ur guardians, lawfully
appointed. We're your bosses, young lady, for a spell yet. And you're
goin' to do as we say."

"But--"

"There ain't any 'buts.' The 'buts' are all past and gone. Mr. Keith
has arranged for you to board and room along with Mrs. Wyeth and I've
arranged for your schoolin' at the Cabot place. Yes, and I've done
more'n that: I paid for your first year's schoolin' this very afternoon.
So there! THAT'S ended."

It was not ended, of course. Mary-'Gusta went to her room that night
declaring she would not leave her uncles to attend any finishing school.
They went to theirs vowing that she should. The real end came the next
day when Zoeth put the subject before her in a new light by saying:

"Look here, Mary-'Gusta; just listen to me a minute and think. Suppose
the boot was on t'other foot: suppose you wanted us to do somethin' to
please you, you'd expect us to do it, wouldn't you? Anyhow, you know
mighty well we WOULD do it. Now we want you to do this to please us.
We've set our hearts on it."

Mary-'Gusta was silent for a minute or more. The partners watched her
anxiously. Then she asked an unusual question, one concerning her own
financial status.

"Can I afford it?" she asked. "Have I money enough of my own?"

Zoeth looked troubled. Shadrach, however, answered promptly and
diplomatically.

"Haven't I told you," he said, "that Zoeth and me are your guardians?
And didn't I say we'd gone into the thing careful and deliberate? And
didn't I pay your first year's schoolin' yesterday? Don't that alone
show what we think about the money. Be still, Zoeth; that's enough.
Well, Mary-'Gusta?"

Mary-'Gusta considered a moment longer. Then she rose and, crossing the
room, gave them each a kiss.

"I'll go," she said, simply. "I'll go because I think you mean it and
that it will please you. For that reason and no other I'll go."

CHAPTER XI

The Misses Cabot's school was to open on the fifteenth of September and,
on the morning of the fourteenth, Mary-'Gusta bade her guardians good-by
on the platform of the South Harniss railway station. Shadrach had
intended going to Boston with her, but she had firmly insisted on going
alone.

"I must get used to being away from you both," she said, "and you must
get used to having me go. It will be best for all of us to say good-by
here. It won't be for VERY long; I'll be home at Christmas, you know."

The three weeks prior to the fateful fourteenth had be