diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:29:31 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:29:31 -0700 |
| commit | d524495dea33c8fffe85d5d9174c52b93b11ff9e (patch) | |
| tree | 0cac1377a0d77b73e8502a1b6479717f5f1b3f41 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26533-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 193492 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26533-h/26533-h.htm | 11878 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26533-h/images/img-front.jpg | bin | 0 -> 54539 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26533.txt | 7887 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26533.zip | bin | 0 -> 135031 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
8 files changed, 19781 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26533-h.zip b/26533-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..feba8e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/26533-h.zip diff --git a/26533-h/26533-h.htm b/26533-h/26533-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..175db9e --- /dev/null +++ b/26533-h/26533-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11878 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Rainbow Hill, by Josephine Lawrence +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-top: 0% ; + margin-bottom: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + font-size: medium ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 1%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rainbow Hill, by Josephine Lawrence + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rainbow Hill + +Author: Josephine Lawrence + +Illustrator: Thelma Gooch + +Release Date: September 4, 2008 [EBook #26533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAINBOW HILL *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00"></A> + +<H4> +[Transcriber's note: Extensive research found no evidence<BR> +that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]<BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE BEEN ON A FARM?" HE ASKED." BORDER="2" WIDTH="414" HEIGHT="636"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 414px"> +"THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE BEEN ON A FARM?" HE ASKED. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +RAINBOW HILL +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>By</I> +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Josephine Lawrence</I> +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Author of</I> +<BR> +<I>ROSEMARY</I> +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Illustrated by</I> +<BR> +<I>Thelma Gooch</I> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY +<BR> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY +<BR> +<I>Rainbow Hill</I> +<BR><BR> +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">PLANS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">LOOKING FORWARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">RAINBOW HILL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">FIRST IMPRESSIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">DAYS OF DELIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">WINNIE IS NERVOUS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">AN ADVENTURE FOR SARAH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">STORM SIGNALS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">ONE WISH COMES TRUE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">AN EVENTFUL DAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">ALL SERENE AGAIN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">NAPOLEON BONAPARTE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE GAY FAMILY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE GAY FINANCES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">THE POOR FARM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">SARAH'S SURPRISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">WILLING AND OBLIGING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">A NEW FRIEND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">JACK—HIRED MAN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">A LITTLE GIRL LOST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">DOWN LINDEN ROAD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">SARAH HAS AN IDEA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">BONY JOINS THE CIRCUS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">TRULY A SACRIFICE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">UP TO MISCHIEF</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">SOMETHING TO REMEMBER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">SUMMER'S END</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +RAINBOW HILL +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PLANS +</H3> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh leaned back in his swivel chair and looked anxiously at his +mother. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe you realize how incessant the noise will be," he +urged. "Every morning hammering and sawing and the inevitable shouting +and argument that seem to attend all building operations, especially +when the job is one of alteration, like this." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not mind the noise, dear," said Mrs. Willis tranquilly. "Let +me see the plans again." +</P> + +<P> +She held out her hand for the blue prints and four interested heads +immediately bent above them, Rosemary being tall enough to look over +her mother's shoulder and Sarah and Shirley pressing close to her side. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how anyone can tell a thing from that," Rosemary +complained. "There's nothing but white lines." