"Gabriel is a very lucky boy," Mrs. Clyde said. "A _very_ lucky boy."
"Oh, I don't know, Grandmother. He _is_--of course. But we're lucky, too--Uncle Cliff and I. You can't think what company he'll be to us. It's going to keep us from growing selfish and self-centred to have him. You know I've always wanted an orphan asylum all my own. This is just a starter."
Grandmother smiled into the enthusiastic young face.
"Do you ever look ahead into the future, Blue Bonnet, and plan your life a little?" Aunt Lucinda asked. "It seems to me that you are old enough now. Your mother was but a year older when she married."
"And you want me to think about--that--too?" Blue Bonnet asked mischievously.
"No; not yet. You are younger for your years than your mother was, and times have changed; but there is a forward movement all over the world to-day--onward and upward. I should like to feel that with the many blessings meted out to you, you could find your place in the world's work--become an avenue for good. I wish that you might have a definite purpose and work to an end. That is the only way to accomplish anything."
Blue Bonnet's face was shining as she answered:
"That's just exactly the way _I_ feel, Aunt Lucinda. For that reason I should like to come back here to school next year and be near Miss North. She has promised to let me do settlement work--to have a day each month at Dennison House--and Uncle Cliff has already put aside some money for my use. Gabriel isn't the only forlorn child in the world. Perhaps in the years to come he and I may be able to relieve others in distress--help make the world a little easier for those less fortunate than ourselves. That's what I _want_ to do. That's what I _will_ do!"
For a moment Miss Clyde's face softened into something very like tenderness. She would have considered it extremely bad form to have shown how much Blue Bonnet's words touched her, or to have revealed the pride she felt; but Grandmother, leaning forward, pressed a kiss on the sweet face upturned to her own.
"That's my dear girl," she said, "my own dear Blue Bonnet! It is exactly what your mother would have wished--would have done, with your opportunity."
At the school the days flew along at an astonishing pace. Commencement--that event long looked forward to--was now in sight. Excitement was in the air. Rooms began to have a deserted appearance as one after another of the little things that had adorned the walls were packed or stored.