The boys seconded the motion, and for a few minutes supper was the all-absorbing topic, as the cups went round and the goodies vanished rapidly, accompanied by the usual mishaps which make picnic meals such fun.  Ralph’s health was drunk with all sorts of good wishes; and such splendid prophecies were made, that he would have far surpassed Michael Angelo, if they could have come true.  Grif gave him an order on the spot for a full-length statue of himself, and stood up to show the imposing attitude in which he wished to be taken, but unfortunately slipped and fell forward with one hand in the custard pie, the other clutching wildly at the coffee-pot, which inhospitably burnt his fingers.

“I think I grasp the idea, and will be sure to remember not to make your hair blow one way and the tails of your coat another, as a certain sculptor made those of a famous man,” laughed Ralph, as the fallen hero scrambled up, amidst general merriment.

“Will the little bust be done before you go?” asked Jill, anxiously, feeling a personal interest in the success of that order.

“Yes:  I’ve been hard at it every spare minute I could get, and have a fortnight more.  It suits Mrs. Lennox, and she will pay well for it, so I shall have something to start with, though I haven’t been able to save much.  I’m to thank you for that, and I shall send you the first pretty thing I get hold of,” answered Ralph, looking gratefully at the bright face, which grew still brighter as Jill exclaimed,—­

“I do feel so proud to know a real artist, and have my bust done by him.  I only wish I could pay for it as Mrs. Lennox does; but I haven’t any money, and you don’t need the sort of things I can make,” she added, shaking her head, as she thought over knit slippers, wall-pockets, and crochet in all its forms, as offerings to her departing friend.

“You can write often, and tell me all about everybody, for I shall want to know, and people will soon forget me when I’m gone,” said Ralph, looking at Merry, who was making a garland of yellow leaves for Juliet’s black hair.

Jill promised, and kept her word; but the longest letters went from the farm-house on the hill, though no one knew the fact till long afterward.  Merry said nothing now, but she smiled, with a pretty color in her cheeks, and was very much absorbed in her work, while the talk went on.

“I wish I was twenty, and going to seek my fortune, as you are,” said Jack; and the other boys agreed with him, for something in Ralph’s new plans and purposes roused the manly spirit in all of them, reminding them that playtime would soon be over, and the great world before them, where to choose.

“It is easy enough to say what you’d like; but the trouble is, you have to take what you can get, and make the best of it,” said Gus, whose own views were rather vague as yet.

“No you don’t, always; you can make things go as you want them, if you only try hard enough, and walk right over whatever stands in the way.  I don’t mean to give up my plans for any man; but, if I live, I’ll carry them out—­you see if I don’t;” and Frank gave the rock where he lay a blow with his fist, that sent the acorns flying all about.