Blue Bonnet's laugh rang out. "Blue bonnets in August! Come in March and I'll show you a sea of them,--and a round-up, too. The cattle and the cowboys you shall see to-morrow,--and some steer-roping that will make your hair stand on end." Ruth ran her hand through her boyish, close-cut locks and made them stand literally on end. "It isn't much of a trick to do that!" she said with a grimace. "Never mind, maybe it will come in curly," said Sarah the comforter. "You can trust Sarah not to see the thorns for the roses," said Blue Bonnet, sending the comforter an approving glance. "What turtle doves you all are," laughed Susy. "Oh, it's Sarah and Blue Bonnet who do all the cooing. The rest of us are still just geese." Kitty's voice had a tinge of envy that did not escape the notice of the rest. "Go play us something, Blue Bonnet," suggested Ruth tactfully, "--that cowboy piece we all like." "Invalids must be humored," remarked Blue Bonnet as she went to the piano. In a minute the little rollicking air that she had played at her first tea-party, had set them all to dancing and humming as on that historic occasion. "Aren't Kitty and Blue Bonnet as chummy as they used to be?" Ruth asked Amanda under cover of the music. "Yes, by spells. They had one tiff--the second since they've known each other,--and ever since we've lived in dread of the third, haven't we, Sarah?" "You have," Sarah returned. "And I have too, in fact, though I try not to be superstitious. Besides they've had the third--and it's all over now." "They have? When?" Amanda sat up in surprise. "While we were camping. Kitty told me about it and said it was all her fault. The last one wasn't, you know. First it's one and then the other that's to blame." "Kitty and Blue Bonnet aren't going to stop at three tiffs, you may depend on it," Ruth said wisely. "They're going to have three times three and then some. Because Kitty is Kitty, and Blue Bonnet is--Blue Bonnet!" As the gay music ceased Grandmother Clyde looked in at the door. "It is time for the travellers to rest. They must be fresh for the great occasion to-morrow," she said, nodding to Susy and Ruth. Blue Bonnet glanced over to the couch where Ruth reclined among the pillows. Her face, with its crown of short dark hair, looked very thin and white. "I reckon the girls had better go to your room, Grandmother,--it's about the only place where they can be quiet. Benita is putting two cots in the nursery, but it's never quiet in there till we're all asleep." Ruth rose regretfully, "I'll go rest if I must. But I hate to miss anything that's going on. If you only knew how deadly dull it has been in Woodford! I think the inhabitants have learned to appreciate the We are Sevens, for the place has seemed empty without them. And everybody wants to know when the Texas Blue Bonnet is coming back." They all looked towards Blue Bonnet. "I--why--there's Uncle Cliff looking for me," she said, and left the room precipitately.