"I just hate beginning and then I love it," cried Alice. "You won't love it when you get into fractions," retorted Billy, "'course its fun down in the baby grades!" He spoke from the lofty distinction of a sub-freshman in the Technical High. Some day Billy was going to make boilers like his father. "I don't mind school, but it's the fuss getting things ready. I just despise dressmakers! You wait, Ken, until mother gets after you and you stand by the hour and have Miss Harris fit you! The only fun is watching to see how many pins she can put in her mouth without swallowing any. Did that governess make your clothes?" Keineth described the funny little shop where Tante took her twice a year. "They kept my measurements there and Tante would just look at the materials." "And you never decided as to what color you wanted or had ribbons and things?" cried Peggy wonderingly. Keineth's face colored a little. "Madame Henri thought plain things better," she explained. "That's what mother says, but that plain things can be pretty, too. She always lets us choose our color because she says it trains our tastes. And this year, if I don't have a pink dress for best I'm going to make an awful fuss!" "I'd like a pink dress," Keineth agreed shyly, "I never had one!" Peggy jumped off the trunk. "Let's tease for pink dresses just alike; and now what do you say to a last game of tennis?" "Make it doubles! I'll play with Alice," cried Billy, eagerly dropping his work. And with merry laughter they rushed away. To close Overlook was an almost sacred task to the Lee family. Each did his or her part tenderly, reluctantly. Mrs. Lee and Barbara folded away the pretty hangings; Billy made the garden ready for the fall fertilizing, took Gyp to his winter home at a nearby farm, and put the barn in order; the younger girls helped Nora polish and cover the kitchen utensils. And never had the days seemed more glorious nor inviting, filled with the hazy September glow that turned everything into gold. "It's always just the nicest when we have to go to the city," Peggy complained sadly. They were gathered for the last time on the veranda watching the sunset. On the morrow they would return to town. Mr. Lee looked over the young faces--the tanned cheeks and the eyes glowing with health; the straight backs and limbs strong and supple from the summer's exercise. "You're a fine-looking bunch to begin the winter's work," he laughed. "It ought to be very easy to you youngsters." "How lucky we are to be able to live like this," Barbara said with a little sigh. She was thinking as she said it that she was often going to be very lonesome for home and this dear circle. Eager as she was to begin her new life in college, she could not bear the breaking of the home ties.