ught him,
in a moment's need, to their door. Everything seemed to prove that Mrs.
Travis, at least, was a woman educated beyond the ordinary, yet nothing
in their simple, pleasant conversation could let anyone think that they
had not both been born and brought up right there on Kettle. Everything
about the house had the mark of a cultured taste, yet the cushioned
chairs, the rugs, the soft-toned hangings were worn to shabbiness. And
most mystifying of all was Miss Jerry herself, who had appeared at the
supper table in a much faded but spotless gingham dress, black shoes and
cotton stockings replacing the elkskins and woolen socks, very much a
spirited little girl, with a fearlessness of expression that amused John
Westley while at the same time he wondered if it could possibly be the
training of the school at Miller's Notch.

He felt that Mrs. Travis must read in his face the curiosity that
consumed him. He did not know that deep in her heart was a poignant
regret that Jerry should have, in such friendly fashion, adopted this
stranger--Jerry, who was usually a little shy! Of course she could not
know that it was because he had admitted to Jerry that he, too, found
something in Kettle that approached the magic--that he had stood on the
Wishing-rock and had wished, very seriously, and if Mrs. Travis had
known what that wish was her regret would, indeed, have been real alarm!
After Jerry, with Pepper, had gone off to bed and Dr. Travis with Bigboy
had slipped out to the little barn, John Westley said involuntarily, as
though the words tumbled out in spite of anything he could do: "Of
course, you know that I'm completely amazed to find a spot like
this--off here on the mountain."

Mrs. Travis smiled, as though there were lots of things in her head that
she was not going to say.

"Does Sunnyside seem attractive? We haven't any wealth--as the world
reckons it, but the doctor and I love books and we've made our little
corner in the world rich with them."

"And you have Jerry."

"Yes!" The mother's smile flashed, though there was a wistful look in
her eyes. "But Jerry's growing into a big girl."

"You must have an unusually excellent school here." John Westley blushed
under the embarrassment of--as he plainly put it--"pumping" Jerry's
mother.

Her explanation was simple. "It's as good as mountain schools are. When
the snow is so deep that she cannot go over the trail I have taught her
at home. You see I have not always