This proposition met with instant favor. I put Silvia and Diogenes in the stern of the boat and pulled for the opposite shore. My endeavors to gain this point were balked by Silvia's remarkable conceptions of the art of steering craft. She was so serenely satisfied, however, with the way she performed her duties and the aid she thought she was giving me, that I forbore to criticize. In order to achieve a few strokes in the right direction, I asked her to get me a cigar from an inside pocket of my coat, which was on the seat in front of her. Then came the blight to our bliss. She looked in the wrong pocket and instead of producing a cigar, she extracted two letters with seals unbroken. [Illustration: "Lucien Wade!" she gasped. "Here are our letters to Beth and Rob."] "Lucien Wade!" she gasped. "Here are our letters to Beth and Rob. Well, it is my fault. I should have known better than to give them to you." "The plot thickens," I replied thoughtfully. "This is Monday. They must both be at the house now. What will they think!" "They will think we didn't receive their letters." "Isn't it unfortunate--" she began. "No," I replied. "I am not sure but what it is a good thing. It will give Rob a jolt to see that girls can be as nice as Beth is, and as for her, she is quite able to take care of the situation where a man is concerned." "But we must have Beth here. Maybe you'd better telegraph her." "Huldah understands conditions. She will send Beth on here." The next morning we took Diogenes and went down the road to meet the stage. As it came around the curve, we saw there were three passengers. "Tolly!" cried Diogenes with an ecstatic whoop. "Beth!" recognized Silvia. "Rob!" I ejaculated. The stage stopped to allow us to get in. Mutual explanations followed. Ours were brief and substantiated by the documents in evidence. "Now," I said turning threateningly to Ptolemy, "what did you come here for?" "To show them," indicating Beth and Rob, "how to get here and to look after Di so you and mudder could enjoy your vacation," he replied glibly. Beth laughed mirthfully. "Check! Lucien." "Didn't Huldah warn you," I asked her, "that our whereabouts were to remain unknown?" "Ptolemy," she replied, "is evidently a mind reader, for he told me where you were before I saw Huldah." "Why, Ptolemy, how did you know where we were?" asked Silvia. "I was on top of the porch when you told stepdaddy about coming. I didn't tell the others. I won't bother you any. And I know how to look after Di. You won't send me back, mudder," he pleaded, looking wistfully at the foam-crested water of the little lake. I wondered mutely if Silvia could resist the appeal in the eyes of the neglected boy when he turned his imploring gaze to hers, and the delight depicted in Diogenes' eyes at "Tolly's" arrival. She could not. "You may stay as long as we do," she said slowly, "if you are a good boy and will not play too rough with Diogenes."