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And at a little distance, over a camp fire, the inevitable billy boiled for tea.

“Enjoying it?” asked Vera, carelessly, when she helped herself to a sandwich from a basket Ann passed to her.

“Loving it! It was sweet of you to bring me,” answered Ann quite truthfully.

Vera smiled at her. She was in one of her best moods today—and looking her best, too—wearing a smart frock, and one of the chic little hats which Ann had made for her.

“Harry Kent appears to think it sweet of me also,” observed Vera. “Oh, here he is again,” she added under her breath. “He doesn’t leave you for long alone.”

“You coming to the dance tonight, Miss Merrill?” asked Kent at this moment.

“What dance?”

“We’re getting up a dance at the Omoana Hall tonight. You and Dick are coming, aren’t you, Mrs. Holmes?”

“I believe so,” answered Vera.

“And Miss Merrill?”

“Mrs. Pratt and Emily can sleep up at the house tonight,” put in Holmes. “No need for you to stay at home for that. What about you, Gerald?”

“I’ve got to get back to Kopu tonight.”

“Go back after the dance.”

“Yes, I could do that.”

No more was said about the dance, and Ann did not refer to it again. After this day’s holiday she hardly expected to be allowed to attend the dance as well. After all, she wasn’t a guest staying with the Holmes’s. She was merely the governess. Though Vera