"Yes, I am—forever and ever!" She laughed tremulously. "I don't see why you're so good to me."
"You'll like my mother!" Doodles responded with some irrelevance.
"She's the best mother in the whole world!"
"I know I shall love her if she's any like her boy!" She gave him a caressing pat.
True to the word of Doodles, Miss Lily was welcomed to the little bungalow with such heartfelt hospitality that her sad, starving soul was filled with joy, and when Blue returned with her small stock of goods and put Mrs. Gugerty's receipt into her hand, her eyes overflowed with happy tears. With cheery Mrs. Stickney and merry Doodles and Blue for companions, she had little time to worry over the possible outcome of her application to the June Holiday Home, and Sunday was passed in an utterly different way from that she had imagined a week before.
It was not until the next Wednesday that any news came from Mr. Randolph. Then the letter-carrier brought a long, thin envelope addressed to "Miss Faith Lily," and the recipient turned so white when Doodles handed it to her that he feared she was going to faint.
"Shall I open it?" he asked.
She bowed her head. Words were far away.
He drew out the paper and gave it one hurried glance. Then he swung it over his head with a glad whoop.
"You're going! You're going! You're going!" he shouted.
"Doodles!" remonstrated his mother, for Miss Lily was weeping.