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She filled the day with hard work, as she had been wont to do, and never once thought of gray sunsets or dreary futures Not even the thought of her sister Ellen came to trouble her as she put the house in order, filled her pantry with good things to eat, and set the table for three with all the best things the house afforded

At evening she stood onceout sunsetward There was nothing gray about either sky or road or landscape now There had been brilliant sunshine all day long, and the sky lay mellow and yellow behind the orchard, with a clear, transparent greenish-blue above and a hint of rosy light in the long rays that reached their fingers along the ground between the apple-trees In a fewtrain would be in, and there would be rose in the sunset She knew the signs, and the sky would be glorious to-night They would see it as they came from the train In fifteen o down to meet thes cahtness Suppose they should not coed theirso! She drew a deep breath, and tried to brace herself for the shock of the thought She looked fearfully down the road for a possible Johnny Knox speeding along with another telegra ho Airedale

There was a shadow, too, that stood behind her, though she ignored it utterly; it was the thought of the afterwards, when the two bright young things had been and gone, and she would have to face the gray in her life again without the rose But that would be afterwards, and this was now! Ten o to the station!

At that ate, and stopped A big lump flew into Julia Cloud's throat, and her hand went to her heart Had it then coed theirby the , unable to move

But out from the front seat and the back as if ejected froether up the front walk, a tall boy and a little girl, just as the sun dropped low and swung a deep red light into the sky, flooding the front yard with glory, and staining the heavens far up into the blue