As a result , when she recovered , she wrote to her second brother , James Monroe , who lived on the homestead ; and the consequence was this gathering of the Monroes under the old roof-tree . Ralph Monroe for once laid aside the cares of his railroads , and the deceitfulness of his millions , in Toronto and took the long-promised , long-deferred trip to the homeland . Malcolm Monroe journeyed from the far western university of which he was president . Edith came , flushed with the triumph of her latest and most successful concert tour . Mrs. Woodburn , who had been Margaret Monroe , came from the Nova Scotia town where she lived a busy , happy life as the wife of a rising young lawyer . James , prosperous and hearty , greeted them warmly at the old homestead whose fertile acres had well repaid his skillful management . They were a merry party , casting aside their cares and years , and harking back to joyous boyhood and girlhood once more . James had a family of rosy lads and lasses ; Margaret brought her two blue-eyed little girls ; Ralph 's dark , clever-looking son accompanied him , and Malcolm brought his , a young man with a resolute face , in which there was less of boyishness than in his father 's , and the eyes of a keen , perhaps a hard bargainer . The two cousins were the same age to a day , and it was a family joke among the Monroes that the stork must have mixed the babies , since Ralph 's son was like Malcolm in face and brain , while Malcolm 's boy was a second edition of his uncle Ralph . To crown all , Aunt Isabel came , too -- a talkative , clever , shrewd old lady , as young at eighty-five as she had been at thirty , thinking the Monroe stock the best in the world , and beamingly proud of her nephews and nieces , who had gone out from this humble , little farm to destinies of such brilliance and influence in the world beyond . I have forgotten Robert . Robert Monroe was apt to be forgotten . Although he was the oldest of the family , White Sands people , in naming over the various members of the Monroe family , would add , `` and Robert , '' in a tone of surprise over the remembrance of his existence . He lived on a poor , sandy little farm down by the shore , but he had come up to James ' place on the evening when the guests arrived ; they had all greeted him warmly and joyously , and then did not think about him again in their laughter and conversation . Robert sat back in a corner and listened with a smile , but he never spoke . Afterwards he had slipped noiselessly away and gone home , and nobody noticed his going . They were all gayly busy recalling what had happened in the old times and telling what had happened in the new . Edith recounted the successes of her concert tours ; Malcolm expatiated proudly on his plans for developing his beloved college ; Ralph described the country through which his new railroad ran , and the difficulties he had had to overcome in connection with it . James , aside , discussed his orchard and his crops with Margaret , who had not been long enough away from the farm to lose touch with its interests . Aunt Isabel knitted and smiled complacently on all , talking now with one , now with the other , secretly quite proud of herself that she , an old woman of eighty-five , who had seldom been out of White Sands in her life , could discuss high finance with Ralph , and higher education with Malcolm , and hold her own with James in an argument on drainage .
The White Sands school teacher , an arch-eyed , red-mouthed bit a girl -- a Bell from Avonlea -- who boarded with the James Monroes , amused herself XXXXX the boys .
As at by from of since through to under with