the room, Lillian clapped both hands, and Miss Jenny Ann smiled
rapturously.

Phil's face was the only serious one. "Are you sure we can afford it,
Father?" she queried.

Dr. Alden nodded convincingly. "For a few weeks, certainly," he
returned.

"Then we don't need to worry about afterward," rejoined Madge. "And don't
you think, girls, it will be perfectly great, so long as we are going to
Madeleine's wedding in New York, for us to spend this holiday at the
seashore?"

"Where, Madge?" asked Lillian.

"I'll tell you," answered Mrs. Curtis, "only, not to-day. It is a secret.
Here is our pineapple lemonade. Let's hope for the happiest of holidays
for the little captain and her crew aboard the good ship 'Merry Maid'."

CHAPTER III

TANIA, A PRINCESS

"Madge, do you think there is any chance that Tom won't meet us?"
inquired Eleanor Butler nervously. "I do wish we could have come on to
New York with Lillian, Phil, and Miss Jenny Ann instead of making that
visit to Baltimore. It seems so funny that they have been in New York two
whole days before us. I suppose they have seen Madeleine's presents, and
our bridesmaids' dresses--and everything!"

Eleanor sighed as she leaned back luxuriously in the chair of the Pullman
coach, gazing down the aisle at her fellow passengers.

Madge was occupied in staring very hard at her reflection in the small
mirror between her seat and Eleanor's. She had wrinkled her small nose
and was surreptitiously applying powder to the tip end of it.

"Of course Tom and the girls will meet us, Eleanor," she replied
emphatically. "Tom would expect us to be lost forever if we were to be
turned loose in New York by ourselves. Oh, dear me, isn't it too splendid
that we are going to be Madeleine's bridesmaids? I wonder if we shall
look very 'country' before so many society people?"

"Of course we shall," returned Eleanor calmly. "You need not look at
yourself again in that mirror. You are very well satisfied with yourself,
aren't you?" teased Eleanor.

Madge blushed and laughed. "I _do_ like our clothes, Nellie," she
admitted candidly. "You know perfectly well that we have never had
tailored suits before in our lives. You do look too sweet in that pale
gray, like a little nun. That pink rose in your hat gives just the touch
of color you need. I am sure I don't see why you are so sure we shall
seem countrified," ended Madge. She had liked her reflection in the
glass. She wore a light-w