oic air of
braving the worst. "Tell us, now--what will you do?"

Lucile paused to consider for a moment, then announced, gravely, "There
is only one punishment great enough for such a crime----"

"And that----" they breathed.

"That," repeated Lucile, sternly, "would be to remove the light of my
presence----"

"Oh if that's all you needn't mind about us," said Jessie, evidently
relieved.

"Go on, Lucy," urged Evelyn, virtuously. "I won't interrupt again."

"Better get started before she repents," advised Jessie.

"Sound advice," Lucile agreed, ironically, though her eyes snapped with
fun. "I don't see why two people can't get along without throwing
hatchets at each other's heads all the time. But never mind that," she
added, hastily, seeing signs of more "hatchets."

"All I have to say is, it isn't my fault," murmured Jessie.

"The only way to treat the lower classes is to ignore them absolutely,"
Evelyn retorted, turning her back on Jessie. "Now, Lucy, what were you
saying?"

"I was _trying_ to say something about my trip----" she began.

"Oh, yes, how long are you going to stay?"

"All summer."

"Oh, you lucky, lucky girl," cried Jessie. "You do certainly have the
most wonderful luck. Not but what you deserve every bit of it and more,"
she added, warmly.

"There's just one thing in the world on which we both agree," laughed
Evelyn, "and that's it!"

They looked with fond and justified pride upon the laughing recipient of
their praise. From anybody's point of view, Lucile was good to look upon.
Mischief sparkled in her eyes and bubbled over from lips always curved in
a merry smile. "Just to look at Lucile is enough to chase away the
blues," Jessie had once declared in a loving eulogy on her friend. "But
when you need sympathy, there is no one quicker to give it than Lucy."
From her mass of wind-blown curls to the tips of her neat little tennis
shoes she was the spirit incarnate of the sport-loving, fun-seeking
summer girl.

Then there was their summer at camp the year before, when Lucile had led
them undauntedly and as a matter of course through experiences and
dangers that would have dazed the other girls.

And then had come the crowning glory, the climax of their wonderful
summer--the race! They felt again the straining of that moment when, with
half a length to make up and scant twenty yards from the goal, she had
led them in the glorious, madcap dash to victory! From that day on she
had reign