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor smiled, but his glance was on the frail, almost transparent +hands which held the roll of paper flat on the desk. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you thought that carpenters worked from photographs of +completed interiors, or illustrations in interior-decoration +catalogues," he suggested good-naturedly. "You see before you, +Rosemary, a most practical conception of two offices and a reception +room. Mr. Greggs will rip out one side of the house and add them on as +a wing and when the joining is painted over you'll think those rooms +were built when the original house was." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—all right," conceded Rosemary, "I suppose Mr. Greggs knows. +Anyway, it will be fun to have something going on. Vacation certainly +isn't very exciting." +</P> + +<P> +"I want to see them rip the house," announced Sarah with intense +satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I owe it to Mr. Greggs almost as much as to Mother, to have +you at a safe distance before the ripping begins," said Doctor Hugh a +little grimly. "Somehow I have the feeling, Sarah, that the best-laid +plans of architects may go awry when you're about." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" retorted Sarah, abandoning blue prints for her favorite goatskin +rug on which she flopped in an attitude more comfortable than graceful. +</P> + +<P> +Shirley, too, wearying of the unfamiliar, turned to the delights of the +iron wastebasket into which she tried to wedge her plump self with +indifferent success and a great crackling of paper. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh began to sharpen a pencil with meticulous care, his dark +eyes behind their glasses apparently intent on the task in hand. But +the more discerning of his patients, and every nurse who had served on +his cases, could have told you that Doctor Willis always saw most when +he appeared to be quite absorbed. +</P> + +<P> +Even an outsider would have been interested in the group gathered in +the young doctor's office that summer afternoon. The little mother +(she was no taller than her oldest daughter and came only to her tall +son's shoulder) sat at one side of the flat-topped desk, leaning her +head on one hand as she studied the plans for the addition to the +house. She was very lovely and very appealing, from her wavy dark hair +faintly streaked with gray to her little buckled slippers, and there +was nothing of the invalid about her. It would have been difficult to +say, off-hand, just why she should inspire the conviction, immediate +and swift, that those who loved her must be constantly on guard to +protect her against physical exhaustion and weakness. Difficult, that +is, only until one saw her patient, shining eyes and then one knew, +what had never been hidden from Doctor Hugh, that in her body dwelt an +unquenchable spirit that would always outrun her strength. +</P> + +<P> +In Rosemary, leaning above her mother and studying the blue prints so +intently that a little frown gathered between her arched brows, the +spirit and strength were united. The effect of Rosemary on the most +casual beholder, was always one of radiance. The mass of her waving +hair was bronze, said her friends; it was red, it was gold, it was all +of these. Her eyes were like her mother's, a violet blue, but dancing, +drenched in tears or black with storm—seldom patient eyes. She lived +intensely, did Rosemary, and sometimes she hurt herself and sometimes +she hurt others. She could be obstinate—wanting her own way with the +insistence of a driving force; that was the Willis will working in her, +Winnie said. All the Willis children had that trait, Winnie said also. +Rosemary could be sorry and make frank confession. That, Sarah always +thought, was the hardest thing in the world to do. +</P> + +<P> +The dark and stolid Sarah lying on her stomach on the white goatskin +rug, was "the queer one" of the family. Sarah's nature was as +uncompromising as her own square-toed sandals and about as blunt. +Demonstrations of affection bored her. She tended strictly to her +interests and felt small concern in the affairs of her sisters. You +could reach Sarah—after you had learned the way—and the depths in her +were worth reaching. But her one passionate devotion was for +animals—she would do anything for her pets, dare anything for them. +Sometimes Doctor Hugh wondered if she would not sacrifice anyone to +their needs. +</P> + +<P> +If one desired a contrast to Sarah, there was Shirley. Shirley who sat +in the wastebasket and beamed upon an approving world. Six year old +Shirley was a born sunbeam and her brief fits of temper only seemed to +intensify the normal sunshine of her disposition. She smiled and she +coaxed answering smiles from the severest mortal; she dimpled and +laughter bubbled up to meet her chuckling mirth. It was impossible to +remain cross or ill-tempered when Shirley danced into a room and it is +to be feared that her gifts of cajolery bought her off from often +needed reproofs. It was never easy to scold Shirley. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh Willis, sharpening his pencil so painstakingly, knew all +this and more. To his natural endowment of keen-eyed penetration had +been recently added the illuminating experience of a year as sole head +of the household—a year in which the little mother had been absent in +a sanitarium recovering her shattered health and he had been +responsible for the welfare of his sisters. +</P> + +<P> +Not the least interesting figure of that group—Doctor Hugh. +Dark-haired, dark-eyed and tall, his keen, intelligent face could be as +expressive as Rosemary's. His chin was firm and his mouth could be +grim and smiling, by turns. His speaking voice was rather remarkable +in the range of its modulations and his manner was incisive as one used +to commanding obedience. His patients said "Doctor" had a way with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I cut the cake, or put it on whole?" inquired someone blandly on +the other side of the closed door. