Leslie, and I bought a new wrapper and a suit-case, and--oh,
and I saw Kitty Barry, and I got you a book for the train, and I got
myself one----"

"Oh, Norma," Wolf said, his eyes filling, "you God-blessed little
adorable idiot, do you know how I love you? My darling--my own wife, do
you know that I want to die, to-night, I'm so happy! Do you realize what
it's going to mean to us, poking about Chicago, and sending home little
presents to Rose and the kids, and reaching San Francisco, and going up
to the big mine? Do you realize that I feel like a man out of jail--like
a kid who knows it's Saturday morning?"

"Well--I feel that way, too!" Norma smiled. "And now," she added, in a
businesslike tone, "we've got to look for Aunt Kate and Rose, and get
our bags; and Leslie said to-day that it was a good idea to wire a
Chicago hotel for a room, just for the few hours before the Overland
pulls out, because one feels so dirty and tired; do you realize that
I've never spent a night on a Pullman yet?"

"And I'll turn in the ticket for my lower," Wolf said; "we'll have
dinner on board, so that's all right----"

"Oh, Wolf, and won't that be fun?" Norma exulted. And then, joyously:
"Oh, there they are!"

And she fled across the great space to meet Rose, pretty and matronly,
at the foot of the great stairway, and Harry grinning and proud, with
his little sturdy white-caped boy in his arms, and Aunt Kate beaming
utter happiness upon them all. And then ensued that thrilling time of
incoherencies and confusions, laughter and tears, to which the big place
is, by nature, dedicated. They were parting so lightly, but they all
knew that there would be changes before they six met again. To Aunt
Kate, holding close the child whose destinies had been so strangely
entangled with her own, the moment held a poignant pleasure as well as
pain. She was launched now, their imperious, beloved youngest; she had
been taken to the mountain-tops, and shown the world at her feet, and
she had chosen bravely and wisely, chosen her part of service and
simplicity and love. Life would go on, changes indeed and growth
everywhere, but she knew that the years would bring her back a new
Norma--a developed, sweetened, self-reliant woman--and a new Wolf, his
hard childhood all swept away and forgotten in the richness and beauty
of this woman's love and companionship. And she was content.

"And, Wolf--she told you about Kitty! Every month, as long as they need
it