“Yes, an’ he’d be a mate for me, then,” said Doris. “He could have a red coat with fur on it and berries, and he’d look real nice.”
“Pity I didn’t know he was coming sooner,” said Willie. “I’d have saved postage on my suit. He could have brought it up.”
“So he could,” they agreed. “What a pity!”
“Oh, it’s all right,” said Willie, lordly. “A fellow doesn’t have much use for money up here.”
They danced round Frank when he arrived, and all wanted to tell him all the news at once. They admired him, and said he looked “lovely” and “beautiful,” and all kinds of nice things, till Frank laughingly declared he’d grow too shy to talk.
But he was a different Frank to the boy who had left “Gillong” only about eight months ago. He was so alert and bright and keen, and his eyes were dancing as he talked and laughed. For he had found his niche, and was working hard at his heart’s desire: and Mollie thought gratefully of “Uncle,” who had put it in his power to take up the work he liked.
“I’m getting on fine, Mollie,” he confided later on, “and I’m sure as the time goes on that I’ll reach the top. Oh, it’s fine to be at something that you like—something that you can put all your energies into and use your brain power. Sometimes I think of the long, long days that used to seem so hopeless, and I shudder. But it’s great to be back among it all again for a while, and I’ll enjoy every minute of my holiday.”
They showed Frank their dresses, and there was much whispering and laughing among them.
“Guess what this used to be once,” cried Eileen, holding up Doris’s jaunty little “winter” cap.
“Couldn’t in a lifetime,” laughed Frank.