of us!"

"Well, for mercy's sake!" exclaimed Bess, "where are you going?
Though I should say _you_, Grace, had already gone. Crazy, you know."

"To Rose Ranch!" almost shouted Grace.

In astounded repetition, Nan and Bess fairly shrieked: "_To Rose
Ranch?_"

"My goodness, yes! Haven't you heard about it? My letter says
Rhoda's invited both of you girls, too, and that Walter is going.
Is--it a hoax?"

Nan and Bess stared at each other in amazement for a single moment;
then, like a flash, they tore open their own letters, both being
those prized "mother letters" so dear to every boarding-school
girl's heart, and unfolded the missives the envelopes contained. It
was Bess who found it first.

"It's here! It's here! Just think of Rhoda Hammond keeping this
secret from us! She wrote her folks and they wrote to mine--and to
yours, Nan--and Gracie's. Oh! Oh! We're going, going, going!"

"Isn't it fine?" cried Grace, dancing up and down in her delight.

"Delightsome! Just delightsome!" agreed Bess, coining a new word to
express her own joy. "Three cheers and a tiger! And a wildcat! And
a panther! And--and--Well! all the other trimmings that may go with
three cheers," she concluded because she was out of both breath and