HOME AGAIN Meanwhile in Lloydsboro Valley the summer had slipped slowly by.

Locust seemed strangely quiet with the great front gates locked, and never any sound of wheels or voices coming down the avenue.

Judge Moore's place was closed also, and Tanglewood, just across the way, had been opened only a few weeks in the spring.

So birds and squirrels held undisputed possession of that part of the Valley, and the grass grew long and the vines climbed high, and often the soft whisper of the leaves was the only sound to be heard.
But in the shady beech grove, next the churchyard, and across the avenue from Mrs.MacIntyre's, the noise of hammer and saw and trowel had gone on unceasingly, until at last the new home was ready for its occupants.

The family did not have far to move to "The Beeches"; only over the stile from the quaint green-roofed cottage next door, where they had spent the summer.
Allison, Kitty, and Elise climbed back and forth over the stile, their arms full of their particular treasures, which they could not trust to the moving-vans.