“Oh, Betty, forgive us, and divulge the secret this very minute,” laughed Miss Burton.

“Well,” began Betty slyly, “I’m going to be different from the rest of you; I’m going to be married and keep house.  And my husband’s going to be an invalid, at least I think I shall have him an invalid, and I shall have to support the family.  Oh, I forgot to say that before I’m married I’m going to learn all about cooking and—­and domestic science.  Then I shall do all my own housework, and make cake for the neighbors, and cater for lunch-parties, and raise chickens and squabs, and keep bees, and grow violets and mushrooms, and have an herb-garden.  Oh, and in my leisure moments—­”

Miss Burton and the girls were quite helpless with laughter by this time, and Betty interrupted herself to look at them with pretended astonishment.

“I was just about to say,” she went on severely, “when you interrupted me by laughing so rudely, that in my leisure moments I should make clothing for the children and myself, and also furnish fancy articles for the Woman’s Exchange.”

“Oh, Betty, when you are funny you are the funniest thing I ever saw,” gasped Charlotte, going off into a fresh burst of laughter.

“I’m much obliged to you, Betty, for that laugh,” said Miss Burton, wiping her eyes, “and I hope I’ll be there to see when you get that model establishment of yours in running order.”

“I’ll send you samples of the various things if you’re not on hand,” responded Betty with a twinkle.  “But really, Miss Burton,” she added with sudden seriousness, “I do want to take a course in cooking and domestic science.”

“Judging by the specimens of your cooking I’ve eaten I should think it would be the thing for you to do,” replied Miss Burton heartily.  “The opportunities for teaching in that line are many, and even if you never have to earn money by it, to know how to cook is a very great accomplishment.”

“I dare say,” said Charlotte, “that we shall all do something absolutely different from what we are planning now.  Probably Betty will marry a millionaire, and Dolly will take in sewing.  Who can say that Ruth may not be an artist?  And I—­well, I think my strong point is cooking, and I shall undoubtedly be feeding starving families on baked apples for years to come.”

“Oh, fudge,” said Dolly, much disgusted with her part of the prophecy.  “You can’t tell fortunes for me, Charlotte; I won’t have it.”

“I’m sure to be an artist,” laughed Ruth.  “I can draw a pig with my eyes shut just as well as I can with them open.  I should love to splash on color, though.”

“You might be a house-painter,” said Betty meditatively.  “When my millionaire builds his house I’ll employ you to do the painting.”

“And Charlotte can be cook,” suggested Ruth.  “But speaking of artists, girls, makes me think of what I’ve been wanting to ask you ever since I got here.  Uncle Henry and I called on Marie this afternoon and found her sitting on the piazza in the sunshine.  Just as we were leaving we found out quite by accident that she has been making perfectly lovely little sketches, and Uncle Henry thinks she’s a genius.  He told her she must study as soon as she got strong, and you should have seen the longing look in those great dark eyes of hers.”