een
prepared--and he ate it ravenously. She noted how white and weary he
looked, but the triumphant expression in his sad eyes did not escape her,
either.

"You have good news?" she asked as soon as Farwell had rested a bit by
his fireside.

"Yes. And you?"

"Oh! I have done famously. Only two knocks at the door, and I was well
hidden. Once it was Mrs. McAdam and once old Jerry. They did not try to
enter."

"They would not. And there was food and fuel enough?"

"Food--yes; I went out three times for wood, and I took one wild, mad
walk. I ran, while all the world slept, to Lonely Farm. I looked in at my
father's window; he was dozing by the fire, and--my mother----"

"Well, Priscilla?"

"My mother--was crying! I shall always remember her--crying. I did not
know there were so many tears in the world!"

"You--you still insist upon going away?"

"Yes. There is no other way for me. Already I seem a stranger, a
passerby. Not even for my mother can I stay; it could work no good for
her or me. Perhaps, by and by----" Priscilla paused. Now that she was
about to turn her back on all that was familiar to her, she became
serious and intense, but she knew no shadow of wavering.

Then Farwell told her the arrangements he had made.

"I have a hundred dollars for you, Priscilla. I wish it were more. My
friend Boswell will meet you at Little Corners. This is Friday; he will
be there on Sunday and will wait for you at the inn; there is only one.
Ask for it and go straight to it. From here to Little Corners is the
hardest part. I will go as far as I dare with you; the rest you must make
alone. Halfway, there is a deserted shanty near the old factory; there
you can make yourself comfortable for the night. Are you afraid?"

Priscilla was white and intent, but she answered:

"No, I shall not be afraid."

"You ought to cover the distance in a couple of days and a night; the
walking is not hard, and the woods are fairly well cleared. Once you
reach Boswell you are safe. He will not question you, but you can trust
him. He's a strange man--younger than I; he stands, has always stood, for
all that is noble and good in my life. I have told him that you are some
one in whom I am interested."

The feeling of adventure closed in and clutched the girl. Now that the
hour had actually come, the hour up to which all her preparations tended,
she quivered with excitement tinged with sadness.

"This way of leaving Kenmore is safer," Far