gift for making things about her lovely and homelike. So she thought
and thought. Wild honeysuckle vines were growing in the fields with
the daisies. They were just the things to clamber over the white
railing of the deck and to hang gracefully over the sides. Their
perfume would fill the little floating dwelling with their fragrance.

By noon the transformation was complete. Eleanor persuaded Miss Jones
to go for a walk while she got the luncheon. Madge, Phil and Lillian
had solemnly promised to be at home by one o'clock. Another surprise
was in store for them. In the bow of their boat Eleanor had hung up a
flag. On a background of white broadcloth, stitched in bands of blue,
was the legend "Merry Maid." This was Eleanor Butler's chosen name for
the houseboat, and had been voted the best possible selection, while
Madge had been unanimously voted captain of their little ship. Eleanor
had sent to the town for the flag, and even their chaperon was not to
know of its arrival.

One would hardly have known Miss Jenny Ann Jones--a week in the fresh
air had done her so much good. Then, too, Phil and Lillian had
persuaded her to cease to wear her heavy, light hair in an English bun
at the back of her neck. Lillian had plaited it in two great braids
and had coiled it around her head like a dull golden coronet. She had
a faint color in her cheeks, and, instead of looking cross and tired,
she was as merry and almost as light-hearted as the girls. The lines
of her head were really beautiful, and her sallow skin was fast
becoming clear and healthy. For once in her life Miss Jones looked no
older than her twenty-six years. Eleanor watched her as she started
off on her walk dressed in white, carrying a red parasol, and decided
that Miss Jones was really pretty. Since her advent among the girls
she had begun to look at life from a different standpoint. She had