I never was so glad of anything as when I heard Sara 's step on the verandah . I flew to the front door to let her in -- and there was Walter all dripping wet -- and his arms were about me and I was crying on the shoulder of his mackintosh . I only guessed then what I knew later on . Sara had heard from Mrs. Shirley that Walter was going to Marlboro that day without coming back to Atwater . Sara knew that he must change trains at Junction Falls and she went there to meet him . She did n't know what train he would come on so she went to meet the earliest and had to wait till the last , hanging around the dirty little station at the Falls all day while it poured rain , and she had n't a thing to eat except some fancy biscuits she had bought on the train . But Walter came at last on the 7:50 train and there was Sara to pounce on him . He told me afterwards that no angel could have been so beautiful a vision to him as Sara was , standing there on the wet platform with her tweed skirt held up and a streaming umbrella over her head , telling him he must come back to Atwater because Beatrice wanted him to . But just at the moment of his coming I did n't care how he had come or who had brought him . I just realized that he was there and that was enough . Sara came in behind him . Walter 's wet arms were about me and I was standing there with my thin-slippered feet in a little pool of water that dripped from his umbrella . But Sara never said a word about colds and dampness . She just smiled , went on into the sitting-room , and shut the door . Sara understood . The Unforgotten One It was Christmas Eve , but there was no frost , or snow , or sparkle . It was a green Christmas , and the night was mild and dim , with hazy starlight . A little wind was laughing freakishly among the firs around Ingleside and rustling among the sere grasses along the garden walks . It was more like a night in early spring or late fall than in December ; but it was Christmas Eve , and there was a light in every window of Ingleside , the glow breaking out through the whispering darkness like a flame-red blossom swung against the background of the evergreens ; for the children were coming home for the Christmas reunion , as they always came -- Fritz and Margaret and Laddie and Nora , and Robert 's two boys in the place of Robert , who had died fourteen years ago -- and the old house must put forth its best of light and good cheer to welcome them . Doctor Fritz and his brood were the last to arrive , driving up to the hall door amid a chorus of welcoming barks from the old dogs and a hail of merry calls from the group in the open doorway .
`` We 're all here now , '' said the little mother , as she put her arms about the neck XXXXX her stalwart firstborn and kissed his bearded face .
about amid around at like of on over that to