you have had a share in making the room pretty."

"I know something," began Dorothy.

"Don't tell, don't tell," interrupted Charlotte. "Let's tell Mrs.
Hamilton secretly, and after the room is finished we'll see if we
can guess what each one suggested."

"That's a clever idea, Lottchen," said Betty, who admired all that
Charlotte said or did.

This agreed upon, the girls said they must go, and Mrs. Hamilton
settled down to her letter once more.

"MY DEAR RUTH" (she wrote):

"I can't wait any longer to tell you how delighted I am to know
that you are coming to us for a whole year. I have always wanted
a daughter of my own, and the next best thing to that will be to
have a borrowed one. I am afraid you are not so full of delight at
the prospect as Mr. Hamilton and I are, but we hope to be able to
drive away at least a part of the homesickness, and we already feel
an affection for the little girl who is coming to us.

"I am going to send you a photograph of some girls who have just
been in to see me and who have heard the news of your coming. I am
very fond of them, and they call themselves my 'visiting daughters,'
and run in to see me at all hours and on all sorts of errands. They
are very glad to know you are coming and are already wondering how
you look and whether you will like them. The one in the middle of