they went up in the little box of an elevator, and as they got out, bruce jingled his keys invitingly.

"i'll let you open the door—for luck, judy," he said, holding out a key. "see if you can guess which door it belongs to."

judith scanned the doors critically, her brows puckered and her head aslant.

"we-e-ll," she said, slowly revolving so as to see each hall in turn. "i'll take the one just ahead there. it hasn't any card on the door and all the others have."

"clever child!" commended bruce. "that escaped my notice. you're right, of course. go ahead. open up."

judith put the key in its lock, turned it easily and then swung the door wide, but before the others could catch even a glimpse of the interior, she gave a little squeaking cry and rushed in, leaving the door to bang after her.

"well, of all things!" exclaimed patricia indignantly. "we're locked out!"

"we can ring if bruce has no other key," said elinor hastily. "she'll surely let us in."

so, as there was no other key, patricia put her finger to the bell on the lintel and kept it there till the knob rattled and the door was flung open wide. judith was standing in the middle of the big, comfortable studio and her face was flushed, but not one word did she say in explanation of her singular behavior.

elinor and patricia were so occupied with the room that she almost escaped reproof, but patricia, as she turned from admiring the stairway that wound up one side of the studio to a nook in the peaked roof above, caught a very knowing look on her little sister's face which was meant for bruce, and she pounced on her immediately.

"what is the matter with you today, ju?" she asked in an undertone, "i do wish you'd behave yourself. bruce will be sorry he asked us if we're going to act like wild indians."

judith's only reply was a giggle.

bruce and elinor were inspecting the rooms on the other side of the studio, and had passed out of sight behind the second doorway. patricia forgot her censorship as the spirit of the explorer rose in her.

"let's look at these rooms, ju," she proposed, with a hand on the heavy curtain at her right.

judith caught her hand with a cry of dismay.

"it's not fair, till elinor comes, too!" she protested hotly. "wait, they'll be back. i'll call them."

but patricia, with a laugh, broke from her and lifted the curtain.

"elinor didn't wait for us," she began gayly, "and i'm not——"

she broke off with her mouth and eyes opened to their widest, for there in the chair by the cozy grate sat mrs. shelly, while miss jinny stood chuckling her husky chuckle and rubbing her elbows nervously with both hands.

"they've come to stay!" shouted judith in wild excitement. "they're going to be here the whole month! wasn't it lovely of bruce to get them, and won't it be transcendant, with all of us together!"

patricia had for once no words, but she fell on miss jinny's willing neck, and to judith's great wonder and mrs. shelly's delight, she kissed miss jinny with great vigor and despatch.

"you duck!" she cried, and, although judith gasped and paled at the audacious epithet, miss jinny merely chuckled and patted her tenderly and then passed her on to the smiling, pink-cheeked little old lady in the rocker.

such a time as they had all together when elinor and bruce joined them! and such a happy circle as they made around the studio fire, as twilight came on and the shadows crept out from the vast corners of the big room, and they made plans for the future and compared notes as to the past months of separation, with the cheerful flicker leaping and flaring on their ruddy faces, quite as it had in the old house at rockham.

"do you remember how we planned for this year?" said patricia, her chin on her hand and her eyes on the leaping flame. "that was at christmas time, only three short months ago, and we've all broken our plans already. david and judy are the only ones who have stuck to theirs, and that is mainly because they can't help themselves. here am i, studying at the academy, after vowing i'd not waste money on myself at all. elinor is dropping half her studies there and starting on an entirely new course—interior decoration and stained glass—under mr. bruce haydon's personal supervision; and as for mrs. shelly and miss jinny—they are so far out of their plans i don't believe they'll ever get back into them again."

miss jinny gave a snort of defiance. "just you wait till this month is over, patricia louise kendall," she said belligerently. "i'll be back in that old rut so tight you won't be able to see where i ran in again. not go back to housekeeping with mama, indeed! i'll bet that i put up as many extra pickles and jams this year as i ever did, and with the exception of having the library and you people and the haldens again, i don't see much change ahead of me, i can tell you!"

patricia sighed and stretched herself luxuriantly.

"well, i haven't any complaint to make with the new arrangements," she said expansively. "things keep getting deliciouser and deliciouser all the time. i only wish we didn't have to go back to the boarding house tonight——"

"indeed, you're not going to budge a step!" said miss jinny triumphantly. "we planned it all out. you're to stay here and begin to be at home right off. you can go and pack tomorrow and have your things sent over as soon as you please."

