"There'll be a chance, with the school out there, of offsetting just what's threatening Isobel and Gyp--a sort of grownupness they're putting on--like a masquerade costume!" "I love your very manlike way of describing things," laughed Mrs. Allan, recalling certain experiences of her own when, for six months, she had undertaken the care of her own niece, Patricia Everett. "It's so--_vivid_! A masquerade make-up, too big and too long, and then when you peep under the 'grown-up' costume, there's the little girl still--really loving to frolic around in the delightful sports that belong to youth and youth only." John Westley rode on for a few moments in deep silence, his mind on the young people he loved--then suddenly it veered to the little girl he had found on the Wishing-rock, her eyes staring longingly out into a dream-world that lay beyond valley and mountain top. "I've an idea--a--_corker_!" he exclaimed, just as the Fly-by-day bounced into the grass-grown drive of Cobble House. CHAPTER IV THE WESTLEYS "Gyp Westley, get right down off from that chair! You _know_ mother doesn't want you to stand on it!" Miss Gyp, startled by her sister's sudden appearance at her door, fell promptly from her perch on the dainty chintz-cushioned chair. "I was only tacking up my new banner," she answered crossly. "Here, Tib, put the hammer away. What are you going to do, Isobel?" Gyp's tone asked, rather: "What in the world have you _found_ to do?" Because Mrs. Hicks' mother had been so inconsiderate as to have a stroke of apoplexy, much misery of spirit had fallen upon the young Westleys. Mrs. Hicks was the Westley housekeeper and Mrs. Robert Westley, who, with her four youngsters, was spending the month of August at Cape Cod, had declared that she must return home at once, for Mrs. Hicks' going would leave the house entirely alone with the two housemaids who were very new and very inexperienced. There had been of course a great deal of rebellion but Mrs. Westley, for once hardhearted, had turned deaf ears upon her aggrieved children. "Not a bit of silver packed away or anything, with that yellow-haired Lizzie! And anyway, it'll only be two or three weeks before school opens." Which was, of course, scant comfort! "Oh, I thought I'd walk over and see if Ginny's home yet." "Of course she isn't. Camp Fairview doesn't close until September second. I wish _I'd_ gone there! Where's Graham?" Isobel stretched her daintily-clad self in the chintz-cushioned chair that Gyp had vacated. "He went out to Highacres to see the changes. Won't it seem funny to go to school in old Uncle Peter's house?" For the moment Gyp and Tibby forgot to feel bored. "It'll be like going to a new school. I know I shall be possessed to slide down the banisters. I wish I'd known Graham was going out, I'd have gone, too."