is always more lonely for those who are left
behind. Oakdale will seem awfully dull and sleepy. We can't play
basketball any more this year on account of the loss of the gym., and we
seniors are going to give a concert instead of a play. So there are no
exciting prospects ahead. There will be no class dances as we have no
place to dance, unless we hire a hall, and we never have money enough
for that."

"How about the five hundred dollars the judge sent?" asked Reddy.

"Oh, we have decided not to touch that. The money we take in at the
concert will be added to it," said Nora. "That will be two
entertainments for the seniors, and we think that is enough. We want the
other classes to have a chance t