“Just wait till you taste Margaret’s huckleberry cobblers!” said Jack; “m, m——it makes my mouth water to think of it!”
But the sun was getting low and even now the shadows were beginning to creep up the mountains so they reluctantly turned away from the lake.
Before they arrived at the inn where their conveyances were, the sun had gone down behind old Neversink, leaving one of those gorgeous June plays of color seen only in mountainous regions. Slowly the mountains became purple, then gray in the soft twilight, and gradually faded from view altogether. Soon the din of active life reached the ear and they emerged onto the Berm.
All were greatly affected by the events of the day and each communed with himself. To Dora, it was the event of her life. She felt lifted out of the prosaic ruts onto a more exalted plane.
Margaret had supper waiting for them when they reached home and it was duly disposed of by the hungry party. Mr. and Mrs. De Vere retired soon after and thinking her absence would be unnoticed, Eletheer stole away to her private study and was so deeply absorbed in her work that she did not hear a light tap on her door.
“May I come in?” said Hernando.
“Certainly,” she replied, opening wide the door.
They sat before the open window and she laid aside her book, turning cheerily toward him.
“Eletheer,” he said, “I believe you graduate next year. Does that mean that your future work is mapped out?”
“I think so,” she replied earnestly. “The ambition of my life has been and is to become a trained nurse.”