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Diamond opened his eyes. The face above him looked familiar. North Wind? No, his mother! There were tears in her eyes. He tried to sit up and throw his arms around her, but he could barely move. He felt very weak.

His mother scooped him up in her arms, shaking with sobs. "Oh, Diamond, my darling, you have been so ill," she said.

Diamond looked up to see the village doctor walk into the room, smiling broadly.

The doctor then spoke to Diamond's mother quietly, telling her she should let Diamond rest. She kissed Diamond, then left the room.

One day....he climbed it too

Diamond lay there looking around the room. It seemed so long ago that he had been here. The days at the back of the north wind seemed to go on and on and on. Now that he was back at his aunt's he felt very weak and very hungry. As he lay here he remembered how he came back.

While in the place at the back of north wind, he had found a tall tree with wide, spreading branches. He noticed that the people there often climbed the tree and sat in its branches for hours. One day he climbed it too and discovered to his delight that from up there he could see anything he wanted - his home, his father, his mother at his aunt's. One afternoon as he sat looking, he saw North Wind, sitting, sitting just as he remembered her, very still, very pale. Just then he knew he wanted to go back to his mother and his home. He scrambled down the tree. As soon as he reached the bottom, he found himself on the ice in front of North Wind. He went up to her, took her ice-cold hand, and called her name.

At the sound of his voice, she slowly took him into her arms. Diamond could feel her coldness go all through him, making him ache deep down inside.

Then gradually she began to warm, until she was herself again. She stood up with him in her arms, laughing, and said, "Now we must hurry, for I have my orders and must get to my work."

And then he woke in his room at his aunt's. Diamond had to stay in bed for a few more days. He slowly recovered his strength. During this time Diamond's mother got a letter from his father. The Colemans had lost all their money and had to sell everything - the house, the stable and coach house, the horse, the cart. Now Diamond's father had no job and the family had no home. Could they stay in Sandwich while he looked for another job and home? Father asked in the letter.

"You stay as long as you like, my dears," Diamond's aunt said. But now Diamond's mother had even more to worry about.

One day when Diamond was well enough his uncle drove his mother and him in a pony cart down to the seashore. There he left them for a few hours while he did some business in the village. The fresh sea air would be good for Diamond, his aunt said.

Diamond and his mother sat in the dry grass on a knoll above the beach and looked out over the sand and the sparkling ocean. Here and there a gull cried overhead. There was nothing to be seen in either direction except the sand, the sea, and the blue sky.