surprise! But she crossed the
street to talk in a low tone to Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe said more than
once, "I'm with you--I think you're right!" and finally kissed Teddy,
and suddenly kissed his mother, before he drove away.

Teddy was bursting with the thought of the surprise. But this afternoon
was full of surprises. They were strolling along, peacefully enough,
when suddenly his mother took his small arm and guided him into the
station where they had arrived in Monroe nearly two years before.

A big train came thundering to a stop now as then, and Teddy's mother
said to him quickly and urgently: "Climb in, Love. That's my boy! Get
in, dear; mother'll explain to you later!"

She took a ticket from her bag, and showed it to the coloured porter,
and they went down the little passage past the dressing room, and came
to the big velvet seats which he remembered perfectly. His mother was
breathing nervously, and she was quite pale as she discussed the
question of Teddy's berth with the man who had letters on his cap.

She would not let Teddy look out of the windows until the train
started, but it started in perhaps two minutes, and then she took off
his hat and her own, and smoothed back his hair, and laughed
delightfully like a little girl.

"Where are we goin'?" asked Teddy, charmed and excited.

"We're going to New York, Loveliness! We're going to make a new start!"
she said.

CHAPTER VIII

From that hour Martie knew the joy of living. She emerged from the hard
school in which she had been stumbling and blundering so long; she was
a person, an individuality, she was alive and she loved life.

Her heart fairly sang as she paid for Teddy's supper, the lovely brown
hills of California slipping past the windows of the dining car. The
waiter was solicitous; would the lady have just a salad? No, said the
lady, she did not feel hungry. She and Teddy went out to breathe the
glorious air of the mountains from the observation car, and to flash
and clatter through the snow sheds.

And what a delight it was to be young and free and to have this
splendid child all for her own, thought Martie, her heart swelling with
a wonderful peace. Everybody liked Teddy, and Teddy's touching
happiness at being alone with his adored mother opened her eyes to the
feeling that had been hidden under a child's inarticulateness all these
months.

The two hundred dollars between her and destitution might have been two
million; she was