"did you see elinor?" whispered judith to patricia, as she edged her way to her in the packed assembly room.

patricia shook her head. "she's with griffin and bottle green," she answered under her breath. "what do you want her for?"

judith's bow was on one eye and her hat under her arm, showing that she had made great haste to join the growing crowd in the first antique room. she looked even more agitated than patricia had expected her to be.

"what's the matter?" insisted patricia, nudging her to compel her attention, but judith's gaze was wandering all about in search of elinor, and she answered absently. "there she is, up on the stand with griffin," she murmured in dismay. "i can never let her know. i wish i could catch her eye; can't you signal her, miss pat? you're taller than i am."

"what'll i tell her, if i do?" demanded patricia indignantly. "i haven't any idea what you want to telegraph?"

"tell her bruce haydon is here," said judith. "oh, there she goes! i was afraid you couldn't get her. she's sitting down beside miss green now, and we'll never be able to let her know."

"bruce haydon!" exclaimed patricia, astonished. "why, he's in italy, isn't he? elinor had a letter yesterday——"

"he's here all the same," said judith, interrupting her surprise. "and he sent a message to elinor, so she'd be prepared, i guess. but i simply can't get to her now. she'll have to find it out for herself."

"what's bruce doing here?" asked patricia, as they resigned themselves to the inevitable and prepared to await the event.

"he says he finished his studies, and has come back because he wanted to keep an eye on you two art students," replied judith. "he looks awfully well. you ought to have seen them stare when he grabbed me up and kissed me in the corridor just now."

patricia gave a happy sigh. "it'll be good to have him around again," she said appreciatively. "i never knew how weak in the knees i was until this very moment. things are bound to go right with bruce hovering around. i hope elinor sees him. she's feeling mighty shaky right now, i fancy."

"isn't it queer how wobbly one feels?" commented judith uneasily. "we've been crazy for the time to come, and now we feel like running away. i know i'll simply drop when mr. benton makes his speech."

"nonsense," said patricia stoutly, although her own knees were not too steady. "keep your eyes on elinor, and remember how glad you are that she's getting an official apology, after all the cheating and nastiness—then you won't want to collapse."

"sounds like you were prescribing for yourself," retorted judith with a flash of intuition. "you look just as——"

"hush, he's coming," warned patricia, turning pale in spite of her brave words. "listen, he has begun."

her eyes sought the pale pure outline of elinor's profile, caught between the intervening faces, and held it during the brief explanatory speech, wherein mr. benton paid his tribute to elinor's generous silence, and apologized in the name of the board for the unjust accusation. she saw the wave of color sweep over it at the commendatory words, and the dark eyes fall under the shame of the hinted treachery of the unnamed student whose face was in every one's mind. then at the next words she saw the light flash into full radiance, as mr. benton, with something in his extended hand, turned full toward elinor where she sat.

"and now, miss kendall," he finished with grave satisfaction in every word. "it is my privilege to award to you the roberts prize of one hundred dollars, in recognition of the meritorious work done by you in the late competition. will you kindly come forward to receive it?"

there was a general murmur of surprise and a following rustle of gratification.

patricia's eyes were too blurred with happy tears to see very clearly, but she made out elinor's figure bowing over the same purse that doris leighton had received ten short days ago, and she whispered to herself joyously, "dear old norn, they've more than paid up for all the horridness now, haven't they? and you deserve it all, too."

judith, whose eyes were still wide with astonishment, touched her arm.

"did you know?" she asked breathlessly. "did anyone know she was going to get it?"

"can't you tell by looking at them?" demanded patricia. "do they look as though they'd expected anything like this? of course we didn't know. the board didn't even peep to bottle green, for she's gaping like the rest."

"i see," acknowledged judith, sweeping the ringleaders with her sharp scrutiny. "they're all simply stunned, but they're mighty glad, too. they're going to give the academy howl. oh, patricia, i wish i could howl, too!"

