Page "LEFT ALONE, THE TWO GIRLS WERE NOT SLOW IN DISCUSSING THE WONDERFUL NEWS" _Frontispiece_ 14 "'THE GOOSE GIRL, BY ALL THAT'S WONDERFUL!' WHISPERED GWETHYN" 28 "GWETHYN TORE OFF THE SILK HANDKERCHIEFS. SHE SAW AT ONCE WHAT HAD HAPPENED" 102 "THE UNPLEASANT TRUTH WAS HOPELESSLY PLAIN--THEY WERE PRISONERS IN THE EMPTY HOUSE" 118 "'I BELIEVE I'VE BROKEN MY LEG', HE MOANED" 248 "'THIS CONCERNS US VERY MUCH, GITHA. IT'S YOUR GRANDFATHER'S LAST WILL'" 284 THE JOLLIEST TERM ON RECORD CHAPTER I The New School "Katrine!" said Gwethyn, in her most impressive manner, "have you noticed anything peculiar going on in this house the last two or three days?" "Why, no," replied Katrine abstractedly, taking a fresh squeeze of cobalt blue, and mixing it carefully with the rose madder and the yellow ochre already on her palette. "Nothing at all unusual. Gwethyn, be careful! You nearly sat down on my brigand, and his head's still wet!" "Peccavi! I didn't see he was there," apologized Gwethyn, rescuing the canvas in question, and placing it in a position of greater safety on the mantelpiece. "Considering you've got absolutely every single chair littered with books, paints, and turpentine bottles, there really doesn't seem a spot left to sit upon," she continued in an injured tone. "Except the table," returned Katrine, hastily moving a box of pastels and a pile of loose drawings to make room. "Please don't disturb my things. I've been sorting them out, and I don't want to get them mixed up again. Squat here, if you're tired, and leave the bottles alone." "I am tired. I'm nearly dead. I bicycled all the way to Lindley Park and back with Mona Taylor on the step. She _would_ make me take her! And she's no light weight, the young Jumbo!" "Poor martyr! would you like a drink of turpentine to revive you? Sorry the chocs are finished." "Don't mock me! Mona's a decent kid, but she really was the limit to-day. I'll see myself at Jericho before I let her climb on my step again. But Kattie, to go back to what I was saying before you interrupted me--haven't you noticed there's a something, a most decided something in the wind?" "Your imagination, my dear child, is one of your brightest talents. You're particularly clever at noticing what isn't there."