"Yes," mused Laura Ann thoughtfully, "it was a beautiful one. I'm glad
_I_ didn't miss it. When I think of what it stood for--"

She broke off suddenly and slipped her hand into Billy's arm. Another
short silence. Then Laura Ann finished: "All the work and patience it
stood for, day after day--girls, when I think of that I feel--"

"I know--all of us know," T.O. hastily interposed. "That's about the way
we all feel, I guess. No use talking about it, though. Billy's broken
the Compact and we're under oath to drop her."

"Not till we go back to work," Loraine put in emphatically, "and then
she can live next door and come in every night to tea! There's nothing
in the Compact against that, is there? Well, then, I invite you, Billy,
for the very first tea!"

"I accept!" laughed Billy. She did not seem at all depressed. In her
ears rang the pounding refrain of Old '61 marching through Georgia.

Nothing more was said on this subject. A little picnic had been planned
for the afternoon, and they went briskly about making preparations for
it, as soon as they got back to Mrs. Camp's little green house. While
they worked they discussed Amelia.

"If she hadn't gone with her mother we'd have taken her to the picnic
with us," the Talented One said, over her egg-beating. "I wonder if
Amelia likes picnics?"

"Don't! You make me feel creepy," Laura Ann laughed. "What _I_
wonder is how she'd have looked if she'd ever been born. I lay awake one