"I'm not so sure of that," said Jenny. "She wouldn't want you going out much; for my part I'd coax her to travel; I'd love to go all over the world--and I'm just dying to go to Europe, anyway." "What would you choose, Ruth?" asked Grace. "I don't know," answered Ruth slowly, "and it's no use to wish, for of course she won't choose me. I don't think she ever cared much for me, and I do make such stupid blunders. It seems as if I was bound to break something or knock over something, or do _something_ she particularly dislikes every time I go there. You know the last time I went there I stumbled over a stool and fell flat on the floor, making her nearly jump out of her skin--as she said--and getting a big, horrid-looking bump on my forehead." The girls laughed. "You do seem to be awfully unlucky, Ruth," said Jenny magnanimously, "and I guess the choice will be one of us two." "Well, here we are!" said Grace, in a low tone, as they reached the gate of the pretty cottage where Aunt Betty lived. "Now for it! Put on your best manners, Ruthie, and try not to upset the old lady's nerves, whatever you do!" "I shall be sure to do it," said Ruth sadly, "I'm so awkward." Grace and Jenny laughed, not displeased with the thought that the choice would be only between two. These three girls, so eager to leave their parents and live with Aunt Betty, had comfortable homes, all of them; but in each case there were brothers and sisters and a family purse not full enough to gratify all their desires. Aunt Betty had always been ready to help them out of any difficulty; to give a new dress or a new hat when need became imperative, or a little journey when school work had tired them. So she had come to be the source of many of their comforts and all their luxuries. To live with Aunt Betty, so near their own homes that they would scarcely be separated from them, seemed to them the greatest happiness they could hope for. Old Sam, the colored servant who had lived with Miss Betty, as he called her, since she was a young woman, and was devoted to her, opened the door for them, a broad grin on his comely face. "Miss Betty, she's a-lookin' fur you-all," he said; "you're to take off your things in the hall." "Why! Can't we go into the bedroom as usual?" asked Grace, who liked a mirror and a brush to make sure that every curl was in place. "No, Miss Grace," said Sam, "y'r aunt said fur you to take 'em off here." Rather sulkily, Grace did as she was bid, and then, bethinking herself of the importance of the occasion, she called up her usual smile, and the three entered the sitting-room where their aunt awaited them. Aunt Betty was a pleasant-faced lady of perhaps sixty years, but though rather infirm so that she walked with a cane, she was bright and cheery-looking. She was dressed in her usual thick black satin gown and lace mitts, with a fine lace kerchief around her neck and crossed on her breast, and a string of fine gold beads around her throat.