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Winnie," said Mrs. Willis, lifting her head and smiling. +"Open the door, Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +Five pairs of eyes turned affectionately to the tall, thin woman who +stepped into the room as Shirley obeyed. This was Winnie without whom +the Willis household would have been lost indeed since for twenty-eight +years she had solved every domestic difficulty for them, shrewdly and +capably. Loyalty and service were beautiful, concrete things in her +faithful loving eyes. Dear Winnie! +</P> + +<P> +"About the cake," she said now, smoothing her immaculate apron and +glancing sharply at the circle of rather serious faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Bother the cake," answered Doctor Hugh, secure in the knowledge that +whatever he said would receive Winnie's unqualified approval. "Have +you seen the plans for the new office, Winnie?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I have not," she replied eagerly and Rosemary yielded her place +while Winnie stared over Mrs. Willis' shoulder at the mysterious white +lines and dots. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be expecting a lot of sick folks, Hughie," she commented +after a moment's study. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll give up the other office," the doctor explained, "and have all my +office hours here." +</P> + +<P> +"When can Mr. Greggs start work, Hugh?" asked his mother, rescuing the +elastic bands from Shirley and moving the ink well back from the small, +exploring fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"Next week, he hopes," Doctor Hugh answered. "There won't be any +digging to be done, because we are not going to extend the cellar; but +there will be mason work for the foundation and they want to open out +the side of the hall as soon as they start." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be messy," said Winnie, with unmistakable disapproval of +anything "messy." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be messy," agreed the doctor. "Worse than that, it will be +noisy. I want Mother and you to take the girls and go away till it is +over. I don't think anyone should be asked to endure the sound of +constant hammering in the hot weather; I'll be out of the house so much +that I don't count and of course I'll keep the other office till things +are in shape here." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke evenly, but his eyes met Winnie's across Mrs. Willis' shapely +drooping head. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we ought to get out of Mr. Greggs' way," declared Winnie +briskly. "Carpenters have small patience with women and their +housekeeping habits. They think we're interfering when we only want to +keep 'em from driving nails in the mahogany tables. And if they're +going to ruin the hall rug with their bricks and mortar I, for one, +don't want to be here to see it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Winnie, you fraud!" Mrs. Willis spoke merrily. "You are not +worrying about the hall rug—I know you too well. You're siding with +Hugh and you are both conspiring to wreck the household budget a second +time. I had all the luxury one woman is entitled to last year in the +sanitarium—from now on I intend to consider expenses and a summer away +from home isn't to be thought of." +</P> + +<P> +"Your health is worth more than dollars and cents," said Winnie sagely. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not going to take music lessons this vacation," offered Rosemary. +"That ought to help, Mother." +</P> + +<P> +"If I can arrange it so you can leave the house while the alterations +are being put through and yet keep the living expenses down to your +stipulated level—will you go, Mother?" said Doctor Hugh artfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you come, too?" countered his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—part of the time at least," he temporized. +</P> + +<P> +A sudden picture of her orderly quiet home in the hands of the +loud-talking, aggressively cheerful town carpenter and his helpers, the +gash in the hall letting in dirt and flies, with the attendant bustle +and confusion that go with artisan work, flashed across Mrs. Willis' +vision. Sarah and Shirley must be constantly admonished to keep out of +mischief and danger, Winnie placated when her domain should be +encroached upon. And the noise of hammers and saws and files! +</P> + +<P> +"I have only two objections to going away, Hugh," said Mrs. Willis +quietly. "One is leaving you and the other is the expense." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it is as good as settled," declared Doctor Hugh, rolling up the +blue prints and snapping an elastic around them as though he snapped +his ideas into place with the same deft movement. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary's eyes began to shine. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Hugh, tell us!" she begged. "I know you have some perfectly +lovely plan—tell us what it is." +</P> + +<P> +But the doctor's smile was enigmatic and the two words he vouchsafed a +conundrum to them all. +</P> + +<P> +"Rainbow Hill," was the answer he made to every question. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie, always an ally of the doctor's, appealed to, could give no +help. "If you studied geography more and cats less, Sarah," she +informed that small girl who insisted on repeated questioning, "you +might be able to tell me. I've told you before that I know nothing at +all about this Rainbow Hill." +</P> + +<P> +And Rosemary, waylaying her brother with carefully planned nonchalance, +fared no more successfully. