She put this last thought into words. "Does that mean that you are
pressed for money, Debby?"

"Not yet; but I may be before three years are gone, and Hester is
through with school. I can see my way clear for three years."

"You are fortunate indeed if that be so. A score of things may happen
that you know nothing of now. I have learned to anticipate neither joy
nor sorrow but to take each day as it comes."

"But surely one must look ahead. Money matters do not take care of
themselves. Hester's schooling will cost me almost every cent of my
ready money. I'll have only my little place and the timber tracts
beyond."

"You are not scattering your money in sending Hester to school, Debby.
You are placing it where it will draw the greatest interest. Sometime
you'll draw a big dividend." She smiled reassuringly.

"I hope so; but I wasn't thinking of that now. All I want is to have
Hester prepared for some work--to take care of herself and be a happy
useful woman when I'm gone."

"Meanwhile, we'll stop in here and look at this little place. I think,
Debby, you and I will never be content to shut ourselves up in little
boxes on a second or third floor."

"No, I want room to breathe and some place outside where I can set my
foot on the soil. I'm not one who likes the click of my own heels on the
pavement. There's something about putting your feet on the earth that
makes you feel that you belong."

The place into which they now turned was a little cottage at the extreme
east of town near the conjunction of creek and river, yet high on the
brow of a hill. It was a simple little place, weather-beaten and faded;
but a strip of sod ran about the front and side. The little low porch
was shaded with a Virginia creeper, and an old gnarled tree at the
corner leaned over the roof as though about to rest itself against it.

Its being at the extreme end of town from the seminary was to Debby
Alden the one thing against it.

"If we were at the west end, Hester could slip in each day. The pupils
are allowed an hour 'off campus' you know."

"And she would come to you with every thought that troubled her. You
would be bearing her childish burdens just as you have always done. If
you live where Hester can talk with you each day, she will lose the
greatest benefit a year in school can give her."

"I think you are right," said Debby Alden.

"I like the house. I'm used to low ceilings and big porches and vines.
I'm satisfied with it