During this discussion Mr. Pennington finished the Boston Herald, and leaving it on the steps, went to Samona, but returned to the Rectory in the evening, to see, he said, if the family was not greatly fatigued after the excitement of the day. Elithe was not fatigued at all. The dream of her life was coming to pass. She was going to Oak City and to Boston, and to see the ocean and everything, and her eyes were like stars as she welcomed him. He had become so much a part of the family at the Rectory and had identified himself so largely with their interests that it was natural for the boys to go to him with everything which interested them, and the four pounced upon him at once, all talking together and telling him the news. Their aunt, or rather their father’s aunt Phebe, had sent for Elithe to come to Oak City, and, better yet, had given each of them a dollar for their very own. This was a fortune to the boys, who had never before had more than five or ten cents at a time, and the woman who sent it to them was exalted into the position of a fairy godmother. Mr. Pennington listened to them, but did not seem greatly elated. On the contrary, the boys had never found him so uninteresting. “Is it true that you are to leave us?” he asked Elithe during a lull in the boys’ clamor. “Nothing is settled as yet,” she replied, and he continued, “Do you think you will like Oak City?” Something in his voice made Elithe ask quickly, “Were you ever there?” His face was partly turned from her as he replied, “I have heard of it as a very pretty place. My sister has been there.”