Much to the regret of every one, two days later Ruth and Edith said good-by to Brookside Farm and went back to their New England homes. They had intended to stay a few weeks longer, but a telegram from Edith's father saying her mother had been taken suddenly ill and needed her, caused them to decide that they should return at once. When Bob came back from an inspection trip with John White and the County Commissioners over the new concrete road, they had packed their trunks and were ready to leave for the afternoon train. He drove the girls and their Aunt Bettie to town in the car and was particularly depressed when he said good-by at the station--somehow or other they had become part of the life at Brookside Farm, and now that they were going he began to realize how much he would miss them. Even the good- natured Ruth, in her impetuous way and ability to get into trouble, had added much to the life on the farm. Edith was very quiet all the way to the station, and Bob could not tell whether it was worrying over the possible illness of her mother or her disappointment in having to return so soon, or maybe, as he hoped, it was for another reason she was silent--at any rate, she had little to say to him as he bid her good-by, but just before she ascended the steps of the train, when, for a second, they looked full into each others' eyes, he seemed to feel that perhaps he was right in attributing it to that reason. So the girls went on their way and Bob went back to work. XXIII CHRISTMAS AT BROOKSIDE FARM One evening a few days before Thanksgiving, shortly after they had moved into the new house, Bob sat before the open fire talking with his aunt and uncle, when the latter said: "Bob, it's just a little over nine months since you came to live with us and turned our farm upside down, digging after 'Hidden Treasure.' Do you remember the Sunday we let the water out of the old pond?" "Yes, I do, Uncle Joe." "Do you remember the conversation you and I had that day?" "I haven't forgotten that either, Uncle Joe," said Bob with a smile. "Well, it's getting around kind of close to payday, don't you think, Bob?" "Oh, I don't need any money, Uncle Joe. I received $250 for my honey this fall, and I haven't spent very much yet." "That's no reason why you should not be paid just the same. You've done your work. I don't know what you feel you've earned, but what would you say if I gave you $540--that's at the rate of $60 per month with board." "Do you mean to pay me in money, Uncle Joe?" "Of course, in money. I don't suppose you want to take it out in sand and gravel, do you?" "No, Uncle Joe, of course not; but do you think I've earned that much money, Uncle Joe?" "Yes, and more, but that's as much as I feel I can pay you, and if you stay with us another year, and we prosper as well as we did this year, what do you say to calling it $75 per month with board?" "That'll be splendid, Uncle Joe, and I'll be perfectly satisfied."