“But there’s Bob!” Betty gazed anxiously at her uncle.  “What’s Bob going to do without any one at all, Uncle Dick?”

Mr. Gordon looked at Bob, and an unwilling grin turned the corners of the boy’s mouth.

“That’s the way he’s been acting all day,” scolded Betty.  “What ails him?  I think it’s silly to sit there and smile when there’s nothing to smile about.”

“I suspect Bob doesn’t take kindly to secrets,” returned her uncle.  “Suppose you ’fess up, Bob, and when the atmosphere is clear we can have a little talk.”

“All right,” said Bob, with manifest relief.  “I kept quiet only because I wanted to be sure I was going, sir.  Betty, Mr. Littell wrote me about a military academy in the East and put me in, touch with several boys who attend it.  Uncle Dick thinks it is just the school for me, and I’m going.  Timothy Derby is one of the boys.  He’s a son of the man I worked for in Washington.”

“How splendid!” With characteristic enthusiasm Betty forgot her momentary displeasure at Bob’s method of keeping a secret.  “When are you going, Bob?  Where is the school?”

“That’s the best part,” said Bob boyishly.  “It’s the Salsette Military Academy, Betty, and it’s right across the lake from the Shadyside school.  All five of the boys Mr. Littell told me of are friends of the Littell girls, so you see it is going to be great fun all around.”

“I never knew of anything so nice!” declared Betty.  “Never!  So you knew when I told you about Shadyside that you were going to be so near!”

Bob nodded.

“Have to keep an eye on you,” he said with mock seriousness, at which Betty made a little face.

“You haven’t much time to get ready,” Mr. Gordon warned them.  “The aunts will leave Wednesday and our train pulls out at ten twenty-six on Friday morning.  Of course you will do your shopping in Washington and be guided by the advice of Mr. and Mrs. Littell.  I wish I could go to Washington with you, but that is impossible now.  You must write me faithfully, both of you, though I suppose we’ll have to expect the same delay between letters that we’ve experienced before.  Most of my time will be spent on a farm thirty miles from a railroad.  If you get into any difficulties, go to the Littells, and for little troubles, help each other.”

Mr. Gordon went on to say that while Bob and Betty were independent to a greater degree than most boys and girls of their age, the same force of circumstances that made this possible also gave them a heavier responsibility.  He explained that each was to have an allowance and asked that each keep a cash account to be submitted to him on his return from Canada, not, he said, to serve as a check upon extravagant or foolish expenditures, but that he might be better able to advise them and to point out avoidable mistakes.

After supper that night he drew the boy aside for further discussion.