Gwen Harcourt felt that in leaving school at Avondale, and entering
a small private school in the next town she was really doing something
quite fine.

To be sure, the little school was not much of a school. Rather it
should have been called a private _class_, and the little pupils met
at the home of a young woman who was far from well equipped for the
task of directing their studies, or training their minds.

She had acquired a fair education, but so little governing power had
she that the pupils did about as they chose, and that Gwen considered
the most charming fact regarding the class.

She thought it very smart to go over to the station, walk up and down
the platform waiting for the train, and then, seated in the car, offer
her ticket to the conductor when he came down the aisle.

"The Avondale girls and boys just walk to school, but I have to take
a train!" she said to herself one morning, as she hurried toward the
station.

One might have thought it a _convenience_ to live at a distance from
the school. The next town was a mile from Avondale, and Gwen thought
it very daring to take the trip alone.

"It makes me sick to listen when Gwen Harcourt is talking about going
to school," said Rob. "She thinks it a great thing to ride a mile! If
she had to ride twenty-five miles, she'd feel so big that Avondale
would not be big enough to hold her."