d in
Kingfield. You and I can look after the children on the voyage, can't
we?"

"I suppose so!" gulped Lesbia.

She was appalled at the whole idea. Emigration to Canada sounded about
as cheerful as banishment to Siberia. To leave Kingfield, with its
quaint buildings and old associations, and the High School where she was
so happy, and to be whisked away over the sea to a bare new city and a
winter of snow and ice--oh, it was horrible! And only a fortnight in
which to get ready. They ought to have told her before. It was too bad
to keep her--a girl of nearly sixteen--in the dark, as if she were one
of the children. Minnie and Paul had had plenty of time to make their
preparations, but for herself everything would be a scurry. She would
not even be able to finish the decoration of VA. She carried the bad
news to school next morning. Marion received it with a perfect outburst
of indignation.

"What an atrocious shame! To think of springing it upon you in this
sudden fashion. Oh, it's too bad to take you away from the High School!
Where are you going to finish your education? Is there a school at this
place you're going to?"

"I don't know."

"You probably won't have time for school when you get there. Servants
are scarce in Canada and you'll have to turn to and help!"

"We're not taking nurse or anyone with us," volunteered Lesbia.

"Then _you'll_ be nursemaid on the voyage?"

"I suppose so."

"I like that!" flamed Marion. "Why can't they leave you behind in
Kingfield, to finish at the High?"

"Oh, I wish they would!"

"I wish they'd leave you with _us_," said Marion impulsively. "Mother'd
adore to have you--she likes you awfully--and as for me I'd dance a
jubilee. I've always wanted a sister, and we get on so well together,
don't we? Oh, it _would_ be sport!"

"It would indeed!" agreed Lesbia wistfully.

She ventured to mention the great idea to Minnie, who laughed, and then
looked suddenly hurt.

"Nonsense, Lesbia child," she said. "We're not going away and leaving
you behind. I'm sure the Morwoods don't want you as a legacy."

"Marion _said_ they did!"

"Girls like Marion talk a great deal of rubbish, so don't listen to
her. I've put a packing-case in your bedroom, and you may fill it with
books and any other things you like to take. It will go in the hold of
the vessel. Your clothes must be packed in the tin box and the cabin
trunk. We'll buy our fur coats when we get over. They'll be cheaper in