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't wheedle any news out of me, my dear," announced Doctor Hugh, +his eyes twinkling. "All in good time—and after Mother, you'll be the +first to be told. Patience is a virtue, Rosemary." +</P> + +<P> +And then he ducked to escape the porch cushion she sent whirling toward +him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LOOKING FORWARD +</H3> + +<P> +"I don't believe you've heard a word I've been saying, Jack Welles!" +</P> + +<P> +The boy on his knees before the tangled fishing tackle spread out on +the lowest porch step, looked up alertly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I heard," he protested. "Something or other is 'perfectly +adorable.'" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary laughed. She had been sitting in the porch swing and now she +came and camped on the middle step, chin in hand, regardless of the hot +sunshine that turned her bronze hair to red gold. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I did say that," she admitted. "But it really is, Jack. I +don't believe Mother would call it an exaggeration." +</P> + +<P> +Jack Welles frowned at a tangle of line. "I heard you," he said again, +"but I didn't get where this place is—I saw you and your mother going +off with Hugh in the car this morning," he added. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll untangle that for you," offered Rosemary, holding out her hand +for the line. "We went to see Rainbow Hill and now Mother is crazy to +go there for the summer. Hugh is as pleased as pleased can be, for he +wants her to go somewhere before Mr. Greggs starts the work here." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Rainbow Hill?" asked Jack, watching the slim fingers as they +worked at the waxed silk thread so woefully knotted. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the best part of the whole plan," Rosemary assured him, taking +his knowledge of a plan for granted. "It's only about eight or nine +miles from here and twelve from Bennington. Hugh can easily come out +in the car. You must have seen the house, Jack—it is right on the +tip-top of that hill to the right, the little white clapboarded house +you see as soon as you pass the cross-roads." +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen it," said Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you may have seen it, but you can't tell how lovely it is until +you go through it," declared Rosemary, winding a free length of line +about her slender wrist for safe-keeping. "There's no front porch—you +step into the living-room right from the lawn. But there is a side +porch with awnings and screens that Mother will just love." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are the folks who live there?" demanded the practical Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"They're going to California, to visit their married daughter," +Rosemary explained. "They're patients of Hugh's—Mr. and Mrs. Hammond. +And they wanted to rent the house because they didn't like the idea of +closing it for almost three months with all their nice furniture and a +piano and everything in it. So—wasn't it lucky—they happened to ask +Hugh if he knew of anyone who would rent the place furnished and he saw +right away it would be just the thing for us." +</P> + +<P> +"Whereupon they insisted that he take it as a gift, with a maid and two +butlers thrown in," recited Jack, who knew in what affection Doctor +Hugh's patients held him. +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly," dimpled Rosemary, "but they did say that if Mother would +live there during the summer they would consider it a favor and +wouldn't dream of charging rent. Mrs. Hammond said she knew she +wouldn't have to worry about her things if Doctor Hugh's mother would +be there to look after them. But, of course, Hugh wouldn't listen to +that—he said business was business and as soon as he and Mr. Hammond +had the rent fixed, Hugh took Mother and me to see Rainbow Hill. And +it's too lovely for words." +</P> + +<P> +"Any butlers?" suggested Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a butler," answered Rosemary firmly. "Winnie beats all the +butlers I ever saw—or read about," she emended, remembering that her +actual experience with butlers was limited. +</P> + +<P> +"Winnie won't take kindly to pumping water from the well every +morning," said Jack, sorting fish hooks with a practised hand. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no water to pump," was the prompt and cheerful response. +"It's an old-fashioned house, but the plumbing is new—Hugh found that +out before he even mentioned Rainbow Hill to Mother. It will be such +fun to show the place to Sarah and Shirley—I can hardly wait." +</P> + +<P> +Jack looked up at the vivid, glowing face above him. +</P> + +<P> +"I can imagine Sarah let loose on a farm," he said drily. "They'd +better tie up the pigs and nail down the cows—I wouldn't trust that +girl within ten feet of a live animal." +</P> + +<P> +"You think you're smart, Jack Welles!" broke in the wrathful voice of +Sarah as that young person hurled herself around the side of the house +and confronted them indignantly. "You think you're smart, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Scuse me, Sarah, I didn't know you were within hearing distance," +apologized Jack with proper contriteness. "Don't be mad at me, Sally, +for here you are going away—when are you going?" +</P> + +<P> +"Monday," said Sarah sullenly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're going away Monday," went on Jack, "and you may not see me till +September; can't we part friends, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah regarded him suspiciously, but he surveyed her over his fish +hooks and was apparently quite serious. