stayed away of their own accord, and it's getting really late."

"We've been here about three hours now, haven't we?" Jack added. "And
they ought to have been here an hour ago at the latest. Oh, well, we can
expect them any minute now."

"Suppose we go outside and see if we can find any sign of them," Evelyn
suggested. "It's hot in here."

So out they went, making a very handsome group as they looked eagerly in
all directions, vainly hoping to catch a glimpse of the big gray car.

"Phil, I'm terribly worried," Lucile murmured drawing closer to her
brother and slipping her hand into his for comfort.

Phil squeezed the little hand reassuringly. "Half an hour from now we'll
be laughing at our fears," he said, cheerfully, trying hard at the same
time to convince himself.

"Seems to me there's a good deal more noise than there was, Jack. Why are
all those boys running around like chickens with their heads cut off?
They all have papers, too." Jessie was frankly puzzled.

"They are newsboys, little coz, and they wouldn't be flattered by our
comparison. They are yelling what, in United States, would be 'extra!'
I'll get a paper and see if I can puzzle out some of the French," and he
strolled down to intercept one of the hurrying urchins.

Lucile watched him as he sauntered leisurely back, wondering, in her
distracted little brain, how he could be interested in anything when he
ought to be as anxious as she. "But it isn't his mother and father," she
explained to herself.

Meanwhile, Jack's puzzled frown had turned to a look of absolute dismay
and incredulity as he read.

"What is it?" Phil asked. "Everybody seems to be getting more excited and
worked up every minute. Look at that group of men over there. Does the
paper throw any light on the subject, Jack?"

"Well, I should say so!" cried Jack, in huge excitement. "Look here, all
of you!" And while they gathered around him, expecting they knew not what
calamity, he brokenly read the headlines: "Austria declares war on
Servia. Open break with Russia apprehended. Germany sides with
Austria----"

"War, war?" Phil echoed, dazedly. "Why, it's just as old Major B----
prophesied, only sooner. Can you read any more, Jack?"

"Oh, do, do!" urged Lucile, forgetting her anxiety in this overwhelming
almost unbelievable news. "There must be more of it you can make out."

The familiar honk of an automobile horn jerked their eyes from the paper
to the curb, where the big gray to