,--"

"Oh, Mr. McLeod, let me come in," said a girl's voice.

"That I will, ye puir waif,--by all the saints, it's Phoebe Small! Here
Margaret! Janie! the lass is faintin'."

"Oh, no I'm not," Phoebe answered, but her white face was not reassuring
and Sandy and Margaret were obliged to lead her to the great chair by the
fire.

Janie loosened her boots which were covered with snow, and removing them,
set them to dry in a corner of the fireplace. Then she brought a cricket
and, handy little maid, lifted Phoebe's feet upon it, that the heat from
the fire might warm them.

Soon Margaret McLeod had made a cup of tea, and it seemed to Phoebe that
nothing had ever tasted so delicious. Sandy stood beside her, offering the
lunch which Margaret had prepared, insisting gently that she must eat
heartily before going out into the night.

"For I shall take ye hame, lass, I know that's where ye wad be, and warm
in the bear skin I'll wrap ye, an' in the sleigh 'twill be nae time before
we'll be at ye're door."

"I could not stay away another day. The road from the depot was so lonely,
and I was so afraid,--"

Phoebe was crying now, and Sandy laid his rough hand gently upon her
shoulder.

"Never mind, lass, how ye got here, don't ye try tae tell it noo. If ye're
warm enough we'll be startin', an' ye can tell the folks at hame all aboot
it on the morrow."

Little Janie examined Phoebe's boots, and finding them to be dry, insisted
upon putting them on and lacing them, and by the time that she had
finished the task the sleigh stood at the door.

The ride was a short one, and soon Sandy was at the door of the Small
homestead, one arm about Phoebe who seemed too weary to stand, and the
other hand executing a rousing knock upon the panel of the door.

Mrs. Small answered the summons and without ceremony Sandy entered, gently
pushing Phoebe before him.

"This package was delayed in arrivin'," he commenced, but there seemed to
be no need of finishing the sentence.

As Phoebe stood held close in her mother's embrace, she cried,

"Oh, I never, never will go away to school again."

"You never shall," said Mrs. Small, "but Phoebe, child, how is it that you
are here, and with Mr. McLeod at this time of night?"

"Oh, I told them yesterday that I must come home, but they said at the
school, that you had paid for the term in advance, and that I could not
leave until the end of that term.

"I said nothing, but this morning I ran a