f these Mills--I'd see both sides and make the
other fellow see, too."

"Sure, it's wonderful you'd be," murmured Mrs. Lynch, caressingly.

"Well, I'm about as far from it as I am from being President of the
United States. Adam has a better chance--if he ever gets his way.
_There's_ a leader."

Mrs. Lynch cut a generous portion of apple pie in a silence that said
plainly she did not agree with her boy. Dale ate the pie, wiped his
lips, pushed back the plate.

"The Rileys have got to move up the river."

"Dale, you don't say so?" Mrs. Lynch was all concern now. The Rileys
were neighbors. Tim Riley had fallen down an unguarded shaft at the
Mills and had hurt his back. Mrs. Lynch had helped Mrs. Riley care for
her husband and had grown very fond of the plucky little woman. "Why,
it's his death he'll get with the dampness up there, and those blessed
little colleens."

"Well, they've got to go. Riley can only work half-time now and he can't
afford one of these houses."

"Oh, dear, oh, dear," sighed Mrs. Lynch. "Don't tell Robin," she begged.
"It's so happy the child is with her House of Laughter, as she calls it
and--Dale, she's a different Forsyth."

"She's just a kid," he answered, in a tone that implied Robin could have
little weight against the impregnable House of Forsyth.

But a few hours later, when, with the coming of night into the valley,
the last tired youngster departed from the House of Laughter, balloon on
high, the "just a kid" fell to restoring the House to its original
perfection with a vim that seemed as tireless as her spirits.

"_Wasn't_ it a success? Didn't the children have a wonderful time?" she
begged to know, with all the happy concern of a middle-aged hostess.
"Are you dreadfully tired, Mother Lynch? Because tonight's the real
test." She stopped suddenly and leaned on her broom, her face very
serious. "I do hope the big girls will like it. I wish the Queen hadn't
said she didn't believe our--experiment would work. Why _won't_ it work?
Don't grown-ups like to be happy just as much as children--when they get
a chance?"

Mrs. Lynch had no answer for Robin's wondering. "Queens don't know about
things in this country," Beryl, instead, assured her. "These books are
just about ruined. I thought Tommy Black would eat up this Arabian
Nights."

"That shows how much they want them! I don't care if they _do_ eat
them." Robin was too happy to be disturbed by anything. Wasn't her
beautiful plan in