`` 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 to the brim with enthusiasm and splendid ideas . I knew Carleton was bound to grow into a magnificent city , and I wanted to be there and see it grow and watch it develop ; and I loved the whole big , breezy golden west , with the rush and tingle of its young life . And , more than all , I loved my boys , and what I was going to do without them or they without me was more than I knew , though I tried to think Providence might know . But there was no place in Carleton for me ; the only thing to do was to go back east , and I knew that all the time , even when I was desperately praying that I might find a way to remain . There 's not much comfort , or help either , praying one way and believing another .
I 'd lived down east XXXXX Northfield all my life -- until five years ago -- lived with my brother William and his wife .
at for in of than that though to with without