he used to be sweet on. When he goes to keepin'
house there'll be another boarder gone;" and the poor woman, having
borrowed enough trouble, sat down and wiped a supposed tear out of each
eye with her greasy apron.

Quincy reached Aunt Ella's residence with the young ladies about noon.
Aunt Ella gave the three travellers a hearty welcome, and the young
ladies were shown at once to their rooms, which were on the third floor
at the front of the house. They were connected, so that Rosa could be
close at hand in case Alice should need assistance.

While the footman and Buttons were taking the trunks upstairs, Quincy
asked his aunt if he could leave his trunk there for a short time. "I do
not wish to take it home," he said, "until after I have the ladies
settled at Nantucket. The carriage is waiting outside and I am going to
get the one o'clock train."

"I will take good care of your trunk," said Aunt Ella, "and you, too, if
you will come and live with me. But can't you stop to lunch with us?"
she asked. But Quincy declined, and requesting his aunt to say good-by
to the young ladies for him, he entered the carriage and was driven off.

After luncheon, which was served in the dining-room, General Chessman
and Aides-de-Camp Pettengill and Very held a counsel of war in the
General's private tent. It was decided that the mornings should be
devoted, for a while, at least, to shopping and visiting modistes and
milliners. Miss Very was also to give some of her time to visits to the
libraries and the second-hand bookstores looking for books that would be
of value to Alice in her work. The afternoons were to be passed in
conversation and in listening to Miss Very's reading from the books that
she had purchased or taken from the libraries. The evenings were to be
filled up with music, and the first one disclosed the pleasing fact
that Miss Very had a rich, full contralto voice that had been well
cultivated and that she could play Beethoven or the songs of the day
with equal facility.

While the feminine trio were thus enjoying themselves in Boston with an
admixture of work and play, Quincy was busily engaged at Nantucket in
building a nest for them, as he called it.

He had found a large, old-fashioned house on the bluff at the north
shore, overlooking the harbor, owned by Mrs. Gibson. She was a widow
with two children, one a boy of about nineteen, named Thomas, and the
other a girl of twelve, named Dorothy, but generally desig