reining her horse beside a chuckling brook and pointing to a
near-by birch grove. "I feel just like this water. I want to run as fast
as I can, calling, 'Spring is here! Spring is here!' Don't you perfectly
love this odor of growing things? Listen to that phoebe! Doesn't it
sound as if he were saying, 'Spring's come! Spring's come!'"

She was off her horse before the other girls had time to answer,
climbing the steep sides of the glen in search of the first hepaticas.

"Here they are!" she called back joyfully a moment later. Under the
lichen-plastered rocks, among the damp leaves, the delicate blossoms
peeped forth shyly. Kitty fell upon her knees and buried her nose in the
delicious fragrance.

"Oh, the darlings!" Debby exclaimed, close behind. "Girls! Let's gather
as many as we can find, and send a box of them to Blue Bonnet. Remember
how she raved over them last year? She said they were almost as lovely
as the blue bonnets that bloom in Texas about this time."

The suggestion met with instant approval, and for the next half hour six
girls worked busily.

"Seems to me they're awfully early this year," Amanda said, searching
under the mahogany colored leaves for the little furred heads. "I never
knew them to come before April."

"Oh, you forget from year to year, Amanda," Kitty reminded. "Anyway,
it's almost April. A week from to-day is the first. That's the day Blue
Bonnet gets here. And, by the way, I have a letter from Blue Bonnet. It
came just as I was leaving the house and I waited until we were all
together to read it. Suppose we go up on the hill a little farther and
get in a patch of sunshine. It's a trifle chilly in the shade, even if
Mr. Phoebe does keep insisting that 'Spring's come!'"

"Humph! Short and sweet," Kitty commented, as she drew forth the letter.
"Suppose it is because she will be with us so soon."

"DEAREST GIRLS:--

"This is a joint letter to-day. I am so busy with exams this
week that I can't do much letter writing. The tests have been
something awful. The girls say they grow stiffer all the time---
but no matter! I daresay you have troubles in this line of your
own.

"I have the pleasure to inform you, girls, that Uncle Cliff will
be in Boston the first day of April, and that he has written me
to invite the We Are Sevens to be his guests at the Copley Plaza
for three days, beginning on that date. This means that we shall
all return to