They reached Willowby late in September. He had written Nina when he
would be there, and she and her husband were at the station to meet
them.

There were tears in their eyes at the meeting.

"Nina, this is my wife," said Rupert. "Signe, my sister, Mrs. Furns."

A number of Rupert's old friends were there who now came forward and
welcomed him home.

Then they rode through the valley behind two spirited grays. Nina had
not changed much, but she declared that had she met her brother on the
street, she would not have known him.

"What has changed you so, brother?" asked she.

"Experience, Nina, experience with the world I have lived a long time in
the two and a half years that I have been away--but never mind that now.
Everything looks the same hereabouts. I seem to have been absent but a
few days. How strange it is! Signe, there you see Willowby, on that
rise; quite a town yet. How's Dry Bench, James?"

"Much the same, Rupe. No improvements since you left."

"And the reservoir?"

"As you left it, though it needs repairing badly."