But so far as my keeping
on with my music is concerned, I can't see that I shall ever have the
right not to do that. So I am going to make the biggest effort I
possibly can at the concert, and then if I fail, why at least I shall
have been true to 'the Law of the Fire.'"

At this Betty's face softened, but Dick Ashton marched abruptly out of
the room.

Neither of the two girls, though far away from their old Camp Fire
circle now for two years, had ever forgotten its purposes and teaching.
So often when they were lonely the three Wohelo candles were lighted and
the old ceremony followed, usually ending by Esther's singing a Camp
Fire song.

Tonight Betty walked over to a kind of shrine or shelf which they had
erected in one corner of their room. German houses have queer stoves and
no fireplaces. There she lighted three tall white candles. The long
northern twilight was fading and the room had become almost dark.

A moment after, Betty came and sat down on a stool at Esther's feet.

"I had a letter from Polly today," she began. "She and Miss Adams have
landed and are in England. They want to join us later if----if----"

"If what, Betty?" Esther demanded. "Surely you and Polly are not to be
disappointed in being with each other!"

"Well, it is just this that I have been dying to tell you ever since
you came home," Betty protested, her words now running over each other
in her effort to tell all her story at once. "Polly wrote that Miss
Adams would love to come and spend a part of the summer near us if we
were only in some place in the country. But she is too worn out from her
work last winter to feel that she can endure the city for any length of
time. And you know mother and I have been getting pretty tired of Berlin
ourselves lately, since the warm weather has come and you and Dick are
away so much of the day. So this morning while you were out I got one of
the maids to go with me and we went for miles into the country until we
came to an enchanting place, all forests and brooks, near the village of
Waldheim. I can't tell you all that happened to me or the queer
experience I had, only that I found a delightful place where we may
live. It is near enough for you and Dick to come back and forth into
town. And it is so still and cool with such wonderful green hills behind
it that somehow it made me think of Sunrise Mountain and our cabin and
the girls and--" But in a sudden wave of homesickness Betty's voice
failed an