r house is big and besides
that we have an office outside with three bedrooms for overflow."

The Professor looked thoughtful. Perhaps he was already forming a
picture in his mind of the hammock beside the brook and the shady
orchard, his orchard.

"You will promise to come, won't you?" persisted Molly.

"Do you really want me?" he asked.

"Indeed, indeed I do."

"Perhaps," he answered.

"Good-bye, then," she said, "or rather _au revoir_," and they clasped
hands while the Professor looked down into Molly's eyes and smiled.

He moved to the door like a sleep-walker and held it open for her as she
hurried out. Then he went back to his desk and sat down in a sort of
trance. The next instant the door was flung open again, footsteps
hurried across the room and two arms slipped over his shoulders.

"Do you remember what I said I was going to do some time to that old
gentleman who bought the orchard?" said Molly's voice over his head. "I
said I'd just give him a good hug."

For one instant the arms held him tightly, a cheek was laid lightly on
his thin reddish hair and then she was gone, flying down the corridor.

"I suppose she regards me as an old gentleman," he said resignedly,
laying his hand softly on the spot where her cheek had touched.

As for Molly, she had a sudden thought that almost stopped her headlong
course:

"What _would_ Miss Alice Fern think if she knew!"

[Illustration: Good-bye to Wellington and the old happy days.--_Page_
303.]

The girls were calling impatiently when Molly reached the arch, and in
three minutes the crowded bus moved down the avenue.

"Good-bye! Good-bye!" called many voices.

"Good-bye! Good-bye!" echoed the few students who were going to take a
later train.

Good-bye to Wellington and the old happy days! Good-bye to the
Quadrangle and the Cloisters! Good-bye to all the dear familiar haunts
and faces.

Every one of the girls felt the hour of parting keenly, but to two of
Molly's friends at least there came an additional pang. They had known
no happier home; no other place held for them such close associations.
Nance, pale and silent, and Judy, feverish and excited, turned their
eyes lingeringly toward the twin gray towers. But Molly, her face
transfigured by some secret happy thought, looked southward down the
avenue toward Kentucky and home!

* * * * *

The class prophecy which Judy had extemporized on the evening of her
appearanc