"Mother says they've done so well because we've been careful to keep
them evenly warm," said Ethel Brown. "Dorothy's got the finest piece of
news to tell you. If she doesn't tell you pretty soon I shall come out
with it myself!"

"O, let her tell her own secret!" remonstrated Blue. "What is it?"

You know that sloping piece of ground about a quarter of a mile beyond
the Clarks' on the road to Mr. Emerson's?"

"You don't mean the field with the brook where Roger got the pussy
willows?"

"This side of it. There's a lovely view across the meadows on the other
side of the road, and the land runs back to some rocks and big trees."

"Certainly I know it," assented Ethel Blue. "There's a hillock on it
that's the place I've chosen for a house when I grow up and build one."

"Well, you can't have it because I've got there first!"

"What do you mean? Has Aunt Louise--?"

"She has."

"How grand! How _grand_! You'll be farther away from us than you are now
but it's a dear duck of a spot--"

"And it's right on the way to Grandfather Emerson's," added Ethel Brown.