through which the June light streamed, he
told Barbara Lee in awkward, earnest words all that was in his heart.
There was a humility in his voice, as he offered her his love, that
brought a tender smile to the corners of her lips.

"I wanted you to know," he finished, simply. "I don't suppose--what I
can offer--can find any place in your heart alongside of your splendid
dreams--but, I wanted you to know that you have----"

"There's more than _one_ way to the stars----" she interrupted, lifting
glowing eyes to his.

Gyp had said good-by to everyone she could lay a finger on. Then she
remembered Uncle Johnny.

"Do you s'pose they're in the library _yet_?"

She and Jerry tiptoed along the corridor and peeped in the door. To
their embarrassed amazement Uncle Johnny and Barbara Lee were standing
looking out of the window--with their hands clasped.

Gyp coughed--a cough that was really a funny sputter.

"Did--did you find your book, Uncle Johnny?"

Uncle Johnny turned--without a blush.

"_Hello_, Gyp!" (As though he'd never seen her before!) "I didn't find
the book--because I wasn't really after a book. But I _did_ find what I
wanted. What would you say, Gyp and Jerry, if I told you that your
Barbara Lee is _not_ going away?"

CHAPTER XXVII

CRAIG WINTON

"Ka-a-a-a-a-a-a" echoed through the wooded slopes of Kettle. Startled,
birds winged away from the treetops, little wild creatures skurried
through the undergrowth, yet in the care-free, silvery tinkle of those
merry voices there was no note to alarm.

Jerry was leading Isobel and Gyp down the trail from Rocky Top. Baskets,
swinging from their shoulders, told of the jolly day's outing. Isobel
and Gyp were dressed in khaki middies and short skirts; Isobel's hair
was drawn back simply from her face and bound with a bright red ribbon;
Gyp's cheeks were tanned a ruddy brown, against which her lips shone
scarlet. Jerry wore the boyish outfit in which John Westley had found
her. Three happier, merrier girls could not have been found the world
over.

A week--a week of hourly wonders, had passed since the girls had arrived
at Sunnyside with Uncle Johnny. To Jerry the homecoming was even sweeter
than she had dreamed. And to find her precious mother "exactly" the
same, she whispered in the privacy of a close hug, dispelled a little
fear that had tormented her.

"Why, darling, did you think _I'd_ be different?"

"I don't know----" Jerry had colored, but tig