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“Father talks as if he’s going to let you do it,” said Gordon.

“But,” said June, who was trying hard not feel left out and to be generously glad for Hilary, “what can we ever do without Hilary?”

“Your very question, little daughter, goes a long way to prove that it might be just as well for Hilary to have a little less pressure outside while she is working so hard at her lessons. I do want her to excel there,—as she does.”

“But I like everything!” cried Hilary. “Do you suppose I can ever stand it to leave you all?”

“You have been planning to stand it when you go to college,” remarked Mrs. Lancaster, who was wondering privately how she could bring herself to spare her oldest.

“But I’d be older then.”

“Think what fun it will be, Hilary,” continued her mother, “to buy your clothes and get everything ready this summer.”

“O, can I choose my clothes, Mother?—think of it,—little old Hilary! It is too wonderful! I wonder what Annette and the rest of the girls will say.”

“Hilary said ‘can’ for ‘may,’” corrected June, putting a spoonful of powdered sugar on a few remaining strawberries in her dish.