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be glad to leave some people in this neighborhood," stated Sarah +with peculiar distinctness. "I'm going to do just as I please at +Rainbow Hill." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I take it that Hugh won't be there?" said Jack, but Rosemary +hastened to act as peacemaker. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't fuss," she advised them wisely. "Jack, I may learn how to fish +this summer myself—Mr. Hammond told Hugh that Mr. Hildreth is a great +fisherman." +</P> + +<P> +Jack asked who Mr. Hildreth was and Sarah answered that he was the +tenant farmer. +</P> + +<P> +"And his wife is the tenant farmeress," said Sarah importantly. "They +live in another house and plant things—Hugh told me." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm, I don't doubt it," agreed Jack, when he had assimilated this +remarkable information, "but how come a farmer and a farmeress have +time to give lessons in fishing?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary began on the last knot in the line. "Don't be silly, Jack," +she begged. "There'll be two boys there—Mrs. Hildreth says her +husband gets two students from the State Agricultural College to help +him every summer. They'll want to go fishing and Sarah and I can go +along." +</P> + +<P> +"When you farm, you farm," said Jack sententiously. "You don't hoe the +potatoes one day and then go fishing for a week. But I may be wrong at +that and if you find Mr. Hildreth needs an extra hired man, Rosemary, +one to go fishing, I mean, ask him to send for me. I'll come right up +and fish and look after the garden in my odd moments." +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh's coming to spend two weeks in August," announced Sarah. "And +he'll come out as many week-ends as he can; will you really come, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"I always did yearn to be a hired man," Jack answered earnestly, "and +they tell us there is no time like the present to put one's ambition in +training. I'm awfully afraid I'll have to earn my living after I leave +school and a nice trade, like that of hired man, might be useful in my +later life. I'll think it over and let you know, Sarah; but don't let +Mr. Hildreth build on my coming—I can't face his grief and +disappointment in case I fail to turn up." +</P> + +<P> +"You think you're smart!" was Sarah's retort and Rosemary said to +herself that it was impossible to tell when Jack was in earnest. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie came out and told them that lunch was ready just then, and Jack +took his fishing tackle and retreated to his own home which was next +door, first thanking Rosemary fervently for the unknotted line she +handed him. +</P> + +<P> +There were times during the days of preparation for the eventful Monday +when Mrs. Willis wondered whether they were really wise to go to so +much trouble, times when she thought wearily that her own home, noisy +as it might be, would be far preferable to the effort required to adapt +her family to a new environment. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary put the feeling into words one noon when the doctor came home +to lunch and found her sitting on the floor beside a trunk with a +lapful of rusty keys. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing fits," complained Rosemary. "All the keys to everything are +lost. And I don't see what good a restful summer will do Mother if she +has nervous prostration before she gets off." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh settled several difficulties in as many minutes—he had a +gift for that—by dispatching Sarah to the locksmith with soft-soap +impressions of the keyless locks and orders to get keys to fit them and +insisting that his mother must stay quietly in her room the remainder +of the day and be served with luncheon and supper there. +</P> + +<P> +"You girls try to talk all at once," he told his three sisters when +they sat down at last to Winnie's rice waffles, "and that is enough to +tire anyone. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't I take the cat, Hugh?" urged Sarah anxiously. "You can take it +in the car for me and I know fresh country air will be good for poor +Esther." +</P> + +<P> +"Esther wouldn't appreciate Rainbow Hill," said Doctor Hugh with +conviction. "Cats don't like to change their homes, Sarah. Besides, +you'll have all the animals you want once you are on the farm. And +that reminds me I want to say one thing to you." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," remarked Sarah plaintively, "you're going to scold." +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly," said her brother, smiling in spite of himself. "But +while I want you to have a happy summer, Sarah, and 'collect' snakes +and bugs and insects to your heart's content, I want you to understand +clearly that the menagerie is to be kept outside of the house. Mother +and Winnie mustn't be expected to get used to finding snakes in boxes +and spiders in bottles, and the place to study a colony of ants is +outside, not in the front hall. If I find you can't remember this one +rule, you'll have to come back to Eastshore and stay with me during the +week." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah, with an unhappy recollection of the furore she had created the +week before when she had bodily transplanted a thriving colony of ants +to the hall rug, promised to remember. