nd I held them straight in the
machine while Allee made the pedal go. The seams ain't _very_ crooked,
but sometimes the needle would hit a lump in the pattern and teeter out
around it, in spite of all I could do. But the made-up curtains at the
store cost lots more than the raw cloth and weren't half so pretty, so
Gussie said she'd help us make our own. Didn't we do well?"

"You certainly did," was the unanimous verdict. "The prize is yours."

"And children," said the President impressively, as they still lingered
in the quaintly furnished room; "I hope every time you enter this door,
the spirit of patriotism, the love of country, will grow stronger and
greater in your hearts."

"Yes, grandpa, I guess it will," answered Peace in all seriousness,
"'cause we'll always be thinking of the rest of that check money which
we've saved from dec'rating our room so's we could buy fire-crackers and
rockets for next Fourth of July."

CHAPTER III

CHRISTMAS DAY WITH THE CAMPBELLS

The days which followed the advent of the orphan sisters in the great
house were happy ones. Oh, so happy! How can they be described? The two
lonely old hearts which had hungered all these long years for the little
children who had so early left them thrilled with gladness at every
sound of the eager, girlish voices. Boundless content reigned in their
hearts as they watched each expressive face and studied each different
character; and they wondered openly how they had ever managed to live
without this precious band of granddaughters, as they insisted upon
calling their charges.

And the girls were equally happy. Gail felt as if a great weight had
been lifted from her shoulders, as if her soul had been suddenly freed
from a dark prison. The care-worn look vanished from the thin face; the
big, gray-blue eyes sparkled with animation; her heart bubbled over with
gratitude and love; and in every possible way she tried to show these
new guardians how deeply and tenderly she loved them. And her attitude
was that of the other sisters also, except that each took her own
method of showing it. The Campbells were well satisfied with their
experiment and were never tired of saying to each, other, "They are ours
now."

"Yes," Peace had answered them once when she had overheard these words;
"we are yours now, but it seems to me 'sif we had always belonged to
you. Some way, we fit in just as slick! 'Sif we had only been away on a
vacation and just got ho