It was after recess that the surprise came.  The reading lesson had been unusually interesting, and instead of twenty minutes, it had occupied a half-hour.

When the readers were put aside, Aunt Charlotte said: 

“Commencing to-morrow, we shall devote a half-hour to studying history.  You are all much younger than the pupils in the public schools who begin to study history, but we shall take it up in an easy, enjoyable way.  I shall read to you from a finely written volume which I own, while you will try to write, from memory, what I have read.”

“What did I tell you?” whispered Reginald. “Now I guess you’ll hear ’bout folks with their heads off!”

Katie put her hands over her ears, but Reginald’s eyes were twinkling with delight.  The girls would have to admit that his scrap of news was true!

As they hastened down the long avenue after school, he again asked his question: 

“Say, girls!  What did I say?”

“You said we’d got to learn horrid things, and Aunt Charlotte didn’t say so,” said Mollie.

“I know she didn’t, but Bob did, and you wait,” was the quick reply.

“I’ll tell you something that you’d hardly believe, but it’s true,” said Mollie; “it’s somebody that’s coming right here to Merrivale to live.”

“Is it somebody you know?” Dorothy asked.

Mollie laughed.

“Somebody we all know,” she said.

“Is she nice?  Do we like her?” Nina questioned.

“I’ll tell you who it is, and then you’ll know whether you’re glad or not,” said Mollie.  She had been walking backward, and in front of her playmates, and thus she could watch their faces.  She looked at them an instant, then she said: 

“It’s—­Patricia Lavine!”

The little group stood stock still, and it was quite evident that not one of the party was delighted.

Nancy was the first to speak.

“Are you sure, Mollie?” she asked.

“She said so,” Mollie replied.  “I was running across the lawn to call for Flossie, when I heard some one call: 

“‘Mollie!  Mollie!  Mollie Merton!’

“I turned, and there was Patricia running up the walk.  You know she was always in a rush, and she’s just the same now.

“‘I can’t stop but a minute,’ she said, ’but I’ve just time to tell you that we’ve been hunting houses, and we’re coming here to live.  We’ve got a house right next to the big schoolhouse, and that’s nice, for I wouldn’t want to go to private school.’

“Then she ran off, just looking over her shoulder to say: 

“’I’ve got to hurry, for I’ve an engagement, but I’ll be over to see you all soon.’”

“I wish she wouldn’t,” said Reginald, stoutly.

“Perhaps she’s pleasanter than when she lived here before,” ventured Flossie, looking up into the faces of her playmates.

Dear little girl, the youngest of the group, she was ever ready to say a kind word for an absent playmate.