know she'll be so glad she'll throw up her hat. Bring your sheets and
pillow-cases. Come by way of the X. & Y. R.R. to a place called Placid
Pond."

The three readers, bunched together over the letter, uttered a cry of
delight. "Placid Pond!"--of all the dear, delightful, placid names! The
very look of it on paper was restful; it _sounded_ restful when you
said it over and over--"Placid Pond. Placid Pond. Placid Pond."

"Oh, she's a dear--she's an _artist!_" cried Laura Ann, who
measured all things by their relationship to art. This was an own
cousin!

"Read on--somebody hold the letter still!" Billy cried excitedly. And
they read on: "Take the only road there is to take, and keep on to a
house that's painted green. It will be Emmeline's house, though they
might have named her Sophia, she says, by accident. But you will be glad
she is Emmeline. She has a beautiful daughter that never was born and
never will die--oh, girls, come as quick as ever you can!"

Yours, "The Talented One."

"P.S. No. 2.--Don't climb any stone walls. The stones are not stuck on."

For a tiny space the three girls looked at each other in silence. The
letter in Loraine's hand was a masterpiece, full of enticing mysteries
that beckoned to them to come and find the "answers." What kind of an
Eldorado was this that was called Placid Pond, and was full of
mysteries? How could they wait! They must pack up and go at once!