r perfume. In the dining-room Pete was again "swinging back and
forth like a pendulum," it is true; but it was a cheerful pendulum
to-day, anxious only that no time should be lost. In the kitchen alone
was there unhappiness, and there because Dong Ling had already spoiled
a whole cake of chocolate in a vain attempt to make Billy's favorite
fudge. Even Spunkie, grown now to be sleek, lazy, and majestically
indifferent, was in holiday attire, for a brand-new pink bow of huge
dimensions adorned his fat neck--for the first time in many months.

"You see," William had explained to Bertram, "I put on that ribbon again
because I thought it would make Spunkie seem more homelike, and more
like Spunk. You know there wasn't anything Billy missed so much as that
kitten when she went abroad. Aunt Hannah said so."

"Yes, I know," Bertram had laughed; "but still, Spunkie isn't Spunk, you
understand!" he had finished, with a vision in his eyes of Billy as she
had looked that first night when she had triumphantly lifted from the
green basket the little gray kitten with its enormous pink bow. This
time there was no circuitous journeying, no secrecy in the trip to New
York. Quite as a matter of course the three brother made their plans to
meet Billy, and quite as a matter of course they met her. Perhaps
the only cloud in the horizon of their happiness was the presence
of Calderwell. He, too, had come to meet Billy--and all the Henshaw
brothers were vaguely conscious of a growing feeling of dislike toward
Calderwell.

Billy was unmistakably glad to see them--and to see Calderwell. It was
while she was talking to Calderwell, indeed, that William and Cyril and
Bertram had an opportunity really to see the girl, and to note what time
had done for her. They knew then, at once, that time had been very kind.

It was a slim Billy that they saw, with a head royally poised, and a
chin that was round and soft, and yet knew well its own mind. The eyes
were still appealing, in a way, yet behind the appeal lay unsounded
depths of--not one of the brothers could quite make up his mind just
what, yet all the brothers determined to find out. The hair still curled
distractingly behind the pretty ears, and fluffed into burnished bronze
where the wind had loosened it. The cheeks were paler now, though the
rose-flush still glowed warmly through the clear, smooth skin. The
mouth--Billy's mouth had always been fascinating, Bertram suddenly
decided, as he watch