e."

Later in the afternoon when they had almost reached their own cottage in
the woods, Betty suddenly slipped an arm across her older sister's
shoulder. Polly had already said good-by.

"After all we did discover a kind of enchanted forest, didn't we,
Esther?" she whispered.

But Esther was tired and annoyed. "Lieutenant von Reuter was an
agreeable enough fellow for a foreigner, if that is what you mean,
Betty," she returned. "But I got rather tired of his telling us the
story of Siegfried which I certainly knew perfectly well. Besides, it
seemed to me that he was trying to make an impression upon us. And I
shall never, never be able to understand how you can like these German
youths so much. I should feel a great deal happier about you and so
would your brother if you were safely back in Woodford."

"Don't be a goose, dear," was Betty's only answer.

CHAPTER XII

The Uncertain Future

"Have you ever wished some days that you were nine years old instead of
nineteen, Miss Adams--Margaret?" Polly O'Neill corrected herself
hastily.

The girl and the older woman were sitting out in the yard in front of
their funny little German cottage one afternoon just before twilight.
Polly had been reading aloud until the dusk had settled down too
thickly, and since then had been silent, gazing pensively at the far
line of hills toward the west.

Margaret Adams looked closely at the girl before replying. For the past
few days she had seen that there was something unusual weighing upon
Polly's mind, since she was never able to conceal her emotions, and had
wondered whether she was feeling homesick or if something had occurred
to worry her. But she only answered lightly: "No, Polly, I am afraid
when one is thirty-five one is more apt to wish to be nineteen than
nine. But would you like to tell me, dear, what special objection there
is to your present age? Don't, if you feel that you would rather not, or
if you would be betraying a confidence."

But Polly gave a characteristic shrug. "No," she returned, "I would not
be betraying a confidence, only an imagination, and since the
imagination happens to be my own, I suppose I have the right to betray
it."

Not comprehending exactly what the younger girl was trying to say and
yet understanding that she would make herself plain later on, the woman
quietly waited. She was interested in the processes of Polly's mind and
liked to see them work themselves out.

"Do you lik