may, in an instant
he was at Peggy's elbow, looking up into her face, and wagging his tail.

"I believe he knows," cried Peggy, while the table shouted. The new name
was unanimously endorsed, and with his re-christening, Peggy's canine
protege discarded the last survival of his life as a wanderer.

"And now about the chickens," continued Peggy, whose face had lost its
look of weariness in overflowing satisfaction. "I'm going to give them
to you, Lucy. I'm sorry there's only three of them, but--"

"Two," Amy interrupted in a plaintive undertone from the other side of
the table.

Peggy stared. "What! Has anything happened to Freckles?"

"No, he's all right. And so's the yellow hen, of course. But, Peggy, the
other chicken has disappeared. Lucy noticed this morning that it was
gone, and when all those people were here, she and I hunted everywhere.
And the old hen keeps on scratching and clucking just the same."

Peggy's countenance reflected the disgust of Amy's voice. "It isn't much
of a gift, Lucy. That yellow hen is really the worst apology for a
mother I ever imagined. Freckles is a nice chicken, but he's got some
very bad faults. He _will_ come into the house whenever the screen
door is left open, and he seems to have a perfect mania for picking
shoe-buttons and shoe-strings. I suppose it's because of the way he's
been brought up, but he's so fond of human society that he makes a
perfect nuisance of himself."

"Chicken pie would cure all those faults," suggested Graham, and they
all laughed again at Peggy's expression of horror. "Didn't you tell me
they'd bring forty cents a pound," the young man persisted, teasingly.

"Yes, but that was before I got acquainted with them. I couldn't turn
even the yellow hen into chicken pie, much as I dislike her. The wonder
to me," Peggy ended thoughtfully, "is that anybody ever makes money out
of raising chickens."

Between the supper and the early bedtime there was much to be done.
Trunks were packed, except for the bedding and similar articles, which
could not be dispensed with before the morning. The remnants of the
groceries were bestowed on Mrs. Snooks, and some matters which the girls
did not have time to attend to were left in charge of the capable Mrs.
Cole. Against everybody's protest, Peggy insisted on running over to the
Cole farmhouse to say good-by. Graham acted as her escort, and the two
were admitted by Rosetta Muriel, at the sight of whom Peggy gave an
invo