ilverheels, and her father and mother alike. Then,
at the last moment, she almost strangled her mother with a sweep of her
strong young arms.

"Mumsey Sweetheart, if you want me _dreadfully_--you'll send for me,"
she whispered, stricken for a moment by the realization that the parting
was for a very long time.

Then, though her heart was almost breaking within her, Mrs. Travis
managed to laugh lightly.

"Need you--of course we won't need you! Climb in, darling," and she
almost lifted the girl into the tonneau, where Mrs. Allan was already
comfortably fixed.

But at this moment Bigboy tried to leap into the car. When Dr. Travis
gripped his collar he let out a long, protesting howl.

"Oh, Bigboy--he _knows_! Let me say good-by again," cried Jerry, jumping
out and, to everyone's amusement, embracing the dog.

"You must be a good dog and take very good care of my Sweetheart and
Little-Dad," she whispered. Then, standing, she looked around.

"Where's Pepperpot?" she asked anxiously. The little dog had
disappeared.

"He'll think that I love Bigboy more than I do him," she explained, as
she climbed back in.

The car started down the rough road. Jerry turned to wave; as long as
she could see her mother and father she kept her little white
handkerchief fluttering. Then she faced resolutely forward.

"You know," she explained to John Westley, with shining eyes, "when
you've been wishing and wishing for something, you must enjoy it as hard
as you can."

Even the familiar buildings of the Notch seemed different now to Jerry,
as she flew past them, and she kept finding new things all along the
way. Then, as they turned from the rough country road into her "shining"
road, which was, of course, the macadam highway, she looked back and up
toward Kettle to see if she could catch a glimpse of Sunnyside or the
Witches' Glade and the Wishing-rock. They were lost in a blaze of green
and purple and brown.

"Isn't it _funny_? If I was up there watching I'd see you moving like a
speck! And in a moment you'd disappear around the corner. And now _I'm_
the speck and--I don't know when we reach the corner. But I'm--_going_,
anyway!"

Then upon her happy meditations came a sudden, startling interruption in
the shape of a small dog that leaped out from the dense undergrowth at
the side of the road and hailed the automobile with a sharp bark.

"_Pepperpot!_" cried Jerry, springing to her feet.

The chauffeur had brought the car to