I opened the letter rather indifferently , for father , with all his excellent and lovable traits , was but a poor correspondent ; his letters were usually very brief and very unimportant . This letter was brief enough , but it was freighted with a message of weighty import . I sat gazing stupidly at the sheet after I had read it until Felix exclaimed , `` Bev , what 's the matter with you ? What 's in that letter ? '' `` Father is coming home , '' I said dazedly . `` He is to leave South America in a fortnight and will be here in November to take us back to Toronto . '' Everybody gasped . Sara Ray , of course , began to cry , which aggravated me unreasonably . `` Well , '' said Felix , when he got his second wind , `` I 'll be awful glad to see father again , but I tell you I do n't like the thought of leaving here . '' I felt exactly the same but , in view of Sara Ray 's tears , admit it I would not ; so I sat in grum silence while the other tongues wagged . `` If I were not going away myself I 'd feel just terrible , '' said the Story Girl . `` Even as it is I 'm real sorry . I 'd like to be able to think of you as all here together when I 'm gone , having good times and writing me about them . '' `` It 'll be awfully dull when you fellows go , '' muttered Dan . `` I 'm sure I do n't know what we 're ever going to do here this winter , '' said Felicity , with the calmness of despair . `` Thank goodness there are no more fathers to come back , '' breathed Cecily with a vicious earnestness that made us all laugh , even in the midst of our dismay . We worked very half-heartedly the rest of the day , and it was not until we assembled in the orchard in the evening that our spirits recovered something like their wonted level . It was clear and slightly frosty ; the sun had declined behind a birch on a distant hill and it seemed a tree with a blazing heart of fire . The great golden willow at the lane gate was laughter-shaken in the wind of evening . Even amid all the changes of our shifting world we could not be hopelessly low-spirited -- except Sara Ray , who was often so , and Peter , who was rarely so .
But XXXXX had been sorely vexed in spirit for several days .
Bev Dan Father Peter Ray evening fire grum laughter-shaken second