"Come, cheer up!" said Paul. "You'll like Canada well enough when you get there. Girls have rather a good time I believe." Later on, when Lesbia was alone with Minnie, she heard fuller particulars. "Paul is very glad to get the appointment. It's so difficult to make any headway in England nowadays. There seems more scope in a new country. It'll be a good thing for the children too, when they begin to grow up. England's overcrowded. They'll have better prospects in Canada." "What's the place like? Are there great forests and lakes and rivers and Red Indians?" asked Lesbia, calling to mind any stories she had read of the Dominion. "No, Belleville's not at all romantic. It's quite a new city, and it's on the plains, not near any forests or rivers, I believe." "O-o-h!" (disappointedly). "Are Nurse and Mrs. Carter going with us?" "Nurse doesn't want to leave England. She's to be married next year. And Mrs. Carter is too old to emigrate, and has two sons settled in Kingfield. You and I can look after the children on the voyage, can't we?" "I suppose so!" gulped Lesbia. She was appalled at the whole idea. Emigration to Canada sounded about as cheerful as banishment to Siberia. To leave Kingfield, with its quaint buildings and old associations, and the High School where she was so happy, and to be whisked away over the sea to a bare new city and a winter of snow and ice--oh, it was horrible! And only a fortnight in which to get ready. They ought to have told her before. It was too bad to keep her--a girl of nearly sixteen--in the dark, as if she were one of the children. Minnie and Paul had had plenty of time to make their preparations, but for herself everything would be a scurry. She would not even be able to finish the decoration of VA. She carried the bad news to school next morning. Marion received it with a perfect outburst of indignation. "What an atrocious shame! To think of springing it upon you in this sudden fashion. Oh, it's too bad to take you away from the High School! Where are you going to finish your education? Is there a school at this place you're going to?" "I don't know." "You probably won't have time for school when you get there. Servants are scarce in Canada and you'll have to turn to and help!" "We're not taking nurse or anyone with us," volunteered Lesbia. "Then _you'll_ be nursemaid on the voyage?" "I suppose so." "I like that!" flamed Marion. "Why can't they leave you behind in Kingfield, to finish at the High?" "Oh, I wish they would!" "I wish they'd leave you with _us_," said Marion impulsively. "Mother'd adore to have you--she likes you awfully--and as for me I'd dance a jubilee. I've always wanted a sister, and we get on so well together, don't we? Oh, it _would_ be sport!" "It would indeed!" agreed Lesbia wistfully. She ventured to mention the great idea to Minnie, who laughed, and then looked suddenly hurt.