balcony? If it is not too cold for you, Miss Stuart wishes to have tea
out there."

Gwendolin and Dorothy Morton followed Bab in silence. As English girls do
not talk so much as American girls on first acquaintance, Barbara felt
compelled to keep up the conversation.

"I am ever so sorry," she went on; "but my friend, Ruth Stuart, and my
sister, Mollie, are not yet back from the hospital. They have gone to ask
about our little Indian girl."

"Your little Indian girl!" exclaimed Dorothy Morton, surprised into
talking. "Why, what do you mean?"

Bab glanced back over her shoulder as the three girls started into the
hotel. "There come Ruth and Mollie now!" she exclaimed. "They can tell
you about our little Eunice better than lean."

A crimson motor car was speeding up the avenue.

"How well Miss Stuart drives her car!" laughed Gwendolin Morton. "But she
will have to be very careful; the road laws are very strict in Lenox. I
must tell her that, if she is arrested, she will surely be taken to
prison. I don't know how to drive a car. My sister and I are more fond of
horses. Do you ride, Miss Thurston?"

Barbara colored. She wondered what these wealthy English girls would
think of the kind of riding to which she had been accustomed. An old
bareback horse, a Texas pony, once even a mule had been Barbara's steeds.
So she answered shyly: "Yes, I do ride a little. But, of course, I don't
ride in the beautiful way I know you and your sister do."

"We are very anxious to have you and your friends take part in our autumn
sports at Lenox," urged Dorothy Morton.

Barbara and the two English girls were waiting at the hotel door for Ruth
and Mollie.

In another moment Ruth jumped from her car, and, followed by Mollie, came
hurrying up to her guests.

"I am so sorry not to be here when you arrived," she explained. "We just
flew home. I was afraid of being held up every minute. But we were kept
waiting so long at the hospital that I knew we were late. Do let's join
Aunt Sallie. She will grow impatient."

Miss Stuart came forward from her veranda into their private
sitting-room. "I am so glad to see you," she said to the two English
girls.

"And we are delighted to be your first guests, Miss Stuart," said
Gwendolin, who was the elder of the two girls. "Mr. Heller wishes to come
in and pay his respects to you later, and I believe Mr. Winthrop Latham
and his nephew are on their way now. We passed them as we drove here."

"A