"Oh, just afraid that you might be--different."

It was the vague, half-formed fear that all the girls had felt, yet none
had dared express, and the silence that followed was pregnant with
meaning.

"Different, Margaret?" their guardian's voice was low and tremulous.
"Never! Happier, oh, so very much happier, girls; but never changed in my
love for you except as it grows stronger. Do I seem different?" she
asked, turning swimming eyes upon them.

"Oh, no--except that you are twice as dear," cried Lucile, and the cry
found an echo in each girl's heart.

"I'm so happy I'm afraid I'm going to have hysterics or something," cried
Jessie, dabbing her eyes with a square inch or so of handkerchief. "I
want to laugh and cry, and you can't do both at once."

The girls laughed shakily and Mrs. Wescott said, with a gay little laugh,
"Here, this will never do. Now that that question is settled forever and
ever, I want to hear what you girls have been doing all this time, and
what you expect to do this summer. Come, who's first?"

"Lucile," cried Dorothy. "You just ask her what she intends to do this
summer. All our plans are tame beside hers."

The girls had completely forgotten the wonderful topic that had seemed
all absorbing before this guardian's arrival, but now it took on an
added importance, and the girls waited eagerly for Lucile's disclosure.

"What great plans have you been making now, Lucile?" said Mrs. Wescott,
with that ever-ready interest that had won the girls completely. "I can
see there is something great in the wind. Tell me about it."

"I'd never have thought of it if Dorothy hadn't reminded me," said
Lucile, amazed that it should have slipped her mind for two minutes, let
alone two hours. "Why, it's only that Mother and Dad are going to Europe
this summer and they have decided to take Phil and me along with them;
and then Dad said I might ask Jessie and Evelyn to go with us if they'd
like to, and so they are coming--to make trouble," she added, slyly.

"Oh, no doubt of that last," said Mrs. Wescott, laughing, and then added,
with enthusiasm, "It certainly is splendid for you to have the chance. I
know your pet hobby has always been to visit Switzerland, Lucy, and now
you will, provided you get that far. Do you suppose you will?"

"I really don't know," said Lucile. "I've been too stunned by the mere
fact of going to Europe to think of asking for details. If I have
anything to say about it, we'll go to