sion all her life. The two young people had rushed
down to the car, and were pulling their guardian joyously inside.
They seemed to do everything joyously, like two young creatures let
out of prison into the sunshine. Julia Cloud smiled at the thought of
them, but her soul was not watching them just then. She was looking
off to the hills that had been her strength all the years through so
many trials, and gathering strength now to go in and meet her sister
in final combat. She knew that there would be a scene; that was
inevitable. That she might maintain her calmness and say nothing
unkind or regrettable she was praying earnestly now as her eyes sought
the hills.

Across the road behind her parlor curtains Mrs. Perkins was keeping
lookout, and remarking to a neighbor who had run in:

"Yes, I thought as much. There's always a man in the case when a woman
acts queer! Now, doesn't that beat all? Do you suppose he's a
long-lost lover or something, come back now he knows she's free? Seems
to me I did hear there was somebody died or something before we came
here to live, but she must have been awful young."

The car moved noisily away, and the old gentleman leaned out with a
courteous lift of his hat toward Julia Cloud. She acknowledged it with
a bow and a smile which Mrs. Perkins pounced on and analyzed audibly.

"Well, there's no fool like an old fool, as the saying is! Just watch
her smirk! I'm mighty glad Ellen Robinson's there to relieve me of the
responsibility. She'll be over after a while, and then we'll know who
he is. There goes Julia in. She watched him out o' sight! Well, I
wonder what her mother would think."

Julia Cloud went slowly back to the dining-room, where Ellen was
seated on the couch, waiting like a visitor. Julia's smile was utterly
lost on her glum countenance, which resembled an embattled tower under
siege.

"Well!" she said as Julia began to gather up more dishes from the
breakfast table. "I suppose you think you've done something smart now,
don't you, getting that old snob here and fixing things all up without
consulting any of your relatives?"

"Really, Ellen, this has all been so sudden that I had no opportunity,"
said Julia gently. "But it did not seem likely that you would object,
for you suggested yourself that I rent the house, and you said you did
not want me to stay here alone. This seemed quite providential."

"Providential!" sniffed Ellen. "Providential to take you away from
you