"go ahead, if you can do it," said a masculine voice at her elbow. "the academy won't object, i'm sure."

patricia turned with a gasp of delight. "bruce!" she cried delightedly. "you dear thing! you've come in the nick of time. isn't it splendid that elinor's won the prize? did you hear about it? aren't you perfectly crazy over it?"

bruce laughed good-naturedly as he shook hands.

"i can't undertake to answer all that at once, miss pat," he said. "let's go find what elinor thinks about it."

he pushed a way for them to the group which surrounded the flushed and gracious recipient of the roberts prize, and before patricia quite realized how he did it, he had them ensconced with elinor in a cozy corner of the print room, and had heard the whole story of the stolen design.

"it's a good thing you two innocents have a responsible person like judith to look after you," he said seriously. "i don't know what you'd do without a protector to play providence for you."

judith flushed and tossed her mane with a gratified air. "oh, they don't think much of me," she rejoined. "they make fun of me lots of times."

"is that so?" said bruce, with great concern. "i'm sorry to hear that. i tell you what, judy, we'll form a partnership, you and i, and we'll see to it that they behave themselves better in the future. they've proved that they can't take proper care of themselves, so we'll have to play guardian angels."

elinor merely smiled her gentle, affectionate smile, but patricia rippled out in mocking laughter.

"i like that!" she cried. "who took care of us all those years when we were poor and alone in the world? it's late in the day for elinor to need protectors."

"nevertheless, she's going to have 'em," declared bruce with undisturbed geniality. "you may mock us and you may shock us and you may say you don't care, but we're on the job for keeps, aren't we, judith, ma chère? and the first step we're going to take in our new position is to drag you both off to luncheon this very minute. you'd best give in gracefully, for both judy and i are fearfully strong and ferocious."

judith giggled, but patricia rose briskly.

"i guess you won't have to chloroform us to drag us there this time," she retorted. "i'm glad we're presentable, anyway. aren't you thankful i made you put on your best duds, norn? there's nothing like being contented when one feeds, and i couldn't partake of the stalled ox with any satisfaction in my old school rags."

judith cuddled close to bruce on the settee while elinor went for her wraps.

"patricia's awfully superficial, i think," she confided to him cheerfully, as she watched her readjusting her bright hair beneath the pretty hat rim at the quaint old mirror of the bookcase. "she's so set on pretty things. she just worships anyone who is pretty—no matter whether she understands their character or not. i wish we could make her more serious-minded and careful."

"pooh," said patricia, turning from her own reflection with a gay laugh. "you don't need to try. i do worship beauty, and i always shall. i like to laugh and sing and be happy. i like blue skies because god made them that way. and i don't think a pink rose is wickeder for being pink than if it were grubby gray. i think being happy is the serious business of life—when you take other people in with you—and i reckon god thinks so too."

"pa-tri-cia!" ejaculated judith in prim rebuke, but bruce gave her hand a restraining squeeze, and patricia went on, glowing with earnestness.

"there isn't any more goodness in dismal looks, no, nor half so much, as in happy faces. don't the cherubim sing eternally? is there anything said about dark days in the new jerusalem? i'm ashamed of you, judith kendall, for not knowing that it's twice as brave and good to be cheerful and pretty as it is to be moping and dull. look at elinor—would we love her if she'd been fussing about the hard times we had? not much! every bright smile she had for those horrid times has made her more adorable to me and i look on every bit of happiness we had in those poor days as just so much wrested from the powers of darkness." she stopped suddenly, with a little gasp of embarrassment, as elinor entered.

"patricia's spouting again," remarked judith with the serene cruelty of extreme youth. "i didn't mind, because i'm used to it, but i guess bruce is thankful you didn't keep us any longer, elinor."

bruce rose and held out his hand to patricia, who was flushing painfully.

