“I think perhaps you are right, Jake,” Wardell Force returned thoughtfully as he turned away. “I’ll have another talk with Doris and see if I can’t get her out of the notion of going.” Returning to the house, he found his niece in the den studying German. She put aside her book at once as he came over to her, but her face clouded at mention of the visit. “I’ll give it up if you’re so worried, but I don’t see any reason for not going. The Misses Gates are probably just two dear old ladies who like privacy, and the neighbors are inclined to gossip.” “I see you have set your heart upon going,” Mr. Force sighed. “Then you will let me go?” “Upon one condition.” “And what is that?” “That you get some one to go with you.” “I know just the person, Uncle Ward. Kitty Norris will be crazy to go!” “You’re both crazy to go,” Mr. Force returned with a different inflection. Doris, highly pleased at her latest idea, sprang up and rushed to the desk. It took her only a few minutes to compose a letter to her chum, and having finished it, she rushed off to the corner mail box, fearful lest her uncle change his mind again. The next three days she waited in a tremor of excitement for a response. On the fourth day the postman brought the letter from Kitty. It was brief but very much to the point. “Dear Dory:” it read. “Will I come? I’ll jump at the chance! Here’s to a high old time at Locked Gates, and may we discover when they were locked and why! Meet me Wednesday on the 4:40 train. Yours, Kitty.” It was already Monday and that left only two days before Kitty’s arrival. Doris flew about putting the suite in order and spent a great deal of time getting her clothes ready to pack. The problem was made somewhat difficult due to the fact that she did not know what sort of reception awaited her. “I don’t know whether they’ll give any parties or not,” she told herself, “but my guess is they won’t. I’ll take a chance on it and leave my evening gown at home.” Late Wednesday afternoon, Doris and her uncle drove to the station to meet Kitty. She was nearly the last one off the train and Doris was beginning to think she had not come, when she caught sight of her in the crowd. The girls exchanged enthusiastic hugs and fell to jabbering as excitedly as two magpies, or at least so it seemed to Uncle Ward, who was quite ignored until Doris recalled that she had failed to introduce him. “I feel as though I know you already,” he told Kitty with his genial smile. “Doris has talked about you almost continually.” He placed her suitcase in the back of the coupé, and the girls squeezed in beside him on the front seat. As they drove toward home, Doris told her chum more about Locked Gates and the reason why she had planned the trip.