d for a few minutes supper was the
all-absorbing topic, as the cups went round and the goodies vanished
rapidly, accompanied by the usual mishaps which make picnic meals such
fun. Ralph's health was drunk with all sorts of good wishes; and such
splendid prophecies were made, that he would have far surpassed Michael
Angelo, if they could have come true. Grif gave him an order on the spot
for a full-length statue of himself, and stood up to show the imposing
attitude in which he wished to be taken, but unfortunately slipped
and fell forward with one hand in the custard pie, the other clutching
wildly at the coffee-pot, which inhospitably burnt his fingers.

"I think I grasp the idea, and will be sure to remember not to make
your hair blow one way and the tails of your coat another, as a certain
sculptor made those of a famous man," laughed Ralph, as the fallen hero
scrambled up, amidst general merriment.

"Will the little bust be done before you go?" asked Jill, anxiously,
feeling a personal interest in the success of that order.

"Yes: I've been hard at it every spare minute I could get, and have a
fortnight more. It suits Mrs. Lennox, and she will pay well for it, so
I shall have something to start with, though I haven't been able to save
much. I'm to thank you for that, and I shall send you the first pretty
thing I get hold of," answered Ralph, looking gratefully at the bright
face, which grew still brighter as Jill exclaimed,--

"I do feel _so_ proud to know a real artist, and have my bust done by
him. I only wish _I_ could pay for it as Mrs. Lennox does; but I haven't
any money, and you don't need the sort of things I can make," she added,
shaking her head, as she thought over knit slippers, wall-pockets, and
crochet in all its forms, as offerings to her departing friend.

"You can write often, and tell me all about everybody, for I shall want
to know, and people will soon forget me when I'm gone," said Ralph,
looking at Merry, who was making a garland of yellow leaves for Juliet's
black hair.

Jill promised, and kept her word; but the longest letters went from the
farm-house on the hill, though no one knew the fact till long afterward.
Merry said nothing now, but she smiled, with a pretty color in her
cheeks, and was very much absorbed in her work, while the talk went on.

"I wish I was twenty, and going to seek my fortune, as you are," said
Jack; and the other boys agreed with him, for something in Ralph's ne