"She keeps house for Uncle Jabez, I understand," Ruth continued. "But
she isn't my aunt."

"She is everybody's Aunt Alviry, I think," said Doctor Davison,
encouragingly.

For some reason this made Ruth feel better. He spoke as though she
would love Aunt Alviry, and Ruth had left so many kind friends behind
her in Darrowtown that she was glad to be assured that somebody in the
new home where she was going would be kind, too.

Miss True Pettis had not shown her Uncle Jabez's letter and she had
feared that perhaps her mother's uncle {whom she had never seen nor
known much about) might not have written as kindly for his niece to
come to the Red Mill as Miss True could have wished. But Miss True was
poor; most of the Darrowtown friends had been poor people. Ruth had
felt that she could not remain a burden on them.

Somehow she did not have to explain all this to Doctor Davison. He
seemed to understand it when he nodded and his eyes twinkled so
glowingly.

"Cheslow is a pleasant town. You will like it," he said, cheerfully.
"The Red Mill is five miles out on the Lake Osago Road. It is a pretty
country. It will be dark when you ride over it to-night; but you will
like it when you see it by daylight."

He took it for granted that Uncle Jabez would come to the station to
meet her with a carriage, and that comforted Ruth not a little.