furnishings. There was a little, white bath leading out from the
bedroom and Madge reveled in her new-found treasures.

All day long her apartment was lovely with flowers. Tom Curtis ordered
a box of roses to be delivered to her each day from Baltimore. The
roses were presented to Madge every morning when the maid brought up
her breakfast-tray, and for the first time in her life Miss Madge
enjoyed the luxury of eating her breakfast in bed. Boxes of candy
became so ordinary that she fairly pleaded with her friends when they
came to visit her to take them back to the houseboat.

"Madge will never be happy again on the 'Merry Maid,' will she, girls?"
The four girls were rowing back to their floating home after a visit to
their friend.

"Yes, she will," returned Phil stoutly, though she felt a slight pang
when she remembered how cheerfully Madge had kissed them goodbye.

"I am sure she is well enough to come home now," burst forth Lillian,
"only Mrs. Curtis and Tom won't hear of it. Dear me! I suppose our
little captain is happy at last. She has always dreamed of what it
would feel like to be rich and a heroine, and now she is both. But
nothing seems quite the same on the boat," she added wistfully. "I
think we are all homesick for her."

Miss Jennie Ann laughed at their doleful faces. "She will soon be with
us again," she declared. "I'll tell you a secret. She is coming home
to the houseboat day after to-morrow. She whispered to me to-day that
there was really no reason why she should stay any longer with Mrs.
Curtis, and that she did not wish to presume on her hospitality. Mrs.