Just for a few seconds Penny felt much older than she really was and she pushed rudely past Jon, who was in her way, and put her head out of the window so that they should not see how she was feeling. After a little the mist cleared from her eyes and she saw that she was looking down into the little walled garden, and on the other side of the wall were the shallow steps of Trader's Passage. At the bottom of the garden, which sloped down the hill, was the side of another house and on the right another wall, which she guessed correctly divided the garden from the yard with its big garage.

"What a sweet little garden," she said as she felt Mrs. Warrender's hand on her shoulder. "But nothing much grows in it, does it?"

"I've had roses, Penny, and some of them are here on your dressing-table, and those are gillyflowers growing in the wall."

"Is that old tree growing through the wall, Auntie? I suppose it was big when they built the wall and the people who lived here wouldn't have it cut down as its roots were here, so they had to build round it."

Jon leaned over her other shoulder.

"I've seen one or two like that before," he said. "That's a withy tree - a sort of willow."

Mrs. Warrender said:

"You can come up and unpack after tea. Your trunks arrived safely, you see, and you'll have plenty to do getting tidy. Now we'll have tea in the lounge and you can see whether you like it, and what the hotel part of the house is like."

They went downstairs again, and Fred, now very smart in a dark-green uniform, brought them tea and toast as they sat round a smouldering but sweet-smelling log-fire.

"We never lets 'un out, miss," he smiled as he saw Penny's inquiring glance. "In winter we bank it up the chimney, but now we just about keep 'un going with oak logs. There's always fire on this hearth."

The large chairs were very soft and comfortable, and Penny was tired after the journey and all the excitement of their home-coming. She heard Jon telling his mother something about last term and then must have dozed a little until she heard her name.