The four people who had gathered at the foot of the lawn were very
silent; Dr. Howe, whose cigar glowed and faded like a larger firefly than
those which were beginning to spangle the darkness, was the only one
ready to talk. "Well," he said, knocking off his cigar ashes on the arm
of his chair, "everything ready for to-morrow, girls? Trunks packed and
gowns trimmed? We'll have to keep you, Helen, to see that the house is
put in order after all this turmoil; don't you think so, Lois?"

Here the rector yawned secretly.

"You needn't worry about _order_, father," Lois said, lifting her head
from her cousin's shoulder, her red lower lip pouting a little, "but I
wish we could keep Helen."

"Do you hear that, Mr. Ward?" the rector said. "Yes, we're all going to
miss the child very much. Gifford Woodhouse was saying to-day Ashurst
would lose a great deal when she went. There's a compliment for you,
Helen! How that fellow has changed in these three years abroad! He's
quite a man, now. Why, how old is he? It's hard for us elders to realize
that children grow up."

"Giff is twenty-six," Lois said.

"Why, to be sure," said Dr. Howe, "so he is! Of course, I might have
known it: he was born the year your brother was, Lois, and he would have
been twenty-six if he'd lived. Nice fellow, Gifford is. I'm sorry he's
not going to practice in Mercer. He has a feeling that it might interfere
with Denner in some way. But dear me, Denner never had a case outside
Ashurst in his life. Still, it shows good feeling in the boy; and I'm