r, and no mistake," agreed Jessica. Then, her glance
straying to Anne, "What makes Anne look so mysterious?"

Anne smiled. "I'll tell you the most surprising secret you ever heard,
but not until we get to the Omnibus House and are seated in a row on the
old stone steps behind it."

"Then let's away!" exclaimed Nora. "We won't need our hats. Two parasols
will be enough to shade us from the sun."

Five minutes later the four girls trooped down the steps and strolled
through the familiar streets in the direction of their old playground.
The afternoon sun beamed so gently and kindly upon them that it was not
long before they closed their parasols and walked with their heads
uncovered to his tempered rays. To see a bevy of girls walking in the
quiet streets of the little city without hats was the commonest sight,
and the quartette attracted little attention as they sauntered along.

After leaving Oakdale behind, it was not more than ten minutes' walk
across the fields to the quaint old stone house which had been the scene
of so many of their high school revels.

"What a lot of good times we have had here," mused Nora reminiscently,
as they paused before the quaint old building, that had once been a
tavern, and was, goodness knew, how many years old. "Shall you ever
forget the time we buried the hatchet?"

"Never!" chorused three emphatic voices.

"Wasn't Julia Crosby too ridiculous for words?" declared Jessica. Her
smile of recollection was reflected in the faces of her friends.

"That reminds me," remarked Nora, "I have something to tell you girls
too."

"Let's have a 'secret' session," proposed Jessica. "Every one who wishes
to attend must be ready to tell a secret the moment we sit down on the
steps."

"'A secret is a secret, only, when known to three persons, two of which
are dead,'" quoted Anne mischievously.

"These secrets mustn't be the heart-to-heart,
keep-it-to-yourself-forever kind," stipulated Nora. "They mustn't be of
the complex variety either. Dark secrets are also strictly tabooed from
this session."

"Stop laying down rules and regulations," laughed Grace, "and let us
form our secret row. I am eaten up with curiosity to know what Anne and
Nora know."

"Are you eligible?" quizzed Nora. "That is the important question. Anne,
you must head the row. You began this session."

Anne complied obediently.

Nora sat down beside her.

Grace stood eyeing Nora thoughtfully. Then her eyes sparkled. "I