to be out of the house in an hour."

Grace groaned dismally. "Oh, Betty, I will have to have some more
sleep," she wailed, pitifully. "If I don't I won't be fit for a thing
the rest of the day. Don't you suppose we could make it if we started by
nine?" she added hopefully.

Betty paused in the act of putting on a shoe and held it poised in the
air while she gazed at her friend incredulously.

"Grace Ford, of all the----" she almost stuttered. Then, as a thought
flashed before her mind she laughed delightedly. "Can't you see them,
Grace," she chuckled, putting on one shoe and picking up the other.
"Can't you see the boys when I tell them they will have to walk around
the block while Grace gets her beauty sleep. Oh! oh!" and even Grace had
to laugh at the picture.

"They probably wouldn't wait anyway," Betty continued, with the tact of
a diplomat. "They would go on to The Shadows and let you follow later at
your leisure. It will be a nice, dusty, hot ride in the train, too," she
added, examining the lace on her handkerchief with the air of a
connoisseur.

Grace sat up on the edge of the bed and regarded her chum reproachfully.
"Nobody has any heart at all, and you least of all, Betty Nelson," she
complained. "Oh, where did I put my slippers? I was so excited last
night I don't remember what I did with them," and she began a listless
search under the bed.

"They are over by that chair," said Betty patiently. Then went on: "Oh,
Grace, dear, please wake up. You will give me the blues if you don't
shake off that dead and alive air. Imagine Betty Nelson with the blues
to-day."

"It _is_ rather impossible," remarked Grace, regarding Betty's flushed
cheeks and dancing eyes with admiration. "I wish I didn't need any more
sleep than you, Betty. Oh, well, the worst part of getting up is over
now and I'll feel fine when I get some breakfast. You just watch me."

"That's something like," Betty said approvingly. "Oh, Grace, we are
going to have one of the most glorious times we ever had in our lives
to-day."

"Shouldn't wonder," Grace agreed. "What does that clock say, half-past
seven? Oh, Betty, now I _will_ have to hurry!"

"If you glare at the clock like that it is apt to develop palpitation of
the heart and stop altogether," laughed Betty. "It can't help the time,
you know."

"Well, that is the very first time I have ever been accused of stopping
a clock," said Grace with dignity. Then added plaintively: "And by my