.
Funny business this, having kids. Not so simple----

"All right, kid?" he asked her, as they waited for the train.

"Oh, yes," she said, with an effort at her old _insouciance_.

"Good-bye," he said jocosely, adding, as the train came in, with an
effort to avoid any emotion: "Write if you need money."

He kissed her, and she clung to him.

"You're a good old thing, Wally," she said, hoarsely; and then,
silently, she followed Miss Watts into the train.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The little god of Chance must have sat smiling on his throne when Mrs.
Wally Bryce decided upon Hill Top School as the spot to which her
daughter should be banished. She felt that Christiansen's recommendation
was enough, together with the list of girls who attended it, so she did
not trouble to visit the place. The few necessary letters which passed
between herself and Adam Benjamin, the head of the school, were formal
business communications, in regard to terms, books, equipment, and such
details. Mr. Benjamin's insistence upon the simplest clothes suited her
exactly. The girl had to be put somewhere until she could be admitted to
a fashionable New York finishing school where she had been entered as a
baby. This Hill Top place would do as a stop gap.

As for Isabelle, in the bitterness of her spirit, her only thought was
that, whatever the place proved to be, she would hate it.

She and Miss Watts arrived in the afternoon of a perfect autumn day. The
train was late, so that Miss Watts was forced to hand over her charge to
Mr. Benjamin, who met them at the station, with only a few minutes' wait
for her train back to New York.

"I'm sorry not to have taken you to the school, and seen your room,
Isabelle," she said.

"That's all right."

"We will look after her," Mr. Benjamin said with a genial smile.

Isabelle looked at him again. He was a big man, strong and bronzed, as
if he lived in the open. When he smiled, his very blue eyes smiled too,
and many little wrinkles appeared about them, as if his smile sent out
rays, like the sun. He wore loose, snuff-coloured clothes, and a
broad-brimmed hat.

Miss Watts's train thundered in. There was a moment of confusion, of
exhortation to be a good girl, of farewell; and then the train was gone.
The last member of Isabelle's world had deserted her, and she choked
back a sob of loneliness, of rebellion. It was all mirrored in her
tell-tale face. A big strong hand