Heading the little procession, they led the way to the dining room, followed by Reddy and Jessica, Hippy and Nora, Grace, Tom and Miriam.
There for the next hour goodfellowship reigned supreme, and when at last the various members of the little clan departed for home, each one carried in his or her heart the conviction that Life could never offer anything more desirable than these happy evenings which they had spent together.
"I can't tell you how much I missed Anne to-night," said Grace to her mother as, arm in arm, they stood on the veranda watching their guests until they had turned the corner of the next street.
"We all missed her," replied her mother, "but I believe David felt her absence even more keenly than we did.

He is very fond of Anne.

I wonder if she realizes that he really loves her, and that he will some day tell her so?
She is such a quiet, self-contained little girl.

Her emotions are all kept for her work." "I believe she does," said Grace.

"She has never spoken of it to me.
David has been her faithful knight ever since her freshman year at high school, so she ought to have a faint inkling of what the rest of us know.