Then Miss Kitty declared that it was high time they should start for home. But when they went into the house to get their wraps, they found the smiling mother of their hosts waiting for them with a great bowl of strawberries, picked, she said, just before the sun went down, and which they must really try. It was not a difficult task to persuade the guests to do this, and after they had all done full justice to the berries and the accompanying cake and rich, sweet milk, they set forth to embark for home, escorted to the river by the entire family of their new friends.
The row home was enjoyed even more, if that were possible, than the one thither. The moon was now high in the sky, and hill and tree and rock and dimpling wave were beautified by its enchanting glamour.
They all felt either too tired, or too happy, or both perhaps, to talk, and the trip was made almost in silence, although Miss Kitty stopped rowing once, and quoted softly:
"And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents like the Arab,
And as silently steal away."
CHAPTER XVII.
SAD NEWS.
The next morning Winnie wakened early and lay for some time thinking over the pleasure of the evening before and the events of the past six months. It seemed to her as if a long time had elapsed since the evening on which she began to look upon life as something of a battle-field. She felt older, and yet light-hearted, as the gentle air of late May, stealing in through the open window, lightly stirred the thin curtains and brushed her face "like the breeze from an angel's wing," she thought.
"How happy we all have been!" she said aloud. "And Ernestine—I wish she had been with us last night—is the happiest of all, because she is the best."