ive the necessary orders for dinner, see that
the rooms were being properly arranged, and so forth. Everything was
going on well; the house was in exquisite order from attic to cellar.
Ogden shut up with Mr. Richards, the servants quietly busy, and Danton
Hall as still as a church on a week-day. Grace, humming a little tune,
took her sewing into the dining-room, where she liked best to sit, and
began stitching away industriously. The ticking of a clock on the mantel
making its way to twelve, the rattling of the stripped trees in the
fresh morning wind, were, for a time, the only sounds outdoor or in.
Then wheels rattled rapidly over the graveled drive, coming to the house
in a hurry, and Grace looked up in surprise.

"Back so soon," she thought? "They cannot have driven far."

But it was not the handsome new barouche--it was only a shabby little
buggy from the station, in which a young lady sat with a pile of trunks
and bandboxes.

"Rose!" exclaimed Grace. "I quite forgot she was coming to-day."

A moment later and the front door opened and shut with a bang, flying
feet came along the hall, a silk dress rustled stormily, the dining-room
door was flung open, and a young lady bounced in and caught Grace in a
rapturous hug.

"You darling old thing!" cried a fresh young voice. "I knew I should
find you here, even if I hadn't seen you sitting at the window. Aren't
you glad to have me home again? And have you got anything to eat? I
declare I'm famished!"

Pouring all this out in a breath, with kisses for commas, the young lady
released Grace, and flung herself into an arm-chair.

"Ring the bell, Grace, and let us have something to eat. You don't know
how hungry I am. Are you alone? Where are the rest?"

Grace, taking this shower of questions with constitutional phlegm,
arose, rang the bell, and ordered cakes and cold chicken; the young lady
meantime taking off her pretty black velvet turban, with its long
feather, flung it in a corner, and sent her shawl, gloves, and fur
collar flying after it.

"Now, Rose," expostulated Grace, picking them up, "how often must I tell
you the floor is not the proper place to hang your things? I suppose you
will be having the whole house in a litter, as usual, now that you have
got home."

"Why did you send for me then?" demanded Rose. "I was very well off. I
didn't want to come. Never got scolded once since I went away, and I
pitched my clothes everywhere! Say, Grace, how do you ge