ous complaint
his children had given to him, and after struggling with it pettishly
for some time, and the vacation coming along, he had finally proposed
the New Zealand trip to his wife, the children being sent to complete
their cure to the summer home he had long since built on the mountains.

"Well," said Mrs. Gowan, "I am really sorry, dears, for we could have
had such fun, all of us up here at the same time, couldn't we? But you
won't speak to Effie and Florence if you meet them anywhere, will you?
Even if they try to speak to you? I have such a dread of whooping
cough."

"Paul told you straight away off that we were contagerous," said Lynn, a
little hurt that after her sister's magnificent honesty such admonition
should be deemed necessary.

"Yes, I know, dear," said the lady, "and indeed I thank Pauline very
much for being so considerate. It is Effie and Florence I am thinking
of; they are so thoughtless, I am afraid they will try to come over to
you."

"You'd better not let them come down to this part of the road then,"
said Pauline sagely.

"But that's the difficulty," said Mrs. Gowan, "their uncle has taken
'Tenby'"--she waved her hand to the cottage opposite that had stood
irksomely monotonous with closed shutters and chained gate ever since
the Lomaxes had come to Burunda this year, "and of course they will
often want to come down to him to listen to his stories. He is Hugh
Kinross, you know."

They did not know, and even now the name was a name to them and nothing
more. Mrs. Gowan evidently took it for granted that even children must
have heard of her brother, the famous author.

"So you will help me, won't you, Pauline?" she said appealingly,--"you
won't let Max and Muffie run out and talk to them! And if they try to
come here you will send them away, won't you, dear?"

Pauline promised her co-operation, though indeed her heart sank at the
prospect of seeing her merry little friend Effie day after day as close
as the opposite fence and never as much as exchanging chocolates with
her.

"When is he coming?" she said heavily.

"To-morrow," said Mrs. Gowan--then she laughed--"but I think he would be
afraid to come, don't you, if he knew he was going to have four little
rackets like you for such near neighbours. He has come all this way to
be perfectly quiet and write his new book."

Lynn looked quite impressed.

"I think we'd better stop in the orchard," she said soberly.

Mrs. Gowan kissed h