So Bettina, recalling the fact that Marguerite Arnot had in her quiet fashion displayed pleasure in David Hale’s acquaintance, regarded this as another reason to be pleased with his appearance at the Christmas house party. During the weeks she and Marguerite were in Washington city, they had been able to see David Hale only once, as he chanced to be west at the time on official business. Never before had Bettina thought of herself in the light of a matchmaker, so, secretly, she was amused by her present point of view. Marguerite Arnot and David Hale were her friends and one always possessed the right to wish happiness for one’s friends. Now the Adirondack woods in their winter cloak were like fairyland, so wonderful that Bettina, had she not been sure she was proof against romance, must have felt their romantic influence. She did feel their inspiration and their beauty every hour of the day. But Bettina had arranged a future for herself in which an ordinary romance played no part, and by ordinary romance she meant the eternal romance of youth. Dr. and Mrs. Ashton, Alice’s and Sally’s parents, were to arrive from Boston, bringing with them a distant cousin, a youth of about nineteen or twenty whom neither girl had seen in a number of years. One change in their household arrangements upon which the Camp Fire guardian and Mrs. Graham both insisted was that during the holiday season some one be secured to assist with the domestic work, else with so many additional people to be cared for, the girls would be worn out and have little time for pleasure. Mrs. Burton had another reason which she did not choose to make public. She dreaded the added strain upon Miss Patricia, who in spite of her wonderful vigor and energy would doubtless wear herself to the breaking point and be extremely difficult in consequence. At the close of her reconstruction work in France to which she had devoted herself she had reached England in a state of nervous and physical exhaustion. However, after a few weeks of travel and rest she had entirely recovered. Notwithstanding, Mrs. Burton could not refrain from worrying over Miss Patricia’s unfailing care of her, in which she seemed unwilling to allow any one else to share. Any human being with less tact than Mrs. Graham would long since have met with Miss Patricia’s disapproval. She did manage, however, to spend several hours each day with her friend without incurring Miss Patricia’s anger, and in small ways, never in more important ones, to relieve the older woman’s constant vigilance. As a matter of fact, Betty Graham was a decided favorite with Aunt Patricia and had been for a number of years. Many times she was heard to announce that she wished Polly Burton were possessed of an equal amount of sweetness and good judgment. Moreover, Miss Patricia really recognized the claim of the friendship older than her own, and although now and then suffering twinges of jealousy, usually kept them to herself.