"No danger of your suffering from ennui, I guess," laughed Toinette. "I will guarantee to keep you occupied. And then, daddy, after all is over we'll go off together, and won't we have glorious times!" and she gave a rapturous little bounce at the thought of the delightful days to come.
Miss Preston was to sail for Europe on the fifteenth of June, five days after Miss Howard's wedding, and six girls were to go with her. When it became an understood thing that Mr. Burgess' financial affairs were to be so improved, the possibility of Helen making one of the party was talked over, although Mrs. Burgess was filled with dismay at the thought of having her daughter take such a step upon such short notice; it seemed a tremendous thing to that quiet, home-staying body. Still, Miss Preston had long been anxious to have Helen go with her, and, now that there seemed no further obstacle to her doing so, could not make up her mind to go without her.
She had talked it over with both Mr. and Mrs. Burgess, but, it must be confessed, had met with only lukewarm enthusiasm. Furthermore, it was very late in the day to secure stateroom accommodation upon the steamer by which Miss Preston would sail, her own and the girls having been engaged for weeks.
Helen herself said very little, but Miss Preston knew that the girl's heart had long been set upon going, and this year the route planned took in the very points she had most wished to visit, and which would prove the most profitable for her to visit. In desperation, Miss Preston turned to Mr. Reeve once more, for she had found him a most resourceful man, and one not likely to be easily baffled.
The result was that he had succeeded in making a mutually agreeable exchange of staterooms with some other people, and was now primed and ready to carry the war into the enemy's country.
Soon after luncheon they all drove to Stonybrook, a town about ten miles from Montcliff, and Helen's home. Evidently their persuasive powers were strong, for ere the visit ended it was decided that Helen should make one of Miss Preston's party to sail with her "over the ocean blue," and some very happy people drove back to Montcliff that afternoon.
The house seemed very quiet after the girls' departure for their homes on the day following commencement, for, excepting those who lived too far away to return for the wedding, and would remain as Miss Preston's guests until after the tenth, all had left that morning, and when a house has been filled with twenty-five or thirty girls, and all but eight or ten suddenly depart from it, the quiet which ensues cannot be overlooked.