tore open the envelope and devoured the contents. Then she turned to
the girls with a glowing face.

"It's all right, it's all right!" she cried, waving the letter round
her head like a flag and nearly upsetting her chums. "Uncle John says
it is settled. He is going to Canada for a couple of months and we can
have the lodge for the whole time he is away or a part of it, just as
we wish. Hooray! How's that for luck?"

The girls were so excited over their good fortune that they forgot all
about Dodo. She, finding herself unobserved, had slipped around the
girls to the swing, snatched the box of candy which Grace had exposed
when she got up, had taken the steps two at a time and was flying off
down the street before the girls saw what she was up to.

Then it was Grace who, with a dreadful premonition, thought of her
candy. She turned quickly, saw that the box was gone, and uttered a
wail of woe.

"That little Turk of a sister of yours has done it again," she cried,
turning to Mollie, while Betty and Amy began to laugh. "You just wait
till I catch her. I'll get my candy back if I have to-- spank her,"
this last with a fierce scowl.

Betty put an arm about her excited chum, led her over to the swing and
put her down in it.

"By the time you caught Dodo there wouldn't be any of your candy
left," she said, adding soothingly: "Never mind, honey. We will get
you some more if we have to take up a collection."