argued with herself. It was too dreadful to give up the idea of asking
her adored "Lady of Quality" to act as their guardian angel. Madge
decided she simply could not make the sacrifice. Then, too, she did
not even know whether her uncle and aunt would consent to the houseboat
party. It would be time enough afterward to deliver her last
invitation.

For two days, which seemed intolerably long to impatient Madge Morton,
the four friends waited to hear their fate from Mr. and Mrs. Butler.

On the third morning a letter addressed to Madge in Mrs. Butler's
handwriting was handed to her while she and her chums were at
breakfast. In her great excitement her hands trembled so that she
could hardly finish her breakfast. "Here, Eleanor," Madge finally
faltered, as the four girls left the dining room to go upstairs, "you
take the letter and read it to us, please do. Positively I haven't the
courage to look at it. I feel almost sure that Aunt Sue will say we
can't go on our houseboat trip."

Lillian put her hand affectionately on Madge's arm, while Phil stood
next to Eleanor.

"My dear Madge," the letter began, "I think your houseboat plan for the
summer a most extraordinary one. I never heard of young girls
attempting such a holiday before. I can not imagine how you happened
to unearth such a peculiar idea."

Madge gave a gasp of despair. She felt that the tone of her Aunt Sue's
letter spelled refusal. But Eleanor read on: "Like a good many of your
unusual ideas, this houseboat scheme seems, after all, to be rather an