"This unexpected request may meet with disapproval and refusal by your
family, but do not let one of the causes be on the grounds of the extra
work we might create, because we do not want any fussing, whatever, but
we do want to be treated as members of the family--to do our share of
anything that needs to be done.

"Mr. Maynard wishes his girls to live in the outdoors as much as
possible, so we will not be in your mother's way. I certainly hope your
father and mother will allow us to come, and I can promise you that you
will enjoy these girls very much. The terms are of no consequence, Mr.
Maynard said, as he is ready to pay anything to give Nolla a quiet home
and the life she needs.

"I trust you can persuade your mother to try us, at any rate, and so,
hoping for a favorable reply to this letter,

"I am your sincere friend,
ANNE STEWART."

While Polly read the letter aloud, her mother thought rapidly. She had
the picture of a charming girl who had often met John Brewster at
social gatherings during the term she taught the children at Bear
Forks. Now her brother Paul was one of John's chums at college. Perhaps
this girl had visited at Chicago, and perhaps John had visited her home
at Denver--but he had never said a word about it. It was very evident
that this girl had an intimate acquaintance with the home-life at
Pebbly Pit, and this knowledge must have reached her through John.
Hence John and she must be very well acquainted. John would doubtless
marry some day, but his mother did not care to see him entangled before
he had launched his bark on the waters of his ambition. If he was