pulsively. "I wonder if there is any chance of them coming down this summer?"
"It's winter—up where they are," remarked Amy.
"Oh, every place is summer to Betty when she thinks of a certain young man; summer and orange blossoms," drawled Grace.
"Don't be silly!" snapped Betty, with a vivid blush. "You know I meant all the boys—not one!"
"Selfish girl—she wants them all!" laughed Mollie.
Glorious were they—those winter days in Florida, where the outdoor girls enjoyed themselves to the utmost. Had it not been for one little rift in the lute, their pleasure and happiness would have been complete—and that rift was the absence of Will. Grace seemed to feel it more keenly as day passed day and no word came.
Her father did write saying that the inquiry was progressing slowly, and that it would take some time to have scanned each list of minor offenders who had been "hired" out to contractors under an old law, operative only in certain cases. As for naming any special locality where Will might be, that was impossible, as yet.
Mrs. Stonington seemed very much improved by her stay in the South, but she was not yet out