"don't mind the kid, miss pat dear," he said, with his most winning smile. "she doesn't know any better yet. your religion is the sort we've got to grow into, and, even then, some of us aren't ever quite big enough to realize it."

judith's face had been undergoing swift changes during this short speech, but now it cleared and a beatific expression shone upon it.

"i know what you mean, now, miss pat," she declared loftily. "i've read it in stevenson's verses, about 'those who … sow gladness in the peopled lands,' isn't that it, bruce? i didn't quite understand the way patricia put it, but i think it's perfectly lovely, really i do."

bruce pinched her cheek, with a tolerant laugh.

"it's all right, so long as it's in a book, eh?" he asked. "what a perfect little chameleon you are, judy kendall. i don't know whether to take you into the grand surprise that i'm going to spring on these two young ladies, or leave you at the nearest library while i disclose my dark projects. what do you say, elinor?"

elinor slipped judith's nervous hand into her muff within her own.

"i think we might let her share with us this time," she said gently, and judith's relief was beautiful to behold.

"bruce says we're going to a french restaurant," she announced proudly. "i hope i can remember enough french to talk politely. mademoiselle makes us say so many fine sentences when we have our 'calling days' in the french class that i get awfully twisted and never know whether i'm masculine or feminine."

"you won't need to think about it here," said bruce. "the waiters are both belgians and they speak english pretty well. you know that english is taught in the public schools in belgium, and even the little children can say a few words to you. it's the old folks that don't understand."

judith flew back to his side, pushing patricia ahead to elinor.

"oh, do tell me all about it," she pleaded, and bruce, with his customary good nature, launched into a very diverting account of the habits and customs of the flemings and the year spent among them in his student days.

the first breath of spring was in the air, softening the chill of the crowded streets with warming sunshine and a hint of the coming miracle of the yearly resurrection. the shops were filled with the crisp, fresh-tinted goods of the nearing season, and here and there among the smartly dressed women was a modish straw hat brightening the winter furs and velvets. patricia's cup was full and running over. she had no need for speech with elinor, but she kept giving her hands quick little squeezes in her muff, while now and again they exchanged swift telegraphic glances of appreciation.

bruce swung the door for them, and they passed into a little narrow shop-like place.

judith's eyes were wide and dismayed.

"i don't think this is very nice," she whispered as bruce was exchanging a few words with the smiling proprietor in the little cage behind the tiny counter.

"hush," cautioned patricia, using her eyes industriously. "it must be all right, or bruce wouldn't have brought us. i like it. the floor is sanded, judy! and those people at the snippy little tables under the stairs are french—just hear them gabble to the waiter."

judith recovered sufficiently to take notice.

"there isn't any table—" she had begun, still with slight protest in her voice, when bruce ushered them up the narrow vertical stair to the larger room above where more tables and windows made a cozy dining place for about a dozen people.

the waiter, a broad-faced belgian, rushed forward with a smile of genuine welcome and a flourish of the spotless towel which he wore upon his left shoulder, and, with a few murmured words in french, motioned them to a table by the front window.

when they were being settled in their places, judith found opportunity to whisper to bruce, who immediately turned to the belgian, who was helping patricia remove her coat.

"you have good custom today, françois," he said with a gesture toward the chattering groups at the other tables.

the waiter bowed as he folded the coat carefully.

"yes, mr. haydon, sir," he said clearly. "we do not complain. our trade keeps up, sir. we are the same as when you left, sir. we do not complain."

patricia laughed at judith's expression, as she watched françois whisk away to the dumb-waiter in the far corner of the little apartment, and roar stentorian commands in indistinguishable french to an unseen source of supply below.

"he just uses his french to plot his dark plots with, judy darlin'," she said, merrily. "you needn't try to make them out, for he doesn't intend you to."

"i heard 'chateaubriand,' anyway," retorted judith triumphantly. "and that means beefsteak. so i did understand something, you see."

bruce made a gesture of mock despair. "heavens, i'm discovered!" he cried, with a twinkle. "judy knows just what she's going to have for lunch, and there won't be any surprise, after all."

patricia looked inquiringly at him.

