“It’s all a wale, child, a wale o’ tears,” old Mrs. Riggs complained as she bade her good-bye in the porch, but when she reached the turn in the road she heard Penelope singing,—­

  “Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
    However dark it be! 
  Lead me by Thine own hand;
    Choose out my path for me. 
  I dare not choose my lot,
    I would not if I might;
  Choose Thou for me, My God,
    So shall I walk aright.”

and Evadne knew that in the brave heart the voice of Christ had made the storm a calm.

“You dear Aunt Marthe!  How am I ever going to thank you for all you have been to me; and what shall I do without you?” Evadne spoke the words wistfully.  They were making the most of their last evening.

“Why, dear child, we can always be together in spirit.  ’It is not distance in miles that separates people but distance in feeling.’  Emerson says,—­’A man really lives where his thought is,’ so you can be in Vernon and I in Marlborough,—­each of us held close in the hush of God’s love, which ’in its breadth is a girdle that encompasses the globe and a mantle that enwraps it.’”

Evadne caught Mrs. Everidge’s face between her hands and kissed it reverently.  “I mean to devote my life to making other people happy, as you do, my saint,” she said.

* * * * *

“Board!” The conductor’s cry of warning smote the air and the train passengers made a final bustle of preparation for a start.  Mrs. Everidge caught Evadne close in a last embrace.

“My precious little sister, I shall miss you every day!” Then she was gone, and Evadne, looking eagerly out of her window, saw the dear face, from which the tears had been swept away, smiling brightly at her from the platform.

“You magnificent Christian!” she cried.  “You will give others the sunshine always!”

* * * * *

The train steamed into the station at Marlborough and again Louis came forward to greet her with a look of admiration on his unusually animated face.

“Well done, Evadne!  If the atmosphere of Vernon can work such transformation as this, it ought to be bottled up and sold at twenty dollars the dozen.  You go away looking like a snow-wraith, and you return a blooming Hebe.”

Evadne laughed merrily.  “Thank you.  The atmosphere of Vernon has a wonderful power,” but it was not of the material ozone she was thinking as she spoke.

“I believe I will try it.  My constitution is running down at the rate of an alarm clock.  I must take my choice between a tonic and an early grave.  Will you vouch for like good results in my case?”

Evadne shook her head.  “I do not believe it would have the same effect upon everyone,” she said.

“Ah, then I shall be compelled to go to Europe.”

Evadne looked at him.  “Yes,” she said, “I think Europe would suit you better.”