common with the "Little Captain." Her father, James Ford, was a lawyer,
and her mother, Mrs. Margaret Ford, a rather dressy lady who spent a good
deal of her time at clubs, was quite a figure in the society of Deepdale.
However, all through the war Mrs. Ford had worked with an untiring
enthusiasm for the "cause," a fact which had made her many more friends
than her social popularity could ever have done.

Next in the little quartette came Mollie Billette. Mollie was seventeen,
French-American, and impulsive, with a quick temper that made more trouble
for herself than for any one else. She and Betty were alike in their
splendid vigor and vitality. Mollie, or "Billy" as she was sometimes
called by her chums, had a very lovely widowed mother and an extremely
mischievous young brother and sister, Paul and Dora (nicknamed "Dodo"),
who were twins and six. Although the twins were pretty nearly always in
trouble, they were really adorable children, whom everybody loved.

Amy Blackford, shy, sweet, pretty, completed the quartette. There had been
a mystery about her past which had recently been cleared up, and it may
have been this mystery that caused the girls to treat her with a little
more consideration and gentleness than they did each other. Her guardian
was a broker in the city who knew very little of the past except through
letters.

The four boys who were close chums of the girls and had added to the
interest and excitement of more than one of their adventures were Allen
Washburn, who was very much interested in Betty, and in whom Betty was
very much interested; Will Ford, Grace's brother, who had carried Amy
Blackford's picture all through the war; Frank Haley, Will Ford's closest
chum, and Roy Anderson who had not much distinction of any kind except
that he was "lots of fun" and a chum of the other three boys.