"is that the grand surprise you meant, bruce haydon? sure you aren't fooling us? oh, you are! you've got something else—i know it by your eyes. you look awfully guilty."

"do i?" asked bruce innocently. "i wish there was a mirror here so i could see how that looks. here comes françois with the bouillon and omelets. don't let him see me, please, till i've gotten up a better expression."

françois served them deftly, while still attending to all the other tables, and patricia, in the intervals of merry chatter, wondered at the innumerable bits of respectful conversation he managed to supply his patrons in addition to his very satisfactory table service, and she said so to bruce, just as the dessert had been placed and françois had withdrawn to a party of newcomers.

bruce, however, was remarkably absent in his reply.

"yes, he's a wonder," he said, cracking nuts studiously. "i hope he's as good on breakfasts as he used to be."

"breakfast!" cried patricia, bubbling. "are we going to keep on eating till——"

"no, no, i didn't mean that," returned bruce hastily. "i was thinking of something else."

"the surprise, i am sure," announced judith calmly. "let's try to guess what it is, like charades or dumb crambo. you can tell us if we guess right, bruce. i'll begin first."

bruce laid down his cracker with a grin. "no, you don't, young 'un," he said decisively. "i'm not going to turn my choicest possession into a puzzle department. i'm going to spring it myself, right now."

all eyes were upon him as he crumpled his napkin into a hard ball and crushed it between his flexible fingers, while his face assumed an earnest and rather anxious expression.

"i am going to ask you to think first and speak last," he began. "i don't want you to go into it hastily or unless you're quite sure you will like it."

"we'll like it, all right enough, if you have a hand in it," patricia assured him heartily.

"it's a scheme i've been thinking of for nearly a month now, and i've made all the arrangements before i came home; but if it doesn't appeal to you—well, there are no bones broken, and i can easily fix it up with miss j—— that is, i can make other arrangements."

judith gave an impatient wriggle, but it was patricia again who spoke.

"please, please, do tell us what it is! suspense is so awful!"

bruce cocked his head on one side meditatively. "i'll make a stab at it," he acceded, and then paused, while they waited in breathless silence.

"i've taken a studio apartment, and i've got someone to keep house—just for a month—and i'm banking on you all coming to spend that month with me. i want you to have this chance at some outside work," he said to elinor. "i'm not so keen on this academic work for a steady job. i want you to keep up your life class, of course, but there's a big lot of education lying around in the studios for this short time anyway. i may not be able to offer it to you again, as i'll have to be off as soon as this contract is finished. will you come?"

elinor sat looking at him with her eyes shining, and then she drew a quick breath.

"i think it would be perfectly glorious," she said gratefully. "it's wonderful that you should bother with us. i can't thank you——"

"don't want any thanks," returned bruce gruffly. "your aunt would understand it. i'm only beginning to pay my debt to her, and it's going to take a mighty long while, too."

patricia held out her hand across the cloth. "i can't kiss you, but here's the substitute. you're a duck, bruce haydon. where is the studio?"

bruce laughed in a relieved way. "that's the way to talk, miss pat. i'll show it to you as soon as you've all finished. judy, haven't you anything to say?"

judith finished dabbling her fingers in the finger-bowl, and wiped them daintily. then she raised her clear eyes to the expectant company.

"the only thing i'm afraid of is that mrs. hudson won't let us go a whole month sooner," she said with the calmness of despair. "i suppose i'll have to stay there all by myself, just because i'm the youngest and not an artist. but i tell you all this—i'm not going to stay alone. i'll get mrs. shelly to come in——"

"good idea, judy," said bruce encouragingly. "we'll see what we can do about it. come along now, we're going to inspect the new premises. you girls get your duds on while i settle up. it's only around the corner, and we'll be there in a jiffy."