Gerry, with a whoop, had pounced upon her, even as Julie had done, without fear of rebuke. The older girl had been so consistently loving during the past few days that, childlike, they had accepted the change as being natural and permanent. Dan smiled happily at the group and in his eyes there was a tenderness that his sister rejoiced to see. But the lad who had been her chum since little childhood also knew that Jane's heart held a sorrow which she was not sharing with him. That it had something to do with Jean Sawyer he surmised, but believed that it was because Jane still thought Mr. Packard's overseer liked Merry especially well. "Let's have a party!" Gerald shouted as he capered about the room unable, it would seem, to otherwise express his enthusiasm. "That would be sport!" Dan agreed. Julie slipped from Jane's encircling arm. Clapping her hands, she sang out: "Goodie! We're going to have a party and maybe there'll be ice-cream." "There probably isn't any to be had nearer than Scarsburg," Dan remarked. Then he grew thoughtful, wondering how long the girl he loved would be detained at the county seat, "along of school-work." As though voicing his thought, Gerald ceased his antics to say earnestly: "It won't be a party unless Meg is at it." "And Jean Sawyer, too!" Julie put in. "Let's ask Meg and Jean to our party. You want them, don't you, Janey?" The other girl smiled as she arose to clear the breakfast table; then turned away, but not quickly enough to hide the sudden tears from Dan. The boy's heart was sad. He also believed that Jean Sawyer especially liked Merry, and, if this were true, there was nothing for Jane to do but to try _not_ to care. Bob suggested that he and Dan go up to the Heger place to get the horse. "Then the girls can take turns walking and riding," he ended. Merry seemed to be very eager to go to the village, far down in the valley. "I, also, am expecting some mail," was all that she would tell the others. "I'm glad it's such a shiny day," Julie chirped. "Birthdays ought to be all gold and blue, hadn't they ought to be, Janey?"