"We intend to have some fine picnics this spring; you'll lose them if you go," added Gertrude.
"One can't have everything," sighed Irma. "I know that I must lose some good things if I go away."
"Examinations, for instance," cried George Belman, who had joined the group.
"And promotions, perhaps," added John.
"But still," continued George, "I say Irma deserves a change for her unselfishness in having whooping-cough last summer, just to keep Tessie company."
"Well, it was considerate in Irma to get over it before school opened; stand up, dear, and let yourself be counted."
"Oh, Gertrude, how silly you are!" but even while protesting Irma rose slowly to her feet, and her friends, looking at her, noticed that she was paler and thinner than she had been a year earlier.
"Come, now," said Lucy, rising, and affectionately slipping her arm around Irma's waist, "tell us your plans. Gertrude knows them, but I have heard only rumors."
"I am not quite sure myself about it all. Only I am to sail with Aunt Caroline and Uncle Jim to Naples by the southern route, and, after going through Italy, we shall be home in July—and a niece of Aunt Caroline's, or rather of Uncle Jim's, is going with us."