ce is ter be with us while ye're away, ter help me an' ter keep
me from bein' too lonesome, fer mercy knows how I shall miss ye.

"I want ye should go, though; it's a great chance fer ye, and don't forget
ter write, Randy. I couldn't stand that," and Mrs. Weston's voice had in
it a suspicion of a sob.

"Oh, I could not forget you all," said Randy, then with a kiss and a
clinging embrace she clambered into the wagon to a seat beside her father,
and her mother's waving handkerchief and Prue's little face with its
quivering lip were photographed upon her mind as she rode to the Centre to
take the train.

They talked but little on the way to the depot. Randy found it a task to
keep her tears from falling, and the expression of her father's face told
more plainly than words what this parting cost. When her trunk had been
taken charge of and Randy had chosen a seat, her father bent to kiss her,
saying as he did so,

"God bless ye, child! I never knew 'till ter-day what it meant ter say
good-bye ter ye. I only hope the visit will bring ye joy enough ter repay
ye fer this partin' and then I shall be satisfied. Write often to us, that
we may know ye are safe, and spend the money I put in yer little wallet.

"Ah, don't say a word, Randy, I could well afford it, an' I put it there
jest fer a little surprise."

As Randy was about to speak, the conductor entered saying, that those
persons who intended leaving the train must do so at once, as it was about
to start.

With a hasty kiss and embrace, Randy saw her father leave the car and she
waved her hand to him as he stood upon the platform, then in a sudden
panic of desolation she hid her face in her handkerchief and cried like a
little child. A long time she crouched upon the seat, her head against its
plush back and her eyes hidden by her handkerchief, but after a time it
occurred to her that she was not doing as her father would wish.

"I'm crying like a child," thought Randy, "and father and mother have done
every generous thing which they could think of to make me enjoy the long
ride and the visit.

"Father would wish me to be brave, and mother would not like to see me
crying."

Accordingly she sat up, and wiping her tears, made a determined effort to
look as she felt sure that a girl should look who was starting out for a
delightful visit.

As she looked from the window and saw the flying landscape, it seemed as
if the rumbling wheels were saying, "Going away, goin