With that the three jumped from the swing so suddenly that Grace, the only occupant left, bounced into the air and landed with a thump on the cushions. They laughed and drew up three chairs in a semi-circle in front of her to make escape impossible. Then three pairs of merry eyes focused commandingly upon her. "I didn't know it myself till last night," she said in response to the tacit order. "Then it was patriotic Aunt Mary who proposed it." "Proposed what?" they cried. "Well, that's what I'm going to tell you if you give me half a chance. She said she felt as if she owed something to us girls for having stood so loyally behind Uncle Sam, and had decided to offer us her cottage at Bluff Point to use as long as we wanted it." "Bluff Point!" cried Betty, while her eyes began to sparkle. "Why Grace! isn't that the place you were telling us about--" "Where the quaint little house stands on a bluff--" added Amy eagerly. "Overlooking a sparkling white beach that leads down to the ocean?" went on Betty. "The very same," nodded Grace, and they heaved a sigh of pure excitement and happiness. "Isn't it wonderful," cried Mollie joyfully, "how somebody is always doing something to make us happy?" "Yes, but when I said that to Aunt Mary last night she smiled and looked wise--you know how sweet she is--and said that that was the way happiness always came to us--by helping others to be happy." "But we haven't done anything to make anybody happy--particularly that is," said Mollie wondering. "I said that too," nodded Grace. "But she only went on smiling, and I realized she must have meant our work at the Hostess House." "It's strange how everybody persists in calling it work and giving us so much credit when it was all such fun," said Betty. "But girls," she added, laughing breathlessly, "the great fact is that we are going to have another adventure in the open. The very thought of it makes me want to roll in the buttercups." "Goodness, there's one open in the back meadow," suggested Mollie. "You can roll in it, if you want to." "Well, I don't--I want a whole patch of them!" cried Betty, while the rest laughed at Mollie's picture. "My, I feel younger already." "Well of course you need to," drawled Grace, adding with a fond glance at the glowing Little Captain: "You look so terribly like a dried-up ancient, dear." "But when shall we start?" cried Mollie, coming back to the all-absorbing topic at hand. "Goodness, I'd like to throw a few clothes in a suitcase and start right away--quick--this minute--I can't wait!" "Do you think it's catching?" asked Grace, anxiously. "From the way I feel I should say it was already caught," twinkled Betty, adding eagerly: "How long do you suppose we will have to wait, Grace? Did your Aunt Mary say when we could have the cottage?" "As soon as we want it," replied Grace, looking surprised. "Didn't I tell you?"