und all the rose bushes.
Miss Eliza's roses were never known to die during the winter. Only the
honeysuckle vine retained its greenness. All the dead leaves had been
raked out of the yard, and although the trees stood as gaunt and bare
as any other trees at this time of the year, they did not seem naked
like other trees. They leaned protectingly towards the house, and they
seemed to welcome Arethusa too.

Through the lower windows with their looped white curtains, Arethusa
caught a glimpse of the flickering of the sitting-room fire, that fire
which warmed Miss Asenath. After all, as dear as Ross and Elinor had
proved to be, and as much as she truly loved them, this was Home, as
Timothy and Miss Eliza had declared. And how good it was to see it all
once more. She had never really known before just how much it meant to
her!

Miss Eliza had met her at the station and had scolded her vigorously
(scolding sometimes meant that Miss Eliza was trying to control her
feelings) nearly all of the six miles from Vandalia, because Arethusa
looked so badly, in Miss Eliza's opinion.

"I knew no earthly good would come of it," she said, with a satisfied,
I-told-you-so air. "You've come back home sick, after gallivanting
around in the city, for me to nurse. And my hands full as they are! I
knew just exactly how it would be!"

But Arethusa did not mind this scolding. It was really so much a part
of the Home atmosphere that she even rather welcomed it. And she needed
a scolding, she felt, so she might as well have it for one thing as for
another. This was a mere bagatelle to what Miss Eliza would say if she
knew What had happened at the January Cotillion!

Arethusa received her tirade with such unusual meekness that Miss
Eliza was alarmed immediately, and convinced that the girl _was_
actually sick.

While the returned wanderer stood on the stile, gazing at the House,
the front door flew open and Miss Letitia bustled out, arms
outstretched. She almost ran to meet Arethusa. She could not move very
fast with such a fat little figure as hers, but she moved faster than
she had moved for some years past. And Arethusa dropped every single
thing she held and flew down the walk and met Miss Letitia before she
was really fairly started.

"Oh, Aunt 'Titia, Aunt 'Titia!"

"There, there," crooned Miss Letitia. "My! My! But we're all glad to
get you back! Sister 'Senath's done absolutely nothing but watch the
clock ever since we got your fat