k your hair is nice the way it is," she said. "I'd leave it
alone if I were you."

Winnie paused, on her way to the kitchen.

"Don't let Doctor Hugh hear you say any such nonsense," she scolded.
"The idea! Bobbing a head of hair like that--it's going directly
against the generosity of the Lord!"

"What is?" demanded a pleasant voice, and Doctor Hugh came into the
room.

He had changed to a fresh linen suit at the Jordan office, as the
town had designated it to distinguish it from his home office, and
he looked so wholesome and clean and strong and smiling that the
four faces brightened at once.

"You have to bring 'em up when I'm not around, don't you, Winnie?"
he said humorously, slipping into the chair vacated by Rosemary.
"What mischief are they into now?"

Winnie vanished into the kitchen, murmuring something about a salad,
and Rosemary answered for her. Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded.

"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina
Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as
pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?"

"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy
weakly.

"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions,
that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that
empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must
have been named for her."

"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like
her, either."

"Nina Edmonds is my friend," began Rosemary, scarlet-cheeked.
"You--"

"I beg your pardon, Rosemary," said the doctor instantly. "I
honestly do. I had no right to speak like that. But you mustn't
think of bobbing your curly mop, dear."

"Sarah's hair is bobbed," Rosemary pointed out.

"It was cut to make it grow," answered the doctor. "Mother told me.
You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow,
Rosemary."

"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah.

"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor
Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering
her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair--that's flat."

"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of
the girls do--not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I
don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut
to-morrow? Please?"

Doctor Hugh's dark eyes behind their glasses rested on the pretty,
willful face.