And now things came round curiously enough; and an event occurred of which nobody could have dreamed when Vinnie set out alone, with a brave heart, to do her simple duty to her sister's family.
It was found that she had a happy faculty for interesting and instructing the young. So when, in the spring, a girls' school was opened at North Mills, she was offered a place in it as assistant teacher, which her friends there—Jack's friends—prevailed on her to accept.
Leaving Long Woods cost her many regrets. But the better order of things was now well established at the "castle" (which was fast ceasing to be a castle, in the popular speech); and she felt that its inmates could spare her very well,—if they would only think so!
Other considerations also consoled her for the change. She would still be where she could see her relatives often; and now Jack's delightful home was to be her own.