432 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
vacation was near, the Friday afternoons were needed 
for making up back work on the part of those who had 
been absent and in preparing for examinations. 
In some way it seemed to be an understood fact that 
Rose Wilde would go to Bridgeton to teach in the High 
School, and it was a subject about which her pupils were 
very unhappy. 
There were to be some patriotic exercises at the school 
in the morning as usual; then Miss Wilde asked Gray 
Lady, who had been away for several days, if the children 
might not have their afternoon talk at Swallow Chimney 
instead of at the school, as the air in the low room was 
quite heavy and uncomfortable in the warm June after- 
noons. 
Luncheon was hardly over on that day before Goldi- 
locks began to show unusual signs of hurry. In answer 
to her mother’s question as to what made her so rest- 
less, she replied, ‘‘I’m so afraid we may be late. I prom- 
ised Miss Wilde we would be over by half-past one,” 
and then stopped and looked confused. 
“T do not see how we can be late when the class cannot 
begin by itself,’ said Gray Lady, smiling, for she was 
well aware that there was something unusual in the air, 
but exactly what, she had purposely kept herself from 
guessing. 
However, she did not aggravate Goldilocks by any 
unnecessary delay, and half-past one saw mother and 
daughter going through the garden toward the gate of 
Birdland. Goldilocks, for some mysterious reason, kept 
her eyes upon the ground, while it seemed to her as if 
her mother stopped an endlessly long time to admire 
