They went in at last, and as they were wishing good-night, Aunt Ruth said: "Children, as you all seem to want me to live with you, I am only too happy to come."
There was a bright joy on every face, and not least on Aunt Ruth's patient one.
"You did persuade her well!" whispered Rose to Tom on the stairs.
"I think it was God's assurance did it," said Tom. "I told her that she as well as we had His promise, 'He careth for you.'"
[CHAPTER XXIV.]
A MESSAGE FROM AMERICA.
SO the summer and the holidays had come to an end, and Aunt Ruth had "settled down," as Tom called it, and filled her own quiet little niche very happily.
After their last evening's talk at the seaside, the others were very curious to know whether Tom knew, really, of a home which was getting ready for Aunt Ruth.
Tom only shook his head whenever they asked him. "I know what I know," he said gravely, "and I have my own conclusions. It is not for me to say to everybody what I think. I'm glad Aunt Ruth is going to be with us for the present! That's all I have to do with, and you won't get more out of me if you ask me for a year!"
But all the same for that, when he got a letter one morning from America, he never mentioned the contents to anyone but his mother, and they did not know of that. It was not his own secret he was keeping.