!" murmured Ethel Blue.

"And Bunker Hill Monument, and, of course, the Navy Yard especially for
this daughter of a sailor," and he nodded gayly at his granddaughter.

"Grandmother will go, to take you around when I have to attend to my
business, and we can stay a day or two and come back fresh to attend to
Mrs. Paterno's affairs. How does it strike you?"

Without any preliminary conference, the three girls flung their arms
around his neck and hugged him heartily.

"Have you talked about it with Mother and Aunt Louise?" asked Ethel
Brown.

"I'm armed with their permission."

"I guess we were all worrying about Mrs. Paterno," admitted Ethel Blue.
"This will be the strong grass seed that will clear up our minds so
that we can help her better after we come back."

"I think you're the most magnificent Grandfather that ever was born!"
exclaimed Ethel Brown, standing back and gazing admiringly at her
ancestor.

"Thank you," returned Mr. Emerson, bowing low, his hand on his heart,
"I am quite overcome by such a wholesale tribute!"

"Had we better tell Mrs. Schuler about the embroidery class plan?"
asked Dorothy.

"Run up to Rose House now and explain it to her and ask her to talk to
the women about it while you are gone, and then when you get back
she'll have it all ready to start," Mr. Emerson suggested.

The next twenty-four hours were full of excitement. Each of the girls
had only a small handbag to pack, but the selection of what should go
into each bag seemed a matter of infinite importance. The Ethels
filled their bags twice before they were satisfied that they had not
left out anything that would be wanted, and Dorothy confessed that she
had first put in too much and then had gone to the other extreme, and
that it had not been until after she had had a consultation with her
mother that she had decided on just the number and kind of garments
that she would need for a two-day trip to the Hub of the Universe.

"Why is it called that?" she asked of Ethel Brown.

"I asked Mother and she said that people from New York and other cities
used to say that Bostonians thought that their town was the centre of
civilization. So they guyed it by calling it the 'Hub'."

Roger and Helen went into New York with the travellers and Delia and
Margaret were on the pier to see the steamer leave.

It was a glorious afternoon and the boat slipped around the end of the
Battery while the westering sun was still shining brill