Then, when at last they reached the town, familiar faces looked up and recognized her, and most of them greeted her sympathetically.
It was all so natural, so unchanged; yet to Kitty, seeing it for the first time with eyes dazed with trouble, it seemed as though she had never seen it before--at least, not as it looked to her now.

She tried to realize that it was only she who had changed, that all the rest was just as it had always been.

She felt suddenly very much older, that life was a more serious and important thing than it had been--so serious and important that it struck her as strange that any one could smile or seem gay.
With kind thoughtfulness Rowe did not stop at all on his way as usual, but drove the 'bus straight up to the house at once.

As they drew near, Kitty, glancing up to speak to him, saw him look anxiously up over the front of the house.

"It's all right," he murmured to himself; then aloud he said more cheerfully, "I'm hoping, missie, you may find your poor aunt better," and Kitty knew that he had feared lest they might find the blinds drawn down..