the first part of his sentence. But when she spoke again, it was to
say energetically: "The Towers needs a mistress, and August is
irreproachable. Really, I am devoted to the boy."

Mr. Pennington found this amusing.

"If only it were a colonial house. It is handsome, but I prefer simpler
lines," Mrs. Pennington continued meditatively.

The Towers was a combination of feudal castle and Swiss châlet erected
thirty years before by the parents of Augustus, and occupying a
commanding position on Sunset Ridge. The irreverent sometimes referred
to it as the Salt Shakers.

Margaret Elizabeth meanwhile, in the solitude of her own room, was
asking herself questions, for which she found no answers.

"Who--oh, who was this person with the nice friendly eyes that led one
on to talk about fairy godmothers?"

She considered it in profound seriousness for a time, then suddenly
broke into unrestrained laughter.




CHAPTER SIX

_In which Margaret Elizabeth is discussed at the Breakfast Table; in
which also, later on, she and Virginia and Uncle Bob talk before the