Her mind kept harking back to the day when she had said to John that she hoped there would be a lake on the land she owned, and he had answered casually: "If there isn't a lake, make one!" Kate thought that over repeatedly.

"Make one!" Make a lake?
It would have seemed no more magical to her if he had said, "Make a cloud," "Make a star," or "Make a rainbow." "What on earth would I do with myself, with my time, with my life ?" pondered Kate.
She said "Good-bye" to Mrs.Jardine and Jennie Weeks, and started home with John, still pondering.

When the train pulled into Hartley, Nancy Ellen and Robert were on the platform to meet them.

From that time, Kate was on solid ground.

She was reckoning in terms she could comprehend.