dam, come and help me unpack."

In half an hour Kate had her dresses on the hooks, her underclothing on
the shelves, her books on the table, her pencils and pen in the robin
cup, and was saying goodbye to Adam, and telling him what to tell his
father, mother, and Nancy Ellen--if he could get a stolen interview
with her on the way home. He also promised to write Kate what happened
about the home school and everything in which she would be interested.
Then she went back to her room, sat in the comfortable rocking chair,
and with nothing in the world she was obliged to do immediately, she
stared at the opposite wall and day by day reviewed the summer. She
sat so long and stared at the wall so intently that gradually it
dissolved and shaped into the deep green ravine across the way, which
sank into soothing darkness and the slowly lightened until a peep of
gold came over the tree tops; and then, a red sun crept up having a big
wonderful widespread wing on each side of it. Kate's head fell with a
jerk which awakened her, so she arose, removed her dress, washed and
brushed her hair, put on a fresh dress and taking a book, she crossed
the street and sat on the bank of the stream again, which she watched
instead of reading, as she had intended.

CHAPTER VI

KATE'S PRIVATE PUPIL

AT FIRST Kate merely sat in a pleasant place and allowed her nerves to
settle, after the short nap she had enjoyed in the rocking chair. It
was such a novel experience for her to sit idle, that despite the
attractions of growing things, running water, and singing birds, she
soon veered to thoughts of what she would be doing if she were at home,
and that brought her to the fact that she was forbidden her father's
house; so if she might not go there, she was homeless. As she had
known her father for nearly nineteen years, for she had a birth
anniversary coming in a few days, she felt positive that he never would
voluntarily see her again, while with his constitution, he would live
for years. She might as well face the fact that she was homeless; and
prepare to pay her way all the year round. She wondered why she felt
so forlorn and what made the dull ache in her throat.

She remembered telling Nancy Ellen before going away to Normal that she
wished her father would drive her from home. Now that was
accomplished. She was away from home, in a place where there was not
one familiar face, object, or plan of life, but she did not wish for it