With that the three jumped from the swing so suddenly that Grace, the only occupant left, bounced into the air and landed with a thump on the cushions.
They laughed and drew up three chairs in a semi-circle in front of her to make escape impossible. Then three pairs of merry eyes focused commandingly upon her.
"I didn't know it myself till last night," she said in response to the tacit order. "Then it was patriotic Aunt Mary who proposed it."
"Proposed what?" they cried.
"Well, that's what I'm going to tell you if you give me half a chance. She said she felt as if she owed something to us girls for having stood so loyally behind Uncle Sam, and had decided to offer us her cottage at Bluff Point to use as long as we wanted it."
"Bluff Point!" cried Betty, while her eyes began to sparkle. "Why Grace! isn't that the place you were telling us about—"
"Where the quaint little house stands on a bluff—" added Amy eagerly.
"Overlooking a sparkling white beach that leads down to the ocean?" went on Betty.
"The very same," nodded Grace, and they heaved a sigh of pure excitement and happiness.
"Isn't it wonderful," cried Mollie joyfully, "how somebody is always doing something to make us happy?"