l look out fer the tea, milk, and the cookin'
utensils. The ones who are goin' must be here by three o'clock sharp."

Rod hurried home and found Parson Dan reading the morning paper which
had just arrived.

"Look here, Rodney," and the clergyman pointed to the headlines of an
article a column long. "See what the newspaper says about Miss
Royanna, and how she came all the way to Hillcrest to sing for the
scouts."

"What, is it all there, grandad?" and the boy eagerly scanned the page.
"Read it, please," and he perched himself upon a chair nearby.

To him it was wonderful that the paper should make so much of what the
singer had done. It told about the scouts, their entertainment, and
how two of the boys had gone all the way to the city to ask Miss
Royanna to go to Hillcrest.

"Isn't it great!" and Rod gave a deep sigh when the clergyman had
finished. "How I wish Miss Royanna could live here all the time."

"She took a great fancy to you, Rodney," and the parson smiled upon the
boy.

"I like her," was the brief comment.

During dinner Rod asked permission to go to the island with Captain
Josh and the rest of the scouts. After some discussion he was told
that he could go, and when the meal was over Mrs. Royal began to
prepare some food for him to take with him.

"It will do the boy good," the parson told her. "The captain is most
trustworthy, and camping out in the open for one night will do the boy
no harm."

Parson Dan had thought much about Anna Royanna's visit to Hillcrest.
He and Mrs. Royal had talked long and earnestly about the whole affair
the night before. They tried to discover some reason why she should
come all the way from the city to sing for a few country people, when
she was in such great demand elsewhere. That it was for Whyn's sake
did not altogether satisfy them. They recalled the special interest
she had taken in Rod, and they felt proud that their boy should have
received so much attention from such a woman.

While driving along the road that afternoon, a new idea suddenly
flashed into the parson's mind. "Can it be possible?" he asked
himself. So foolish did the notion seem that he tried to banish it
from his thoughts. But this he found to be most difficult. Why should
she come all the way to Hillcrest? And what about her great interest
in Rod, and that closing piece which she had sung in such a pathetic
manner? Stranger things had happened before, he mused. But they
gene