r? She was almost on the point of panic when Gardley came and
bundled her on to her horse for a ride.

Strangely enough, he directed their way through Ashland and down to the
station, and it was just about the time of the arrival of the evening
train.

Gardley excused himself for a moment, saying something about an errand,
and went into the station. Margaret sat on her horse, watching the
oncoming train, the great connecting link between East and West, and
wondered if it would bring a letter from mother.

The train rushed to a halt, and behold some passengers were getting off
from a private car! Margaret watched them idly, thinking more about an
expected letter than about the people. Then suddenly she awoke to the
fact that Gardley was greeting them. Who could they be?

There were five of them, and one of them looked like Jane! Dear Jane!
She had forgotten to write her about this hurried wedding. How different
it all was going to be from what she and Jane had planned for each other
in their dear old school-day dreams! And that young man that Gardley was
shaking hands with now looked like Cousin Dick! She hadn't seen him for
three years, but he must look like that now; and the younger girl beside
him might be Cousin Emily! But, oh, who were the others? _Father!_ And
MOTHER!

Margaret sprang from her horse with a bound and rushed into her mother's
arms. The interested passengers craned their necks and looked their fill
with smiles of appreciation as the train took up its way again, having
dropped the private car on the side track.

Dick and Emily rode the ponies to the house, while Margaret nestled in
the back seat of the carriage between her father and mother, and Jane
got acquainted with Gardley in the front seat of the carriage. Margaret
never even noticed where they were going until the carriage turned in
and stopped before the door of the new house, and Mrs. Tanner, furtively
casting behind her the checked apron she had worn, came out to shake
hands with the company and tell them supper was all ready, before she
went back to her deserted boarding-house. Even Bud was going to stay at
the new house that night, in some cooked-up capacity or other, and all
the men from the bunk-house were hiding out among the trees to see
Margaret's father and mother and shake hands if the opportunity offered.

The wonder and delight of Margaret when she saw the house inside and
knew that it was hers, the tears she shed and smiles