"You're packing then?" asked Mrs. Peabody, taking a chair near the
bed and regarding Betty oddly. "Are you really going, Betty?"

"Oh, yes," Betty answered matter-of-factly, "Uncle Dick wants me to
stop in Pineville and visit old friends for a bit. And there's no use
in pretending, Mrs. Peabody, that--that--"

"No, I suppose not," sighed the woman, understanding only too well.
"Land knows, if I could get away I'd have no misgivings about the
right of it. I'll miss you, though. You've been a sight of company
this summer, and no one could have been sweeter to me, Betty."

"Agatha!" came a stentorian shout from the front hall. "Are you
going to stay up there all day?"

"My stars, I forgot what I came up for!" Mrs. Peabody rose
hurriedly. "Joseph sent me up to tell you he wanted to ask you
something, Betty. And here I sit right down and him waiting there all
this time!"

Betty was far from concerned over Mr. Peabody's wasted time, but she
wondered uneasily what he could wish to ask her. Something connected
with Bob, doubtless. She followed Mrs. Peabody downstairs and found
the master of Bramble Farm striding up and down impatiently.

"Never saw the beat of women," he muttered. "Gabble, gabble, and an
hour right out of a day's work means nothing to 'em. Oh, here you
are, Miss. You know that gray alpaca coat of mine you took the letter
from this morning?"