you are too young to leave home; and
he has persisted in holding you in the material concept, instead of
realizing that you are purely mental and must feed your mental hunger
with proper nourishment.

"I had another argument with him this evening, after his return from the
Slide. He expected to convince me that everything would go to ruin if
the Cliffs were worked and you were allowed to go away to school. But I
turned the tables: I convinced _him_ that he was standing in your light
of a future glory by keeping you limited in your realization of an
ideal. That only a family disaster and your unhappiness, must result
from such old-fashioned views.

"He finally agreed that if you and the others, here, said that a higher
education was what his girl craved and needed, he would withdraw all
objections--once for all. That is why he left us--to discuss and settle
this momentous question. Polly, you have won!"

Polly flung her arms about her mother's neck and wept softly: "But poor
father! At what costs have I won?"

"S-sh! Don't let any one hear you weaken now. This is the moment of
your triumph, and you must not look back lest you be turned to a 'pillar
of salt,'" whispered her mother.

"Then father _did_ agree to have Polly go to school?" asked John,
curiously.

"Yes, if you-all agreed that it was for the best."

"And are we to have the Cliffs if the stone proves valuable?" eagerly
added Tom Latimer.

"Having waived his right to keep Polly at home, he says we can turn the
whole crater upside-down if we like," said Mrs. Brewster, smilingly.
"But I wouldn't goad him, too far, just now. We have won such a mighty
victory, that you haven't the faintest idea of what it means to the
vanquished. It is doubtful if we can know anything definite about the
Cliffs for the next two or three weeks, so let us not speak of it until
then."

"But, Mrs. Brewster, if Anne goes to New York to teach, and takes her
mother, where will Polly stay? I've been thinking how fine it will be to
have her live with me in Chicago," said Eleanor, eagerly.

"Why--Eleanor Maynard! You can't invite strangers to your mother's home!
It may not be convenient to have any one there this winter," objected
Barbara.

"Well, don't borrow trouble, Bob! It's father's home as well as
mother's, and I can ask a friend to stay with me if I like."

"I wouldn't think of ever going to your home, Nolla dear. I'd love to
know your father from all you tell me, but I