For a moment he stared at her as if he did not understand; then all that gloom which had so changed him vanished from his face and he answered with that promise which to a Quaker is better than an oath:
“I would. I will! If thee can bring her!”
A moment later Leah’s hand was in her brother’s and Dorothy had left them alone, and thus the House Party neared its end, to become but a happy memory to its soon to be homeward speeding guests. The thoughts of the young hostess were even now turning wholly to the future, her brain teeming with marvelous plans. What these were and how fulfilled in “Dorothy in California,” to those interested, the story will be told.
CHAPTER XVIII
CONCLUSION
“Friday! And to-morrow we part!” said Molly Breckenridge, with more of sadness on her sunny face than was often seen there. “It’s been such a perfectly enchanting Week of Days, and this is the last one left! Oh! dear! Oh! I do hate good-bys. Saying that and packing one’s trunk are two just unbearable things and make one wish, almost, that the nice times had never begun.”
“Yes, beginnings are grand; but endings—Hmm. I agree with you, Miss Molly,” echoed a boyish voice so close to her elbow that the girl wheeled briskly about to see who spoke.
“Why, Melvin Cook! Are you down in the dumps, too? I didn’t know boys had—had feelings, don’t you know.”