rushing along as
if their lives depended on their getting to a certain place on a certain
second--these people with set faces and eyes that seem to see a long way
off--I've just been wondering what they all find to do.'

"'My dear,' said Jack, and he laughed in a way I could not understand,
'It's easy to see you have lived a long way from little old New York, and
I'm mighty glad you have. I'd rather you would face all these people for
the first time with me along.'

"'But you haven't answered my question,' I insisted, for I was still
filled with wonder at the great throng surging past us, whose purpose
never seemed to change or falter.

"'You asked what they were all doing,' said Jack. 'Well, for the most
part, they are busily and congenially engaged in doing to the best
advantage the next poor victim that comes to their net.'

"Somehow, that little remark put a different aspect on everything and
Fifth Avenue didn't hold quite the same charm for me that it had. Just
the same," she added, brightly, "I like New York mighty well. The only
thing I didn't like about it was that it didn't hold my girls, and I did
miss you all so much!"

"Oh, I don't see how you would ever find time to miss anybody with all
those wonderful new sights and sounds around you all the time," said
Evelyn, naively.

Marjorie sniffed. "Of course, we know you wouldn't," she said.

"I wouldn't," said Evelyn, unabashed. "I'd be too awfully excited all the
time."

"Oh, Evelyn, Evelyn!" said Lucile, laughing. "Won't you ever learn to
cover up your faults?"

"I'll have to get some first," she retorted, impishly; and the girls, who
were in a mood when everything strikes them funny, began to laugh. The
more they laughed, the more they tried to stop, the more impossible it
became, until the whole house rang with merriment. Lucile was the first
to recover herself.

"That's quite enough for some time to come, Evelyn," she cried, choking
back her laughter. "We all know you are wonderful, but please remember
that no human being is perfect."

Gradually they quieted down, with only an occasional explosion, and
Lucile returned to her guardian again.

"I suppose you have gone to all the theaters and restaurants and things
in the city," she asked. "Are they just as wonderful as people make them
out to be?"

"More," said Mrs. Wescott, emphatically, dimpling happily at her
memories. Indeed, she was very young and very enthusiastic, and the
girls, lookin