Dolly shook her head. "Fred is a model brother, and I am sure that he would be utterly disgusted if I should make any such promise as that. I think that he will be equal to the three of us, but I shall be glad if you will assist him in his onerous duties." "You are not very generous to me, but when you find Fred engrossed with Miss Sutherland, and entirely oblivious to the fact that he has a sister, I will forgive you, and take you under my protecting care." "Fred will not forget me." Her companion laughed mischievously. "I would like to make a wager on that point, but I know that you never bet--so all I can do is to wait for the future to prove me a true prophet." During the busy weeks that followed, Dolly thought of his words more than once. Was it possible that Fred cared particularly for Mary? She did not think so. She hoped not, too, for she knew Mary well enough to be sure that that young lady wasted no thoughts upon Fred, or upon any other young man. "All Mary cares for," she told herself half-angrily, "is biology, and her own family. She has her future mapped out, and she expects to teach forever and forever. Fred need not waste a single thought on her, and I do not believe that he does, either." But when commencement time approached, and Fred was so plainly cast down over Mary's refusal to go to Harvard, Dolly began to think that she might be wrong in her conclusions. Fred had the matter so much at heart that he bespoke his mother's influence, and Mary at length gave a reluctant consent. "But I have nothing to wear that is new and pretty, Dolly, and you will be ashamed of me." The conversation took place in Professor Newton's room, and she interposed at this point. "You must have a new white dress, Mary, and it shall be my present to you. We will get a very pretty one, and with what you have already, Dolly need not be ashamed of you." "As if I would be, anyway," Dolly protested reproachfully. But Professor Newton realized that a new dress may give a girl a certain self-possession and ease, so she was determined that her niece should have at least one gown that would be becoming and suitable. Mary grumbled, over the waste of money, as she termed it, but her aunt quietly silenced her, and sent her off to Harvard, hoping that, for once in her life, Mary would act like a young girl instead of an old woman, and would get as much pleasure out of the week as Beth and Dolly did. Probably, to the majority of visitors, the Commencement that year was like other Commencements, but Dolly was sure that it was much more brilliant than anything ever before held at old Harvard. Rob Steele had won substantial honors, and both Fred and Dick Martin had earned their degrees. The boys saw that the girls had a share in all the fun that was going on.