That watch looked very nice on your blouse , Mary , and the bracelet became Alberta 's pretty wrist very well . Come and give your cranky old uncle a hug for them . '' Uncle William got his hugs heartily ; then we washed up the dishes and went for our drive . We got back just in time to catch the evening train home . Uncle William saw us off at the station , under promise to come back and stay a week with him when his housekeeper came home . `` One of you will have to come and stay with me altogether , pretty soon , '' he said . `` Tell your father he must be prepared to hand over one of his girls to me as a token of his forgiveness . I 'll be down to talk it over with him shortly . '' When we got home and told our story , Father said , `` Thank God ! '' very softly . There were tears in his eyes . He did not wait for Uncle William to come down , but went to Monkshead himself the next day . In the spring Alberta is to go and live with Uncle William . She is making a supply of dusters now . And next Christmas we are going to have a grand family reunion at the old homestead . Mistakes are not always bad . The Genesis of the Doughnut Club When John Henry died there seemed to be nothing for me to do but pack up and go back east . I did n't want to do it , but forty-five years of sojourning in this world have taught me that a body has to do a good many things she does n't want to do , and that most of them turn out to be for the best in the long run . But I knew perfectly well that it was n't best for me or anybody else that I should go back to live with William and Susanna , and I could n't think what Providence was about when things seemed to point that way . I wanted to stay in Carleton .
I loved the big , straggling , bustling little town that always reminded me of a lanky , overgrown schoolboy , all arms and legs , but full XXXXX the brim with enthusiasm and splendid ideas .
at for in of on that to week with years