How real it all seemed, yet already how far away! Could she ever have been in the midst of it with no thought of ever knowing anything else! How strange life was, and how wonderful! How one short month had changed everything! Here she was, her dream and her longing realized, going home again to Springbrook, to the old happy life, the same friends, the same everything--yet, no, not quite the same, never quite the same, perhaps.

She herself was changed, and--she looked at Miss Patch.
Their eyes met in a happy, affectionate smile.

"No, things were not quite the same, they were better, if anything.

She had more now, more in every way." The train tore on, and the day wore on.

The hedges were growing bare now, and the leaves on them were turning red and yellow and brown; but the autumn sun shone, and there were space and air and sunshine all about them.