"So now I'm going home," continued Katherine, "and tackle the
housekeeping the way I used to go at my lessons. I'm going to make that
old shack that was always a blot on the landscape such a marvel of
beauty that it won't know itself. I'm going to begin right there to seek
beauty and give service and pursue knowledge and be trustworthy and
glorify work, and above all, I'm going to Be Happy. Thank you so much,
Nyoda, for telling me the things you did. You've straightened everything
out for me, the way you always do."

"Spoken like a true Winnebago!" said Nyoda, gripping her hand. "I knew
you wouldn't show the white feather. Now I must go. Don't you hear
Sherry calling me? Never get married, my dear, if you wish to be
mistress of your own time!"

After that confidential talk with Nyoda Katherine's soul was once more
serene and the old spring was back in her step and the characteristic
air of enthusiasm about everything she did. Once more the future seemed
full of possibilities.

That night Nyoda gathered the Winnebagos together for a confidential
council meeting. "Well, Torch Bearer," she asked, "how goes the torch
bearing?"

"We haven't had a chance to try it on anybody yet," said Hinpoha,
"except Antha. We really and truly didn't want her here this summer at
all until Katherine said she would be an opportunity instead of a
nuisance." Here Nyoda smiled radiantly in Katherine's direction in the
darkness. What a faculty that girl had for seeing possibilities, whether
in wooden Indians or spoiled children!

"And so you found out that it was worth while to have her here after
all," said Nyoda, beaming upon them when they had finished. "Well, I
should say you had been making very fair headway, indeed. So far only
one opportunity has presented itself and you have made the most of that.
You're one hundred per cent efficient on that basis. I'm proud of you."

How glad they were then that they had "put up" with Antha! Somewhere in
the back of each one's head there lurked the suspicion that Nyoda must
have "put up" with _them_ considerably, back in the days when she
first became their Guardian.

"I think we ought to set our seal on all our 'little sisters,'" said
Katherine, speaking with her old animation. "Why not make Antha an
'associate member' of the Winnebagos? Then we'd never lose interest in
her."

"Good idea," said Nyoda heartily. "Let's have a ceremonial meeting right
away and make her officially one of us."