"but," insisted elinor, "we haven't anything——"

again miss jinny interrupted. "i got your negligees and all from mrs. hudson this morning," she chuckled. "she knows you won't be back, and she's just as well pleased, for she's a good chance to rent your rooms right away, and i told her to go ahead. she'll keep your things till tomorrow or the next day. now, come along and choose bunks, though there isn't much choice, for there is only one big room with three beds in it. mama and i are right next to you, you see."

the rooms on the right of the studio, a small one with a double bed in it for miss jinny and her mother, and the enormous room with the three beds for the girls, were separated by a tiled bath and were quite remote from the rooms on the other side, where was a corresponding small room to be used for a sitting-room, and a slightly larger one for bruce. altogether, the arrangement was as satisfactory as could be wished and everyone was enthusiastic over the many comforts and conveniences that the place boasted.

"fortunate that symons had to hurry off to south america for that commission, wasn't it?" said bruce, rubbing his hands before the fire. "we couldn't have got a snugger place, and just for the length of time we want it. i told miss jinny it would be flying in the face of providence for her to refuse to come and occupy it."

judith had been studying the problem of the rooms, and now put her question. "but where are we to have our meals?" she ventured. "i don't see any dining-room."

"they are coming in from dufranne's and we're going to imbibe them in that room to the left," replied bruce with a wave toward the sitting-room. "when we feel like it, we're going to dufranne's for them." he turned to mrs. shelly with an air of charming courtesy that sat well on his strong face. "are you still in the humor for dining out, madam?" he asked, in a tone easily heard by her.

mrs. shelly nodded, smiled her twinkly smile and rose with alacrity.

"i'll put on my new bonnet," she promised, and trotted off to her room, smoothing the tails of her basque with eager fingers.

"she's just as happy as a lark," said miss jinny to the others. "i was so scared for fear she'd hate town life, but, lands alive, she takes to it like a duck to water. i shouldn't wonder if it did her a lot of good. she's been uncommonly quiet recently, and i believe she's been missing you girls."

mrs. shelly in her new bonnet with a gay little pansy on it, miss jinny in another bran new hat, made quite a festive appearance, and the great humor of them both and their sincere pleasure in being so important a part in the little home group gave an added zest to the evening's merry-making.

"ju hasn't let go of mrs. shelly's hand since we left the restaurant," said patricia apart to elinor, as they were taking off their wraps in the studio again. "poor little kid, she certainly does worship that dear little old lady."

"how she'd have adored mother, if she had only lived," said elinor softly. "mother was so lovely. i always feel that you two have been cheated out of so much—not even to have a dim memory of her."

patricia's face grew wistful. "she went away when i was so little," she murmured absently. "sometimes i do fancy that i can recall how she looked as she kissed me good-bye in the big station, but it must be only fancy—one doesn't remember much at two years old. i can see just how judy looked though, when they brought her home after mother died, and i was only three and a half then."

"what are you two conspirators hatching up over there in the corner?" called bruce from the fireside. "we're making out our schedule, and you don't know what you're missing!"

settled in their places—they already had their own selected places in the ingle nook—with mrs. shelly rocking contentedly in the center of the half circle and bruce smoking in the deep armchair, they grew enthusiastic again over the delightful prospect of the month that bruce outlined for them.

"judy, of course, will go to school," he said, blowing a little smoke ring at her. "miss pat will go to the sculpturing as usual, but may have a hand in any game here that she is able to hold up. you'll learn a heap, paddy malone, if you keep those ears of yours open, for grantly, the fellow who is doing the bas-reliefs for the state capitol building, will be about occasionally, and he's a cracker-jack in his line."

"see here," interrupted miss jinny, cocking her eyes severely at bruce. "i'm not going to have patricia hobnobbing with those bohemians!"

bruce roared with laughter. "my dear dragon!" he cried, "don't you be afraid of your precious charges. grantly hasn't any time to waste on young 'uns like miss pat. he's working, i tell you, and he doesn't like young ladies, anyway. her only chance would be to overhear him spouting to me, which if she's discreet she may occasionally be able to do."

"oh, indeed!" said miss jinny subsiding. "well, that's another matter. i don't object to that."

"hope not," retorted bruce amiably. "now as to elinor." he stopped for so many rings that judith stirred and cleared her throat impatiently, whereon he grinned cheerfully at her and went on. "as to elinor. she will keep on with the night life, but the rest of her time will be spent in the studio here, working on studies and cartoons for a big wall decoration for a church, and a stained glass window for the same church—a purely mythical one, my dear dragon, but intended to develop our promising student more rapidly than the easygoing method of the schools. what do you say to the program, young ladies?"

patricia smiled at elinor's fervid response and judith's calm approval, but she uttered never a word, though bruce looked at her inquiringly.

"well?" he said at last. "what's the verdict?"

"i think it is simply great," replied patricia with a ripple of mirth. "i honestly do, bruce. i'm going to have a gorgeous time, and i'm awfully grateful to you for it."

