ys we could perhaps interest her in
some home duties--the girls will all be in school, and we could have her
more to ourselves, and, perhaps, smooth down some of these rough
corners."

Mrs. Clyde looked wistful.

"I shall miss the dear child so," she said. "I wish we might keep her
with us a bit longer. Boarding-school will be the beginning of a long
break, I fear."

"It is because of the association that I particularly wish her to enter
Miss North's school. She will meet refined girls from some of our old
New England families, and the influence cannot fail to be helpful. I
hope she will not be tempted to tell them that her grandmother is a
brick," Miss Clyde added as an afterthought, but her smile was indulgent
rather than critical.

"Girls are much the same the world over," her mother answered with the
wisdom of experience. "Blue Bonnet is very like her mother. She was a
great romp, but she passed the hoydenish period in safety, so will Blue
Bonnet; never fear."

"She must be taught order and system; and a little domestic science
under Katie might not come amiss, since she will some day be at the head
of a household," Miss Clyde went on, and her mother signified approval.
"Then there is mending and darning. On the whole, I think the next
three months might be made very profitable to Blue Bonnet right here at
home. I am not at all sure but that too much emphasis is given to the
cultural side of education, and too little to the domestic these days. A
girl to be well educated should be well rounded."

After dinner, when the fire in the grate had been lighted--for the
autumn evenings were beginning to bring chill to the air--and the family
gathered for an hour's chat before bed, Miss Clyde broached the subject
to Blue Bonnet.

"How would you like to continue your vacation for three months longer,
Blue Bonnet, to stay on here with Grandmother and me until after the
holidays?"

"And have no studies at all?" Blue Bonnet interrupted, her eyes widening
with surprise. "What a lark!"

"Well, there would be duties," Miss Clyde admitted. "One could not be
altogether idle and keep happy."

"We should like you to be our dear home girl for a while longer, Blue
Bonnet," Mrs. Clyde said gently. "It is going to be very hard to give
you up."

"But I shall be at home for the week-ends."

"We hope so, dear, if it does not interfere too much with your studies.
Sometimes there is distraction in change of scene and habit. Whe