aid the whole world
was _my_ only kin, but I never ran against anyone who wanted to look me
over before she left me a fortune! Who ever heard of North Hero Island
and where in goodness is it?"

"I remember, now, that her name was awfully queer--Aunt Sa-something or
other, and North Hero Island isn't _utterly_ unknown, Nancy, to the
can't even remember! I wish it had happened to Lake Champlain. I saw
it once on a road-map when I was touring last fall with Professor and
Mrs. Scott, and Professor Scott said it was a locality picturesquely
historic--I remember."

Claire turned the letter over and over.

"I think it's all awfully thrilling! An aunt you can't even remember!
I wish it had happened to me! It would be something so different.
It's just like a story. But what a _lot_ she does think of her
forefathers!"

"Well, the Leavitts are a very old family and they are a New England
family, too, although I was born in California," interrupted Anne with
a dignity that would have gladdened the great-aunt's heart.

Nancy was again provoked to merriment.

"Dad always said that the only other Leavitt _he_ knew was a
cow-puncher! He could lick anyone on the plains."

Anne ignored this. She was frowning in deep thought.

"The tiresome part is that--if I _don't_ go--if I tell her about going
to Russia--she may write to my guardian!"

All three were struck dumb at the thought. Anne had not consulted her
guardian before she had impulsively enlisted her services in Madame
Breshkovsky's cause. Because she was three months past twenty-one,
legally he could not interfere, but being so newly of age she had not
had the courage to meet his protest. So she had simply written that
she was planning a long trip with friends and would tell him of the
details when they had been completed. A letter lay now in her desk
which she intended to mail the day before she sailed. It would be too
late, then, for him to interfere. If her conscience troubled her a
little about this plan, she told herself that the cause justified her
action.

And now this Aunt Sa-something might upset everything!

"I wish I could remember more about those relatives up there--father
and mother used to laugh whenever they mentioned the old place. I
always imagined they were dreadfully poor! She must be a terrible old
lady--you can sort of tell by the tone of her letter. Oh, dear!"

"What will you do?" echoed Claire, still thinking it a much more
at