"well?" he repeated. "that's not all you're thinking, miss pat. you're simpering at some hidden invention of your own, and you know it. out with it or we'll put the x-rays on it."

patricia flung a look at miss jinny. "really and truly i haven't any secret to confess, bruce. i was only thinking how very nice it was for us, judy and me, that we had such a genius for a sister."

miss jinny's eyes twinkled, but bruce flushed and flicked his cigar ash into the fire with a dexterous finger.

"what has that to do with your meek and lowly gratitude?" he asked with the trace of a smile.

"it has everything to do with all of us," responded patricia promptly. "we're just the tail of the comet, you know."

bruce opened his eyes and sat up, piercing patricia with a keen gaze. evidently he found no reserve behind her words, for he broke into a laugh and shook his head at her.

"i'm in a regular nest of female detectives," he retaliated gayly. "between you and judy i shan't have a single secret left at the end of the month. i'll have to watch myself like thunder, miss jinny, or they'll make a miserable hen-pecked man of me!"

miss jinny grunted amiably at him, and then rose. "i guess you know what you're about, bruce haydon. don't look to me to protect you, though, for i'm a mighty active feminist, and i can't waste any of my valuable time taking care of such a common critter as a man." with a nod to the girls, she beckoned her mother.

"time for bed, mama dear," she said clearly. "i've got your ginger tea ready for you, and i guess it's the last you'll want this year." in a lower tone she explained to the others: "just brewed it to make her feel more at home, you know. she doesn't need it in this fiery furnace of a place."

mrs. shelly, with a kindly good-night to bruce, trotted after them, fumbling with her watch pocket.

"i declare, if it isn't half-past ten!" she exclaimed, as she snapped the blue enameled lid of her little watch. "my little girl ought to have been in bed an hour ago."

judith twined her arms about her and kissed her fondly.

"it doesn't matter just for tonight, does it, mama shelly?" she asked with pretty deference. "there are going to be such a lot of nights to go to bed early in."

mrs. shelly nodded briskly. "and i'll come sit with you while you're getting ready," she promised, patting judith's hand. "we can have some good talks together then, and i'll remember more stories for you, too."

much to judith's delight she kissed them all around, and then she hustled off after miss jinny, leaving them to themselves in the big, comfortable room.

patricia flung herself on the fur rug that lay before the empty fireplace.

"i don't feel as if i'd ever want to go to sleep," she said rapturously. "it seems like a glorious dream that we're going to live in this romantic place a whole month. bruce is a perfect duck to fix it up so we can all be together. i shan't study much here, i feel that in my bones, but i'll have a gorgeous time. how do you feel about it, judy?"

judith sat with one stocking in her hand, dreaming, and she awoke with a start.

"i'm going to write!" she declared, dramatically waving the stocking about. "this is truly inspiring!"

patricia gave a short laugh. "did it ever occur to you that our little judy might make a fair actress, norn?" she asked, deftly catching the bare foot that supported judith and bringing her down on the rug beside her. "her passion for the limelight grows, i notice, and recent events have not tended to make her unmindful of her merits."

"oh, stop teasing, miss pat," cried judith, wriggling free. "i wouldn't be an actress if you'd hire me. i'm going to be a writer, and now i'm going to bed. good-night," and she made a flying leap into her pillows and covered herself to the eyes. "don't say another word to me tonight," she warned, "or i'll call miss jinny. i'm going to sleep."

patricia yawned and rose. "i guess i'll follow her virtuous example. i'm really getting awfully drowsy, now it's so quiet," she confessed.

elinor was already half asleep when patricia suddenly sat up with a mirthful gurgle.

"what fun it'll be to tell the gang at the academy," she crowed. "won't griffin rejoice and won't doris leighton wish she'd been good! margaret howes will have a chance to meet bruce, too. it'll be a perfect lark all around!"

elinor sighed in deep content.

"maybe bruce will let margaret work with me sometimes," she murmured joyfully. "i know he's going to like griffin tremendously; she's just the sort to fit in with us all. miss jinny's crazy over her. i don't believe we'll see poor doris leighton again. griffin told me she was leaving."

patricia cuddled down in the pillows again, with a chuckle.

"miss jinny told me that mr. spicer had asked us all to tea at the science and arts club," she said. "the haldens are coming in for easter and all the other holidays, and we're going to simply revel in delightful doings right here in the studio. it's a dream of goodly revelry, norn, isn't it?" "it means more than that to me," replied elinor. "it means work—glorious, big, beautiful work——"

"do you know," interrupted patricia, suddenly alert again, "i don't believe i'll ever amount to a row of pins as an artist? i always forget the work and think only of the people and the fun. i wonder if i can't brace up and do something worth while. i'll start in tomorrow—see if i don't."