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Welles said he might come up for a couple of weeks and be a hired +man," announced Rosemary, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope he does," approved the doctor promptly. "He'll find it an +endurance test and a particularly valuable one. Yes, Winnie?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd step out and look at the canna bed," said Winnie grimly. +"Every single plant pulled out and left dying in the sun." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I did that," declared Shirley in her clear little voice that +always reminded Winnie of a robin's chirp. "I thought Mother would +want to take the cannas to Rainbow Hill with us—we can plant them +around the porch there." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh pushed back his chair, his mouth twitching. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever happens this summer, Winnie," he said gravely, "something +tells me that you won't be bored." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RAINBOW HILL +</H3> + +<P> +A white clapboarded house with moss-green shutters and a dark oak +"Dutch" door, the upper half of which swung hospitably open—this was +Rainbow Hill in the light of the late June afternoon sun. A little +jewel of a house set in the center of a close-cropped emerald-green +lawn and circled by sturdy old trees, elms and maples that had marked +the site of the old homestead and now guarded the "new house" as it had +been called ever since it had been built six years before to replace +the farmhouse destroyed by fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Welcome to Rainbow Hill," said Mrs. Joseph Hildreth, coming out on the +red tiled walk as a car swept up to the door and stopped. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth, the wife of the tenant farmer, was a young woman with +wide-awake blue eyes and an air of capability that struck terror to the +souls of the lazy. She was known far and wide as "a hustler" and she +had been known to do a large washing and baking in the morning and +drive the hay rake in the field in the afternoon on occasions when her +husband was short of help. It was a pity her voice was so loud and +rasping, but then not everyone is sensitive to voices. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you'll find everything about ready for your supper," said Mrs. +Hildreth when Doctor Hugh had introduced Sarah and Shirley and Winnie, +the three members of the party she had not met previously. "I brought +up a pail of strawberries—they'll be better next week. Mrs. Hammond +said you were to have half the garden, same as they did. The butter +may be a little soft, but Joe will get you a piece of ice in the +morning at the creamery. We weren't sure you'd get here to-day, so I +didn't order it." +</P> + +<P> +With a few more confidences, directed mainly to Winnie, she went back +to her own house—an attractive story and a half bungalow just visible +from the side porch, and the Willis family were free to take possession +of Rainbow Hill. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it darling!" Rosemary kept exclaiming. "Aren't the rugs +pretty—and the white curtains! Wait till you see the rooms upstairs." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of Winnie's warning that supper would be ready in fifteen +minutes and Doctor Hugh's declaration that he must go back to Eastshore +as soon as the meal was over, it was impossible to refrain from running +upstairs for a peep at the second story. There was a large and airy +bedroom for the mother, a connecting room which was allotted to +Rosemary and across the hall a smaller room with twin beds which would, +it was instantly decided, "fit" Sarah and Shirley. Next to this was +the guest room which Doctor Hugh would occupy during his visits, and at +the other end of the hall, next to the shining blue and white tiled +bathroom, a square room with two windows and a narrow balcony that +delighted Winnie. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no nicer place to dry your hair," she explained seriously to +Mrs. Willis. "I can sit out there and darn stockings while my hair is +drying." +</P> + +<P> +The trunks and one or two boxes, packed with necessary possessions +mostly of a personal nature, had been sent on ahead in the morning and +were already in the halls. The house was tastefully furnished +throughout and Mrs. Willis assured her son that as soon as she had +rearranged a few trifles and had unpacked her treasures she was sure +she would feel contented and at home. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to go everywhere!" declared Sarah, subsiding into a chair at +the dining-room table with visible reluctance. "I want to see the +horses and the cows and the pigs. Say, Hugh, do you think we could +keep pigs when we go home? There's room in the yard." +</P> + +<P> +"You want to go to bed early and save your exploring until to-morrow," +advised the doctor. "I have to be back at the house by eight and +that's bed-time for one little girl I know. Shirley looks sleepy now." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not," said Shirley automatically, her invariable remark whenever +the subject was mentioned. +</P> + +<P> +Although the doctor had an appointment waiting him, he seemed to find +it hard to tear himself away from the pleasant picture the mother and +her three daughters made on the spacious side porch after supper that +night. Winnie had insisted on displaying her convenient kitchen and +though there was no gas range she declared that the oil stove would +fulfill all her requirements except for her weekly baking when she +would build a fire in the range. There Were electric lights throughout +the house; and the outbuildings, as they learned later, as well as the +tenant house, were also wired. