xtreme. To Audrey, tired, irritable, already depressed, the sight was as
jarring as it possibly could be. "Was this really home? Was this the
sort of thing she would have to endure for twelve long, weary months?"
A great gloom weighed upon her. She walked in without a word, her heart
full to bursting.

The look of the house was not more cheering than the garden. In three of
the four bedroom windows facing her, the low blinds sagged in the middle
and fell away from the sides. In the fourth window alone were the
curtains clean and neat, this was the room which was being got ready for
Audrey. Over the top of the low blind Faith's head suddenly appeared,
and Faith's face beamed out a welcome.

"There is your sister," said Mr. Carlyle, more cheerfully than he had
spoken since they left the station. "I expect she is putting finishing
touches to your room. Come down," he called up to the open window,
but Faith was already coming over the stairs with a rush.

"You have come!" she cried excitedly, hopping over two pairs of shoes and
a rattle which strewed the hall floor, "the train must have been very
punctual. I was hurrying to clear another shelf in my cupboard for
Audrey."

Audrey's heart sank even lower. Then she was expected to share a room
with Faith. "Couldn't I--need I disturb--couldn't I have another room,"
she stammered. "It--it seems too bad to turn you out."

"Oh, you aren't turning me out," laughed Faith. "We have the old nursery
for our room, it is so nice and large; there is heaps of room too for
Joan's cot to stand beside my bed. I have cleared two shelves in the
wardrobe by tipping everything out on to my bed. I must find somewhere to
put it all before I go to bed, or I shall have to sleep on the floor--but
we shall both settle down in time. Come and see mother, Audrey, she is
longing to see you."

"How is she," asked Audrey, as they mounted the stairs together.
"Is she really very ill?"

"No--not what you would call very ill. She was last year, and she will
never be really well again unless she rests for a whole year."

"It's an awfully long time, isn't it?" said Audrey dejectedly. "When does
it count from? From when she was so ill, or--or from when father wrote
for me to come home?" She was already calculating in how many weeks time
she would be able to get away, and back to Farbridge and granny.

Faith looked at her sister, her soft brown eyes full of mild surprise.

"Oh, I don