Then we had dinner , and I thought Mrs. Franklin more wonderful than ever . I could n't have believed any woman could have got up such a spread at two hours ' notice . Of course , some credit must be given to Bridget and the boy . Johnny and I were hungry enough by this time and we enjoyed that repast to the full . We went home on the evening train . Ted and Una came to the station with us , and Una said she would write me when she got to Japan , and Ted said he would be obliged to us forever and ever . When we got home we found Hannah Jane and Father and Mother -- who had arrived there an hour before us -- simply distracted . They were so glad to see us safe and sound that they did n't even scold us , and when Father heard our story he laughed until the tears came into his eyes . A Golden Wedding The land dropped abruptly down from the gate , and a thick , shrubby growth of young apple orchard almost hid the little weather-grey house from the road . This was why the young man who opened the sagging gate could not see that it was boarded up , and did not cease his cheerful whistling until he had pressed through the crowding trees and found himself almost on the sunken stone doorstep over which in olden days honeysuckle had been wont to arch . Now only a few straggling , uncared-for vines clung forlornly to the shingles , and the windows were , as has been said , all boarded up . The whistle died on the young man 's lips and an expression of blank astonishment and dismay settled down on his face -- a good , kindly , honest face it was , although perhaps it did not betoken any pronounced mental gifts on the part of its owner . `` What can have happened ? '' he said to himself . `` Uncle Tom and Aunt Sally ca n't be dead -- I 'd have seen their deaths in the paper if they was . And I 'd a-thought if they 'd moved away it 'd been printed too . They ca n't have been gone long -- that flower-bed must have been made up last spring . Well , this is a kind of setback for a fellow . Here I 've been tramping all the way from the station , a-thinking how good it would be to see Aunt Sally 's sweet old face again , and hear Uncle Tom 's laugh , and all I find is a boarded-up house going to seed . S'pose I might as well toddle over to Stetsons ' and inquire if they have n't disappeared , too . ''
He went XXXXX the old firs back of the lot and across the field to a rather shabby house beyond .
although as from in into of over that through with