Dorothy wept when taking leave of her, and Mrs. Seabrook clung fondly to her.

“I am very loath to let you go,” she said, “for there have been many peaceful hours in this room when you have been with us, and I shall count the weeks until we are all back again.  Somehow, I am dreading my summer,” she concluded, with a weary sigh.

It was six o’clock in the evening when the young travelers reached Boston, where they were met by Mr. Minturn, an unusually prepossessing gentleman, who evidently was very fond of “my girlie,” as he called Katherine when he gathered her into his strong arms. and held close for a moment.

Then he greeted Sadie with a breezy cordiality which, for once, disabused her of the notion that Northerners were “stiff and cold” and Southern hospitality at a premium.

They had just time to get their trunks rechecked and catch a suburban train, and about an hour later, seated behind a pair of spirited bays, they were rolling over a smooth country road and ere long drew up beneath the porte cochere of a fine residence built on a rocky bluff and overlooking a broad expanse of ocean.

“So this is a ‘cottage by the sea,’ a ‘nest on the rocks,’” Miss Minot mentally observed to herself as her glance roamed over the roomy mansion, while she was mounting the steps leading to the wide veranda, where Mrs. Minturn and another lady, both in dinner costumes, were waiting to welcome them.  Katherine flew to her mother’s arms, while Mr. Minturn presented Sadie to Mrs. Evarts; then, presently, Mrs. Minturn came to her, greeting her so graciously and lovingly that her heart was won at once, and she felt that she had been admitted within a charmed circle and a strangely peaceful atmosphere.

“Now, my dears, I am not going to make you dress to-night,” Mrs. Minturn observed, when the greetings were over.  “Ellen”—­glancing at a maid in spotless cap and apron—­“will take you upstairs and help you get rid of some of the dust of travel, then you can come directly down, for we were only awaiting your arrival before having dinner served.”

The maid took possession of their hand bags and led the way indoors, up a broad stairway to two adjoining rooms, opening out upon a balcony which commanded, a fine view of both land and sea.  After submitting to a vigorous brushing, bathing hands and faces and pinning into place some truant locks, they went below to a tempting repast, to which the two hungry travelers did ample justice.

The weeks that followed Sadie Minot never forgot, for they marked the beginning of a new era in her life.  She seemed to be living in a different world.  Every day was begun with a reading from the Bible and the Christian Science text-book; this was followed by the singing of a lovely hymn, then came a minute or two of silent communion, after which the Lord’s Prayer was repeated in unison.

Ofttimes Mrs. Minturn and her friend would remain to discuss or go over again some passage that had awakened a new train of thought, and frequently Sadie found herself lingering also, an interested listener.