This life did not last very long—­perhaps a year or so—­and then they were in a big hotel in another city, reached after a long and tiresome railway journey.  Here the girl saw little of her grandfather, for a governess came daily to teach Mary Louise to read and write and to do sums on a pretty slate framed in silver.  Then, suddenly, in dead of night, away they whisked again, traveling by train until long after the sun was up, when they came to a pretty town where they kept house again.

There were servants, this time, and horses and carriages and pretty clothes for Mary Louise and Mamma Bee.  The little girl was sent to a school just a block away from her home.  She remembered Miss Jenkins well, for this teacher made much of her and was so kind and gentle that Mary Louise progressed rapidly in her studies.

But the abrupt changes did not end here.  Mary Louise came home from school one afternoon and found her dear mother sobbing bitterly as she clung around the neck of Gran’pa Jim, who stood in the middle of the room as still as if he had been a marble statue.  Mary Louise promptly mingled her tears with those of her mother, without knowing why, and then there was a quick “packing-up” and a rush to the railway again.

Next they were in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Conant, very pleasant people who seemed to be old friends of Mamma Bee and Gran’pa Jim.  It was a cosy house, not big and pretentious, and Mary Louise liked it.  Peter Conant and Gran’pa Jim had many long talks together, and it was here that the child first heard her grandfather called “Colonel.”  Others might have called him that before, but she had not heard them.  Mrs. Conant was very deaf and wore big spectacles, but she always had a smile on her face and her voice was soft and pleasing.

After a few days Mamma Bee told her daughter she was going to leave her in the care of the Conants for a time, while she traveled to a foreign country with Gran’pa Jim.  The girl was surprised at being abandoned but accepted her fate quietly when it was explained that she was to go to school while living with the Conants, which she could not do if she was traveling with her mother and grandfather, who were making this arrangement for the girl’s best good.

Three years Mary Louise lived with the Conants and had little to complain of.  Mr. Conant was a lawyer and was at his office all day, while Mrs. Conant was very kind to the girl and looked after her welfare with motherly care.

At last, quite unexpectedly, Mary Louise’s trunk was packed and she was taken to the station to meet a train on which were her mother and grandfather.  They did not leave the cars except to shake hands with the Conants and thank them for their care of Mary Louise.  A moment later the train bore away the reunited family to their new home in Beverly.

Mary Louise now found she must “get acquainted” with Mamma Bee and Gran’pa Jim all over again, for during these last three years she had developed so fast in mind and body that her previous knowledge of her relatives seemed like a hazy dream.  The Colonel also discovered a new granddaughter, to whom he became passionately attached.  For two years now they had grown together until they were great friends and cronies.