quiet little town where we are to spend
the summer."

Betty's merry face now wore such a sober expression that Valerie said:

"Well, I still say I wish you'd wanted something that really could
happen."

At that moment some one appeared just around a bend of the road, some
one wearing the gayest of colors, and with her a little old-fashioned
figure in a dark brown dress.

"Look! Patricia and Arabella are coming this way, and they look as if
they were planning something great. Just see how close together their
heads are! I don't know Arabella very well, but when Patricia is 'up to'
anything, it's pretty sure to be mischief."

"Oh, I don't know," Valerie. "It's just as likely to be some way she's
planning for a chance to show off."

Betty laughed.

"Did you hear Vera Vane telling about the afternoon that Patricia
knocked at her door, and said that she had come to 'make a call'?"

"I didn't hear that," said Valerie. "What did she do?"

"She was wearing all the rings and bangles that she owned, and in her
hand was a card-case, just as if she were grown up. She sat on the tip
edge of her chair, and she kept taking out her handkerchief, and
shaking it because it was drenched with perfumery, and when she went,
she emptied the card-case on the table, and Vera counted the cards. Say,
Patricia had left _fifty_. Wasn't that funny?"

"Hush--sh!" breathed Valerie, "she might hear you."

Patricia rushed forward, while Arabella, as usual, hung back, preferring
to stare at Betty and Valerie through her spectacles, rather than have a
little chat.

She wanted to watch their faces, and see if they were greatly surprised
with the news that Patricia had to tell.

"Guess where we're going!" Patricia cried, "but you couldn't guess, so
I'll tell you. We're going over to the well, the one that's called the
wishing-well," she explained, "and we mustn't tell what we mean to wish
for, 'cause if you tell, you wouldn't get your wish. Did you know that?"

Betty said that she had not heard that.

"I'll tell you to-morrow just how to find it, but we can't stop now.
There isn't time."

"Late!" cried Valerie. "I guess you two are late. We think we have to
hurry to get to Glenmore on time, and you are going away from school
every minute. Why don't you go to the well, if you want to, to-morrow."

Arabella thought that they ought to turn back, but Patricia seized her
hand, and the two commenced to run.

"They'll be a half-hour late,"