e outskirts of his city that
could never have been of any possible use to himself because he had been
a crusty old bachelor who hated to have anyone near him. Gossip had said
that he had built it just because he wanted his house to cost more than
any other house in the city; unworthy as his motive in building it might
have been, he had forever ennobled the place when he had bequeathed it
to the boys and girls of his city.

"There'll be a chance, with the school out there, of offsetting just
what's threatening Isobel and Gyp--a sort of grownupness they're putting
on--like a masquerade costume!"

"I love your very manlike way of describing things," laughed Mrs. Allan,
recalling certain experiences of her own when, for six months, she had
undertaken the care of her own niece, Patricia Everett. "It's
so--_vivid_! A masquerade make-up, too big and too long, and then when
you peep under the 'grown-up' costume, there's the little girl
still--really loving to frolic around in the delightful sports that
belong to youth and youth only."

John Westley rode on for a few moments in deep silence, his mind on the
young people he loved--then suddenly it veered to the little girl he had
found on the Wishing-rock, her eyes staring longingly out into a
dream-world that lay beyond valley and mountain top.

"I've an idea--a--_corker_!" he exclaimed, just as the Fly-by-day
bounced into the grass-grown drive of Cobble House.

CHAPTER IV

THE WESTLEYS

"Gyp Westley, get right down off from that chair! You _know_ mother
doesn't want you to stand on it!"

Miss Gyp, startled by her sister's sudden appearance at her door, fell
promptly from her perch on the dainty chintz-cushioned chair.

"I was only tacking up my new banner," she answered crossly. "Here, Tib,
put the hammer away. What are you going to do, Isobel?" Gyp's tone
asked, rather: "What in the world have you _found_ to do?"

Because Mrs. Hicks' mother had been so inconsiderate as to have a stroke
of apoplexy, much misery of spirit had fallen upon the young Westleys.
Mrs. Hicks was the Westley housekeeper and Mrs. Robert Westley, who,
with her four youngsters, was spending the month of August at Cape Cod,
had declared that she must return home at once, for Mrs. Hicks' going
would leave the house entirely alone with the two housemaids who were
very new and very inexperienced. There had been of course a great deal
of rebellion but Mrs. Westley, for once hardhearted, had