Laughing Last

ng swiftness. If a fairy godmother had been invited in at

ich meant that every day for two weeks would see the old house invaded by the curious and the reverent. Mrs. Milliken, in Sidney's hear

illiken. "I do not expect to be here, Mrs. Milliken. I am going to Professor Deering's for July and August to help him with

y by the first of July she could go with her to California by way of the Canadian Rockies. "Be ready! Well, I should just say I co

xcitement over Vick, to break to Sidney their plans for the

but you won't be lonely with Huldah. You can have Nancy

n the table in the hall! I meant to

would help Sidney control her disappointment-if the chil

e letter Sidney put into her hands. "Oh,

indeed, have shaped circums

iece. Her niece's just had a ba

cried Isolde with spirit. "Afte

er come? Doesn't she owe us mor

hing when she could have gone anywhere else and received good pay. This house is damp and big and Huldah is old. No, we can't beg her to come-over this. It was probably hard

ran around to her and hugged her. She longed to tell Trude and the others of her own budding plans-only she h

utside the wall, had handed her an envelope addressed t

eached her and had been answered! She studied the unfamiliar writing on the envelope-it was a big sweeping script. The envelope felt fine and soft in

ned. At its top she read, "My dear little Cousin." She paused lo

r littl

parated us for not knowing anything of 'Sidney Ellis Romley' until yesterday, though we knew your mother in days long past. Will you write and tell us when we may expect you? Can a girl

eady lovi

ch

sabel still lived or maybe there were young cousins. Anyway, they wanted her. She hugged the letter to her and rushed off to find the girls. Oh, Huldah could stay with her niece if she wanted to! And Trude could go to Long Island! The Leaguers could come and camp in the house! Guided by the murmur of voices Sidney bro

plained tearfully. "And it'll be stupid for you here, Trude, with ju

alarm. In truth her flushed face and wild eyes gave strength to the sudden conviction that she had gone mad! She fai

's remark which she had overheard had upset all her preplanned diploma

d she punctuated it wi

r? How did you know she wasn't dead? Why-'Of course you may come and

ing her to ask her to repeat something. Well, they had told her she could use the Egg any way she wanted to and she wanted to

nk you've ever heard us speak of them

u can just remember relatives without ever hearing anything about the

stop. But Isolde, rebuking Vick with a lift of her ri

ays had the idea that these relations in the East-the Greens-were very poor and-well, unedu

ng way-" T

ncy and I asked at the railroad station. And the man there gave me a timetable with all sorts of interesting pictures on

l-these Cape Cod relatives were first cousins of their mother's, her very own people. She wished she could remember what her mother had told of them from time to time but it could not have been anything to their discredit or she would have rememb

was like Isolde to sit rock-fashion and trump up reasons why

this is the luckiest thing that could have happened. Now we can all go

dventure. She wanted to go on the train all alone; the ticket office man had said it would be quite safe and had told her that he'd wri

t if Sid gets homesick or finds that things aren't just what she'd like th

uring and making notes on the back of Cousin Achsa's letter. It was, "Sid will need this-Sid had better do that-it will be nice for Sid to see this-I think by way of Boston is the better route-you'd better write to Cousin Achsa, Trud

s being off there on the map together. Anyway, write and tell us, kid, when you find the Chalice or Grail or w

y in her heart about which Vick and the others knew nothing. All that about the good ship Betsy King. Betsy King had foundered as a good ship should, but there was a big chance that Cousin Asabel, Ezekiel's son, might have