"What, to keep from thinking?" asked Amy, while the other girls smiled a little and felt better.
"Who's that coming up the walk, Betty?" Grace asked, a moment later.
"The glimpse I got looked like a uniform."
"It's Allen," Betty answered, waving to the splendid specimen of manhood who was coming up the porch two steps at a time. "He looks as if he had some good news for us. You let him in, will you, Amy? You're nearest the door."
So Amy, opening the door, admitted a six-foot cyclone, who swept her before him into the parlor, where she sank into a chair to get her breath.
"Well, what in the world?" asked Mollie, round eyes on his face, as he mopped his face and lowered himself into a seat.
"Talk about good luck," he began, beaming round upon them. "I guess the fellows were right when they said I was falling into it lately."
"Good news, Allen?" asked Betty, leaning forward eagerly. "I knew you had something wonderful to tell us the moment I saw you."
"Well, in the first place," said Allen, modestly putting himself last, "Frank has been promoted to the rank of corporal."
"Oh, isn't that wonderful!" they cried together, and thereafter arose a very babel of questions as to where, when and how the promotion had occurred, which Allen answered one after another with equal enthusiasm.
"Frank's taken hold and worked with all his heart," he finished, "and he simply got what's coming to him, that's all."