The "warning" had the desired effect, for Mrs. Atwood was the
recognized head of the commissary department, and, as such, could
touch the secret springs of motives that are rarely resisted.

The open kitchen windows were so near that Mildred could not help
overhearing this family jar, and it added greatly to her depression.
She felt that they had not only lost their own home, but were also
banishing the home feeling from another family. She did but scant
justice to Mrs. Atwood's abundant supper, and went to her room at
last with that most disagreeable of all impressions--the sense of
being an intruder.

The tired children were soon at rest, for their time of sleepless
trouble was far distant. Belle's pretty head drooped also with the
roses over the porch as the late twilight deepened. To her and the
little people the day had been rich in novelty, and the country was
a wonderland of many and varied delights. In the eyes of children
the Garden of Eden survives from age to age. Alas! the tendency to
leave it survives also, and to those who remain, regions of beauty
and mystery too often become angular farms and acres.

Mrs. Jocelyn and Mildred still more clearly illustrated the truth
that the same world wears a different aspect as the conditions of
life vary. They were going out into the wilderness. The river was
a shining pathway, whose beauty was a mockery, for it led away from
all that they loved best. The farmhouse was a place of exile, and
its occupants a strange, uncouth people with whom they felt that
they would have nothing in common. Mrs. Jocelyn merely looked forward
to weeks of weary waiting until she could again join her husband,