Doctor Hal Guerin and his wife and daughters had been good friends to Bob and Betty in the Bramble Farm days.  The doctor, with a large country practice that brought him more affection and esteem than ready cash, had managed to look after the boy and girl more or less effectively, and Norma, his daughter, had supplied Bob with orders from her school friends for little carved pendants that he made with no better tools than an old knife.  This money had been the first Bob had ever earned and had given him his first taste of independence.

“I don’t think you could make Doctor Guerin take money, even as a loan,” said Betty slowly, in answer to Bob’s proposal.  “Norma wouldn’t like it if she thought her letter had suggested such a thing.  What makes it hard for them, I think, is that Mrs. Guerin expected to have quite a fortune some day.  Her mother was really wealthy, and she was an only child.  I don’t know where the money went, but I do know the Guerins never had any of it.”

Bob jumped to his feet as she finished the sentence.

“Here’s Uncle Dick!” he cried.  “Did you see the new well come in, sir?”

CHAPTER III

SURPRISING BOB

Betty shook back her hair and rose to kiss the gray-haired gentleman who put an arm affectionately about her.

“I heard about that blast,” he said, and smiled good-humoredly.  “Lee Chang was much worried when I went in to dinner.  His one consolation was that you had eaten the tart before the oil began to fall.”

“We were all right, only of course it rather daubed us up,” said Bob.  “Betty had to wash her hair.”

“My hair’s nothing,” declared Betty scornfully.  “But my brand-new blouse that I worked on for two days—­you ought to see it, Uncle Dick!  Grandma Watterby thinks maybe she can get the oil out, but she says the color may come out, too.”

Mr. Gordon sat down on the step and took off his hat.

“You’ve a clear claim for damages, Betty,” he assured his niece gravely.  “To save time, I’m willing to make good; what does a new blouse cost?”

“This wasn’t exactly new,” explained Betty fairly.  “Aunt Faith had the material in her trunk for years.  But it was the first thing I ever made, and I was so proud of it.”

“Well, we’ll see that you have something to take its place,” promised her uncle, drawing her down beside him.  “I have some news for you, Betsey.  When you go East next week, I’m going, too.  That is, as far as Chicago.  From there I take a little run up into Canada.”

“But you said you’d spend Christmas with us!” argued Betty.

“Oh, Christmas is months off,” returned Mr. Gordon comfortably.  “I expect to be back in the States long before the holidays.  And Bob’s aunts have finally made up their minds where they want to spend the winter.  Aunt Faith has commissioned me to buy two tickets for southern California.”