At dinner time that night, Sallie's father sat in the place of honor at Doctor Rhodes's table. And Sallie, such a radiant Sallie, with her head high and her eyes bright, sat beside him, listening hungrily to his words.
And when Sallie's clear young voice was lifted in song at the Commencement Day exercises, it didn't come from behind a tree. Lovely Sallie didn't _need_ to hide behind a tree or to burrow down in the long grass; for her Commencement Day gown was quite as new and beautiful as anybody's and certainly no other girl wore a happier expression.
"But it's her father she's the gladdest about," explained Mabel. "She just _loves_ him."
"I'm glad of that," said Bettie, who was sitting on her suitcase on the baggage strewn veranda. "It wouldn't be much fun to go to Texas with a father you _didn't_ love. And isn't it great! He's going to let her visit Henrietta in Lakeville in August and go back to school with her afterwards so we aren't going to lose every bit of our Sallie after all."
"And," said Jean, "Mabel is going to spend a week with me and then her own people will be home. And there's Charles coming now to take us all to the station. Good-by, old Highland Hall. You're going to be a big, lonesome place without us."
"A year is a funny thing," commented Bettie, with her last backward glance at the tall building. "While it's happening, it seems to be a million miles long; and then, the very next minute, it's all gone."
"By this time tomorrow," breathed Marjory, "we'll be home; and all the days will have wings. But Mabel, what in the world _are_ you doing?"
"You funny old baby," laughed Henrietta. "You're too tender hearted."
"It isn't that at all," sobbed Mabel, "but something just terrible has happened. I forgot to label them and I kuk--kuk--can't remember which lock of hair is Maude's and which is Cora's--and I just loved them both."
"Well," soothed Marjory, "both girls are far from bald--you can easily write for more hair."
"Cheer up," comforted Jean, "I _did_ label mine and I can identify _anybody's_ hair. And--and we _all_ hate to part with those girls; but we must look respectable when we get to the station; and when Mr. Black meets us in Chicago--"
"We'll be mighty glad to see him," said Mabel, smiling bravely through her tears, "and this time I'll try not to get lost."