to anyone in the faculty. I don't know what the punishment is. Anyway,
I'm trying so hard to always remember that I _am_ very much grown-up
that it is unkind of you to even hint that I am failing at
it--dismally."

"I think--from what my girls say--that you're succeeding rather
tremendously, here at Highacres."

"That is nice in you--and them! I wonder if I can live up to what they
think I am." Miss Lee's face was very serious; she was really grown-up
now.

"Miss Lee, can you give me half an hour? I was on my way to Dr. Caton's
office when----"

"You nearly knocked me over!"

"Yes--thinking you were one of the school children----"

"We can go into my library or--down in my office."

"Your office, by all means." John Westley was immensely curious to see
Miss Lee's "office."

It was as business-like in its appearance as his own. A flat-topped
desk, rows of files, a bookcase filled with books bearing formidable
titles, and three straight-backed chairs against the wall gave an
impression of severity. Two redeeming things caught John Westley's
eye--a bowl of blooming narcissi and a painting of Sir Galahad.

"I brought that from Paris," explained Barbara Lee. "I stood for hours
in the Louvre watching a shabby young artist paint it and--I _had_ to
have it. It seemed as if he'd put something more into it than was even
in the original--a sort of light in the eyes."

"Strange----" John Westley was staring reflectively at the picture.
"Those eyes are like--Jerry Travis!"

"Yes--yes! I had never noticed why, but something familiar in that
child's expression _has_ haunted me."

Though John Westley had come to Highacres that morning with an important
matter on his mind and had, on a sudden impulse, begged Miss Lee to give
him a half-hour that he might talk it over with her, he had to tell her,
now, of Jerry and how he had found her standing on the Wishing-rock,
visioning a wonderful world of promise that lay beyond her mountain.

"Her mother had made an iron-clad vow that she'd always keep the girl
there on Kettle. Why, nothing on earth could chain that spirit anywhere.
She's one of the world's crusaders."

Barbara Lee had not gone, herself, very far along life's pathway, yet
her tone was wistful.

"No, you can't hold that sort of a person back. They must always go on,
seeking all that life can give. But the stars are so very far off!
Sometimes even the bravest spirits get discouraged and are satisfied
with a near