`` I 've come back ! I had to ! Stephen , are you glad -- are you glad ? '' Stephen 's face was as emotionless as ever . The burst of feeling which had frightened Paul by its unaccustomedness had passed like a fleeting outbreak of sunshine between dull clouds . `` I reckon I am , '' he said . `` Yes , I reckon I am . I kind of -- hoped -- you would come back . You 'd better go in and get some breakfast . '' Paul 's eyes were as radiant as the deepening dawn . He knew Stephen was glad and he knew there was nothing more to be said about it . They were back just where they were before Miss Trevor came -- back in their perfect , unmarred , sufficient comradeship . `` I must just run around and see Nora first , '' said Paul . Abel and His Great Adventure `` Come out of doors , master -- come out of doors . I ca n't talk or think right with walls around me -- never could . Let 's go out to the garden . '' These were almost the first words I ever heard Abel Armstrong say . He was a member of the board of school trustees in Stillwater , and I had not met him before this late May evening , when I had gone down to confer with him upon some small matter of business . For I was `` the new schoolmaster '' in Stillwater , having taken the school for the summer term . It was a rather lonely country district -- a fact of which I was glad , for life had been going somewhat awry with me and my heart was sore and rebellious over many things that have nothing to do with this narration .
Stillwater offered time and opportunity XXXXX healing and counsel .
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