ng toward the automobile to meet the unexpected
arrivals.

"Won't you come with us, Mrs. Harlowe?" invited Mrs. Gray. The two women
exchanged not only greetings but significant smiles as well.

"Thank you; not this morning. I prefer to leave Grace to you and Tom."
Again her eyes met those of the older woman with the same enigmatic
smile.

"There is mystery in the very air," declared Grace gayly. "I can tell by
the way you two are exchanging eye-signals. Whatever the great secret
is, Mother knows it. Now don't you?" she challenged, her affectionate
gaze resting on Mrs. Harlowe.

"I'll answer that question when you come back," parried her mother.

"I'll hold you to your word," came the retort. Dropping a soft kiss on
her mother's pink cheek, Grace accepted Tom's hand and stepped into the
tonneau of the waiting automobile.

"Whither away, good prince?" she called mischievously to Tom as the
machine glided down the street.

"That's a secret, curious princess. Wait and you will see," flung back
Tom teasingly.

"Of course I'm curious," calmly admitted Grace, as she settled back in
her seat. "Who wouldn't be? I wouldn't have let you tell me, though, if
you had tried. I am quite ready to wait and see what happens."

Nevertheless, as they spun along the smooth road in the summer sunshine,
Grace cast more than one speculative glance about her, trying to glean
some faint hint of their destination. Although conversation went on
briskly between herself and her Fairy Godmother, her keen eyes lost no
detail that might possibly furnish her with a clue.

"We'll have to leave the car here and walk a little way," announced Tom,
when half an hour later, after traveling the highway that skirted Upton
Wood, he slowed down in a shady spot on the other side of the short
stretch of forest.

"Very well," came Mrs. Gray's placid voice from the tonneau. "I shall
not leave the car, Tom. You may do the honors."

"Come on, Grace." Leaving the driver's seat, Tom opened the door of the
tonneau and stretched forth an inviting hand.

"I know where we are going," she cried triumphantly, as she accepted the
proffered assistance. "We are going to take a look at Upton Heights. How
nice! I haven't seen the quaint old place since I came home from
college. You know I've always loved it and wished I owned it. It's such
a wonderful forest retreat. When I was a little girl, I used to love to
play that the world ended there. I always called it the H