Lucile laughingly obliged, and the girls gave an involuntary gasp of
delight.

"Oh, you darling," cried Evelyn, hugging Lucile so ecstatically that in
her enthusiasm she almost lost her balance and nearly fell to the ground
beneath. Lucile clutched her and brought her back to safety.

"A chair is the safest place for you," said her rescuer, laughingly.

"Take off the hat and everything will be all right," said Jessie. "That
was what nearly caused your undoing."

"Oh, very well," Lucile agreed. "For such a little thing why quarrel?"
and disappeared within the house.

"Remember," said Evelyn, warningly, "remember, that hat is mine, and if
you dare to put a slur upon it I'll----"

"Lucy, Lucy," cried Jessie in a frightened voice, "come quick; she is
threatening me!"

"All right; wait a minute," came the voice from inside.

"But I can't wait a minute," wailed Jessie; "she may have killed me by
that time."

"Well, what----" began Jessie, and Evelyn, glancing at her astonished
face, broke into a shout of laughter.

"Oh, Lucy, come and see what you've done," she gasped. "Oh, Jessie, I
never saw you look so funny, and that's saying a good deal."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," said Jessie, icily, though there was a twinkle
in her eye. "Not having a mirror, I'm afraid I can't join in the joke."

"No, you are the joke," countered Evelyn.

Jessie's natural sweet temper was fast becoming ruffled by this rapid
fire and she had opened her mouth for a sharp retort when Lucile came
running out.

"What's the matter?" she cried, gaily, and then, at sight of Jessie's
face, she stopped.

"Overdose of hammers," she diagnosed, then wisely changed the subject.

"If we don't hurry up, the girls will be here before we have a chance to
say anything at all about Mrs. Wescott."

She perched herself upon the railing beside Jessie and soon they had
forgotten all momentary animosity in an animated discussion.

Five minutes later Lucile exclaimed, "Here come Marj., Ruth and Margaret
now. I wonder where the rest of them are."

"Welcome to our city," said Jessie. "We have great news for you
strangers."

"So we imagined." It was Marjorie Hanlan, a tall, dark, good-looking
girl, who answered.

"I couldn't sleep, wondering what you wanted," chimed in Margaret, the
little girl who had been lame, but now was just like other girls.

"And we have all been so happy about you, Margaret, since Lucy told us
the specialist said you were cur