“What’s to become of my sight-seeing tour?” doughtily demanded Miss Susanna.
“Corporal Macy will conduct it. Order her to it, and promise her a commission of major,” Marjorie merrily proposed.
“Yes, genius is really beginning to burn again,” Miss Susanna teasingly commented. “Jerry shall earn her commission.” As she spoke she had allowed Marjorie to pull her to her feet.
“Let’s walk down by the gate,” Marjorie proposed. “I wish Captain to see that wonderful Chinese white lilac bush that once grew in the royal Chinese gardens.”
They were not more than halfway across the space of lawn intervening between the rustic seat and the white, feathery plumed lilac bush when the eyes of all three picked up the trim lines of a small black roadster which had stopped at the entrance gates. There were two persons in the roadster. One of them, a tall, broad-shouldered man in gray tweeds and motor hat to match, was already out of the car. He had turned to give an assisting hand to a young woman who vaguely resembled him. She smiled happily at him as she stepped lightly to the ground. The two turned their backs on the car and approached the gates.
“It’s Leslie Cairns!” Marjorie said in a low, astounded tone.
“It’s—Can it be?” Miss Susanna shaded her eyes from the sun with a small, sturdy hand. “I believe it is—Peter Carden!”
CHAPTER XXV.
UNDER THE TULIP TREE
“Well, Peter, the years have dealt lightly with you,” was Miss Susanna’s greeting as she held out a hand to Alec Carden’s runaway son.