believe she has gone to bed yet if Dr. Randolph is spending the
evening. Tell Aunt Julia I'll be right up, Elsie."

So Marjorie stepped out of the lift with the Randolphs, while Elsie went
up another floor to her own apartment. Mrs. Randolph had insisted that
Miss Graham should be her guest on leaving the hospital, and one of the
most comfortable rooms in the apartment had been assigned to her.

It was Mrs. Randolph herself who opened the door for the young people;
she was smiling, and looked as if she were pleased about something.

"Has Aunt Jessie gone to bed?" Marjorie asked.

"No, dear, she is in the parlor with Uncle George, and I think she wants
to see you."

Barbara hurried her mother off to her room, to tell of the events of the
evening, and Beverly followed, at a mysterious signal from Mrs.
Randolph, so Marjorie was the only one to enter the cozy little parlor,
where she found her aunt and the doctor sitting on the sofa side by
side.

"I just came in for a minute to say good-night," she began. "I've had a
lovely evening, and--and--" here Marjorie paused abruptly, struck by
something unusual in the faces of her two listeners.

"Is--is anything the matter?" she inquired anxiously.

"Do we look as if there were?" inquired the doctor, and he smiled such a
radiant smile that Marjorie's sudden anxiety melted into thin air.

"No, not exactly, but Aunt Jessie looks so--so different. Oh, Aunt
Jessie darling, I know something has happened--is it good news?"

"The very best news in the world for me," said the doctor, laughing,
while Aunt Jessie drew her niece into her arms, and hid her smiling,
blushing face on Marjorie's shoulder. "Your aunt has promised to give me
something that I want more than anything else. Marjorie, do you think
you would like to have me for an uncle?"

"And that was just the crowning happiness of all," said Marjorie, when
she and Elsie were talking things over half an hour later. "I thought I
was just as happy as any girl could be before, but when I saw that look
on Aunt Jessie's face, and thought of all she had suffered, and how
brave she had been, it seemed as if my heart would burst with gladness.
It's just the most beautiful ending to a beautiful winter."

"I wish I had done more to make the first part of the winter happy,"
said Elsie, with a remorseful sigh. "I don't see why you didn't hate me,
Marjorie; I'm sure I deserved it."

"Why, I couldn't," said Marjorie, simply, "you we