"It shows his common sense," laughed Jo.
Once Tom Gavot shared their campfire for a night. He was waiting for them when they dismounted, his eyes shining. He wore a new, and whole, suit.
"I am going away," he explained. This was no news to Jo, but it took Donelle by surprise.
"I am going to Quebec," he went on. "Father Mantelle has a friend there who is to take me into his office. I'm going to learn about roads. You see, I always knew I'd get a chance!"
He was very gay and full of hope.
"And how does your father take it?" asked Jo, bending over the flames.
The boy's face darkened.
"Father Mantelle talked to him," was all he said.
But that evening Jo was wondrously kind. She gave permission to Tom to make his own pine-bough bed in the woods; she even seemed to be asleep when, by the fire, Donelle, holding her body close, her pale face shining in the glow, said to Tom:
"I am never going to forget about roads, Tom Gavot. I always think of them as real things, I always have ever since you told me how to see them. I'm sure your roads are going to be very splendid ones."