Now go--go! I think I hear footsteps--" He thrust them to the door, Nada with her bundle and Roger with his pack.

Suddenly he felt Peter at his side, and reaching down he fastened his fingers in the scruff of his neck, and held him back.
"Good-bye," he whispered huskily.

"Good-bye--Nada--Roger--" A sob came back out of the gloom.
"Good-bye, father." And then they listened, Peter and Father John, until the swift footsteps of the two they loved passed beyond their hearing.
Peter whimpered, and struggled a little, but Father John held him as he closed the door.
"It's best for you to stay, Peter," he tried to explain.

"It's best for you to stay--with me.

For I think they are going a far distance, and will come to a land where you would shrivel up and die.