"Tell him to go, then," muttered Sarah. Jack climbed over one of the boulders and gazed down at the obdurate little person whose unhappy brown face lacked its usual life and color. Sarah did not look like herself. "Look here, Sarah," said Jack with directness, but not unkindly. "Your mother is worried stiff about you and you're coming back with us and coming now. If you don't want me to climb down there and pull you out, you'd better scramble up this minute." Suddenly Sarah climbed up the rock furthest from Jack and dropped to the ground. She refused to take Rosemary's hand and scuffed on before them silently, like a small Indian in a very bad temper. "She does care," whispered Rosemary to Jack. "She always acts like this when she wants to cry and is too proud." With Rosemary to the left of her and Jack on her right and no possible avenue of escape open, Sarah mounted the porch steps. Someone all in white, fragrant and dainty and sweet, gathered her, dirt-stained and disheveled as she was, into loving arms. Sarah began to cry. "There, my precious," said Mrs. Willis softly, "tell Mother all about it--she wants to hear." Rosemary and Jack slipped away. CHAPTER XXV UP TO MISCHIEF Once more a flood of moonlight and a night or two when "Old Fiddlestrings" wandered up and down the road playing the "Serenade" and then the first of September was blazoned on the calendar and on the fields of Rainbow Hill. The summer was virtually over. Jack went away hilariously for a brief fishing trip with his father before the Eastshore schools should open; and to the delight of his mother and sisters, Doctor Hugh came out to stay till they were ready to go back with him, a matter of ten days or so, for school would be in session by the middle of the month. Finding Sarah in a sad state from violent crying on his arrival the day of Bony's departure, Doctor Hugh was soon in possession of the Gays' story; and he not only succeeded in persuading Louisa and Alec to accept the money Sarah's sacrifice had obtained, but he also managed to give them a more wholesome outlook on the world in general. Although Alec and Louisa were naturally reluctant to accept Sarah's money, when they were finally persuaded, their relief was plain. Now they had enough cash in hand to meet the dreaded interest payment. Alec insisted that the money from Sarah was to be regarded as a loan and Doctor Hugh agreed to this. "All right," said Sarah when this arrangement was explained to her, "but I don't want to see Bony--not ever any more." Alec had told her that the pig would probably be brought to the farm to spend the winter and had offered to drive to Eastshore some day and bring her back to see her pet. Sarah's refusal was unmistakable; the parting once made, she was not minded to harrow her feelings again.