be gone a year, perhaps two, and should enjoy having you
with me all the time; but Mr. Hawley and my sister, Mrs. Dwight, will
return in about three months, so if you should get homesick you could
come back with them."

Mrs. Hawley was very wise; she knew that Violet would be much more
likely to go if she felt she could return at any time.

The young girl wondered what Wallace would say to this plan. She really
felt attracted by it; at least, it would afford her a release for a time
from her sister's irritating authority.

"Why not let her come then, Belle, if she does not wish to go with you
to Canada?" urged Mrs. Hawley, insinuatingly, as she turned to her
friend, with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes, as she saw that Violet
was really inclined to go.

"Well, I do not know," said Mrs. Mencke, contemplatively. "I suppose I
should have to consult my husband--then there is the trouble of getting
her ready."

"Oh, she will not need anything for the voyage except some traveling
rugs and wraps and a steamer chair. We can replenish her wardrobe in
Paris for half what it would cost here, so you need not trouble yourself
at all on that score. Will you come, Violet?" and Mrs. Hawley turned
with a winning look to the fair girl.

"Say yes--do, Vio," pleaded Nellie; and then turning to Mrs. Mencke, she
added: "You will let her, won't you?"

"I have half a mind to," mused the crafty woman.

"There, Vio," cried Nellie, triumphantly; "there is nothing to hinder
now."

"It is very sudden--I will think of it and let you know," Violet began,
reflectively.

"There will not be very much time to think of it," Mrs. Hawley remarked,
pleasantly. "You had better decide the matter at once, and thus avoid
all uncertainty."

"I will let you know by the day after to-morrow," Violet returned, but
she lost color as she said it.

She wanted to go, to get away from her brother and sister, but she
shrank from leaving Wallace.

"She is planning to consult that fellow," Mrs. Mencke said to herself,
and reading Violet like a book; "but I will take care that she doesn't
get an opportunity to do so."

Mrs. Hawley said no more, but arose to take her leave, feeling that she
had done all that was wise, for that day, in the furtherance of her
friend's schemes.

But Nellie lingered a little, and tried to coax her friend into
yielding; she was very anxious to have her companionship upon the
proposed trip.

Violet was firm, however, and sai