"For they're Scouts, you see, like us, so they're sure to be keen," Robin had said, in appealing to his mother. 

 "It'll be such awfully good practice," Peter had gone on. 

 "And, as I'm a Guide——!" Jan had begun. 

 Mrs. Vaughan had laughed; she was a "jolly good mother for Scouts and Guides to have," as the boys and girls declared, because "she never fussed."  She trusted them and left them to themselves, so that they might learn "self-reliance," as she told them. After she had laughed, however, on this occasion she shook her head.  "I have no objection to your camping out for a night or two," she said.  "After all, Robin camped with his troop last year, and the holiday won't have done much for him if he can't captain the rest of you over on the Island, but——" 

 "Oh, Mother!" said Jan, who guessed what was coming. 

 "Yes, I won't have Jan sleeping out of doors. Pneumonia two years ago, you remember, Jan? Or perhaps you don't,—you were too small; but—I do! No, Jan may choose either to sleep at home and join the boys by day, or—" Mrs. Vaughan wrinkled her brow—"perhaps Gardener's wife, Mrs. Brown, has a spare room. Yes, of course she has. Now, Jan, would you feel more on the spot and more of a regular camper if I could arrange for you to sleep in the Island Cottage?"  "Oh, yes."  Jan's eyes sparkled with delight. 

 "And the Lennox boys are Scouts too, so they'll be willing enough, I've no doubt," went on Mrs. Vaughan.  "In fact I mentioned something of the plan to your aunt, and she seemed very pleased. Well, I think it can be arranged, but—it would be well to wait for really settled weather, wouldn't it?" 

 "The wind's in a good quarter now," Peter had said. 

 That had been yesterday, and the Lennoxes were coming in a few hours. It had been decided, though, that for a day or two the newcomers should sleep at the Chase and be introduced to the interests that the house and garden afforded.  "You must remember," as Mrs. Vaughan told the children, "everything will be new and interesting to them. It is the first time they have been to the Chase, and the house will mean a good deal to them as belonging to their mother's family for so many generations. They may not want to camp out just at once, and——" 

 "It's queer, isn't it?" said Peter to the others as they made their way over to the Island, "to think 

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