IN the summer weather all Moorlow, and indeed all the dwellers¹ along the whole length of the shore, would gather in little groups on the beach to see the moon rise; but to-night the moon and the waves have the beach to themselves, for the ice is several inches thick on the fresh water ponds, and the wind is keen and biting.
 
Straight out of the ocean, with no summer fog to veil her coming, rises the great golden moon, and soon she is high enough to send a broad path of light shimmering² across the water. And now she lights the way for Captain Murray's man Joe, trudging³ home from the village with the mail; and now she peers in through the dimity curtains of Nan's pretty room, making it bright as the day.
 
And what does she find there but something that never was there before; a bran new little trunk, with N.M. in black letters on the end toward the window, and no doubt she wonders if it can be possible that Nan is going away; little Nan, who never remembers having slept a night of her life out of sound of the sea. Travel on, old Moon, over the roof, until you can shine in at Sister Julia's window, and there you will discover two other trunks, which are ready for a start on the morrow, for you should know what every one else already knows—that Rex is going home, and Harry⁴ and Nan go with him to make a visit. Did you not discover as you sailed over the ocean the good ship Alaska drawing nearer and nearer, with Regie's papa and mamma on board? And do you not think, with your clear light to aid her, she will surely reach port by day after to-morrow?
 
But while we are so foolish as to stand out here in the cold, talking at the moon, Joe has reached the house and gone in with the mail, and among the other letters is a neat little package for Regie.
 
 
“Oh, here are the photographs!” he exclaimed; and right away there is such a solid little group, bending closely about him, that if it were not for the difference in the colour of hair you could hardly have told where one head commenced and the other ended. The children had been looking anxiously for these photographs for a week.
 
When Regie found from the proofs that the pictures that he had taken were satisfactory, he sent the plates up to New York, by express, to a photographer, who was accustomed to print his pictures for him, but he had heard nothing from them, and began to think they had gone astray.
 
It would have done your heart good to have heard Captain Murray's laugh as he looked at them. The one where the steamer was supposed to be coming to the relief of the shipwrecked mariners⁵ was, if possible, the funnier of the two. Nan was the only one who had fully⁶ entered into the spirit of the thing, and really looked as though something joyful⁷ was about to appear.. The others had smiled, as they were bid, but a heartless conventional smile is at the best a sorry affair, and doubly so on such pinched little faces as the Croxsons'.
 
But the pictures, as pictures, were good, and Rex had no need to be ashamed of his work. He imagined he could see Papa Fairfax now, and how much amused he would be by them.
 
As this was to be the last of the many happy evenings they had spent together in the little cottage, it occurred to Sister Julia that it ought to be celebrated⁹ in some special way, so she crossed the room and whispered to Mrs. Murray. As the result of the whispering Mrs. Murray asked the children “what they would say to a candy-pull.” Much scurrying¹⁰ about on the part of the children, and the delicious odour of boiling New Orleans molasses, which presently pervaded¹¹ the house, showed they had said “yes” to the suggestion, and in the heartiest¹² fashion possible.
 
At eleven o'clock, after enjoying to the full all the fun and satisfaction attending a thoroughly¹³ successful candy-pull, his little Royal Highness and the body-guard retired¹⁴ to rest, or, in less kingly English, Rex, Harry, and Nan tumbled into bed; and indeed it was high time, if they were to be ready for an early start in the morning.
 
To Nan and Harry Mr. Fairfax's house in town was a revelation. They were fortunate enough to be blessed with a comfortable and pretty little home of their own; but here was a home that was vastly more than comfortable and pretty. Nan gave vent⁸ to her admiration¹⁵ in a succession of audible “ohs!” the moment they entered the house, much to the amusement of Mrs. Mallory, the old housekeeper¹⁶, who was glad enough to welcome them into the house that had been “such a lonely place without Rex and Mr. and Mrs.”
 
 
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“You like it, don't you, Nan?” said Regie, beaming proudly.
 
“It is perfectly¹⁷ beautiful,” Nan answered, sinking down into a great easy chair, and trying to look everywhere at once. She was not in the least overpowered by the new surroundings, only supremely¹⁸ delighted.
 
“And to think we are to stay a week!” she exclaimed, with a happy sigh.
 
Harry, of a more enquiring¹⁹ turn of mind, was walking about the parlour, gazing up at the pictures, and making so bold as to touch certain little ornaments²⁰ and articles of bric-a-brac to see how they felt.
 
When Mrs. Mallory had helped the children to lay off their wraps, she showed Harry and Nan all through the house, taking as much pleasure in their exclamations²¹ of wonder and delight as though she herself owned everything in it.
 
Two members of the party from Moorlow did not seem in the least overjoyed at their arrival at the house in town. Secured by one leash²², Hereward and Ned followed Regie obediently enough, for they were too well trained to offer any resistance; but if you could have had a word with either of the poor fellows they would have told you that life at Moorlow was glorious freedom, and life in New York a sadly limited affair, with whole days together when they did not have so much as a run in the park. So it was not strange that they suffered themselves to be led down the kitchen stairs, and out to their kennels²³ in the little city yard, without one sign of jubilance over their return. If Mr. Fairfax had been on hand to welcome them, no doubt there would have been no end of boisterous²⁴ demonstration²⁵, for the joy of seeing their master would have eclips............