"I love that story, mamsey. I told it once to Mrs. Westley and she loved it, too. And you used to say that there was a gate in the wall with a latch but the latch was quite high so that when I was little I could not find it!" "And then you grew bigger and your fingers could reach the latch--you wanted to open it to go out and see what was outside. I had made the little garden as beautiful as I knew how and it was very sunny and the wall was so high that it shut out all trouble--but you wanted so much to open the gate that I knew I must let you!" "And then I went away to Highacres----" put in Jerry, loving the story as much as ever. "And I was alone in the garden our love had built, but I was not lonely--I _will_ not be lonely, for--wherever you go--you are my girl and I love you and you love me! _Nothing_ can change that. And I shall leave the gate open--it will always be open!" She said it slowly; her story was finished. Jerry's face was transfigured. "You mean--you _mean_"--she spoke softly--"that--if I want to go--back to Highacres--you'll _let me_? I can _go to college_? Oh, mamsey, you're wonderful! Mothers _are_ the grandest things. And the gate will always be open so's I can always come back? And you won't be lonely for I'll always love you most in the world of anybody or anything. And when I'm very grown-up and can't go to school any more we'll travel, won't we? You and me and Little-Dad--won't we, mamsey?" "Yes, dear." But the mother's eyes smiled in the darkness--she was thinking of the empty nest. Jerry laid her cheek against her mother's arm. She drew a long breath. "The world's so wonderful, isn't it? It's dreadful to think of anyone in it, like my--father, who's set his heart so hard on just one thing that he can't see all the other things he might do! I shall _never_ be like that! And it's dreadful"--she frowned sorrowfully out over the starlit valley--"to think of girls who haven't mothers and who can't go to school. Why, I'm the very, very richest girl in the world!" Then she blushed. "I don't mean _that_ money, mamsey, I mean having you and--Sunnyside and Kettle and just knowing about--our garden!" CHAPTER XXIX THE WISHING-ROCK Three girls sat on the Wishing-rock, beating their heels against its mossy side. And the world stretched before them. It was the end of a momentous day--momentous because so many things had been decided and such nice things! First, Uncle Johnny had said that he'd "fix" it with Mrs. Westley that Isobel and Gyp should remain at Kettle a month longer, then Mrs. Allan had driven over from Cobble and announced that she was going to have a house-party and her guests were going to be Pat Everett, Renee La Due and her brother, and Peggy and Garrett Lee, and Garrett Lee was going to bring Dana King. And Jerry and Uncle Johnny had prevailed upon Little-Dad to accept an automobile.