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes somebody!" said Sarah in a loud whisper. "It's the +farmeress." +</P> + +<P> +"No it isn't, it's two of them," asserted Shirley, pressing her small +nose against the wire screen and acquiring a plaid pattern on the tip. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush—they'll hear you," said Mrs. Willis, rising and opening the +screen door as two young men came across the lawn. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Willis?" said the taller. "Mr. Hildreth sent us up to see if you +wanted any help, unpacking. This is Richard Gilbert," he introduced +his companion, "and I am Warren Baker. We're working for Mr. Hildreth +this summer." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh came forward at once and while they were being introduced +the three girls studied the newcomers with interest. They were both +apparently about eighteen years old, both deeply tanned, both slim and +muscular and wholesome-looking. Richard Gilbert was slightly shorter +and heavier than Warren, who was really thin. The latter had dark hair +and gray eyes, while Richard's hair and eyes were brown. Both boys +were neatly, if not smartly, dressed and gave a pleasant impression of +cleanliness, coolness and comfort, though they had done a heavy day's +work and their day had started at five that morning. Rosemary +instantly decided that she liked them both. +</P> + +<P> +So did the rest of the Willis family, and Doctor Hugh delayed his +departure till he declared that one more moment would mean he must +break the speed laws to get back to town. It had been arranged that he +was to take his breakfast and dinner with the hospitable Welles, a most +convenient plan since their house was the nearest. He was seldom home +for lunch and his telephone calls would be taken care of at the "Jordan +office" as Eastshore still called the rooms which had been occupied by +the old and popular physician whose practise had been taken over by +Doctor Hugh. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis watched him drive away, satisfied that his comfort was +provided for; and then, as she had decreed that no unpacking was to be +done that night, Richard and Warren took their leave, after promising +to show the girls the whole farm the next morning. +</P> + +<P> +"If they know what they're about, they'll tie a rope to Sarah," said +Winnie, going about locking doors and windows as though she expected a +siege. +</P> + +<P> +She had managed to "get a good look," as she said, at the visitors and +had approved of them whole-heartedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nice, ordinary boys," she said to Mrs. Willis at the first +opportunity. "Not a bit stiff or shy. did you notice, and yet not any +of these smart Alecs that can't stop talking long enough to listen to +what a body has to say." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you locking up all the windows for, Winnie?" Sarah questioned +her, sitting down on the rug to take off her sandals as a preparation +for the trip upstairs. "You'll have to open them all in the morning +again." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe I will," admitted Winnie, turning the key in the front +door and sliding both bolts with emphasis, "but I won't come downstairs +and find the parlor full of skunks and owls and bats—we'll be saved +that." +</P> + +<P> +"They couldn't get through the screens," protested Sarah, whose natural +tendency to argue was intensified by weariness. +</P> + +<P> +"You never can tell," was Winnie's answer to this. "I'm not taking any +chances in the country." +</P> + +<P> +She thought Sarah had gone up to bed and was startled a few minutes +later, when busy in the kitchen, to hear the door open behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing, Winnie?" demanded Sarah, her dark eyes instantly +coming to rest on the table where, spread out in imposing array, were +three mousetraps and the cheese with which Winnie intended to bait them. +</P> + +<P> +"If you must know," said Winnie, exasperated, "I'm setting mousetraps." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Sarah gulped. "Oh, Winnie—the poor little mice!" +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Sarah, don't begin all that," Winnie pleaded. "I'm dead tired +and I haven't the heart to start a debate with you. I'll say one thing +and then I'm through; I don't intend and nothing shall induce me, to +have a lot of nasty little mice tramping over my pantry shelves." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know they will?" asked Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"Because," said Winnie with terrible finality. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Shirley were asleep two minutes after their heads touched the +pillow; and the house was in darkness soon after, for they were all +tired from the events of the day. +</P> + +<P> +In her room, though, Rosemary did not find that sleep came immediately. +After lying quietly in bed, staring into the soft darkness, she felt +more wide-awake than ever. She slipped softly to the floor, felt for +and found her pretty white dressing gown and slippers—Rosemary was +very fond of white—which were close at hand and, wrapping herself up +comfortably, pattered over to the open window. +</P> + +<P> +It was a moonlight night, warm and sweet, and Rosemary knelt down with +a little gasp at the loveliness spread before her. She rested her +elbows on the low window sill and leaned forward, drinking in the scent +of new hay and roses and dewy grass. The shrill, insistent chorus of +insects was music, and when the mournful cry of a distant hoot owl came +out of the woods that rose shadowy and dark across the white ribbon of +road, why that was music, too. Country nights are no more absolutely +silent than nights in the town or city, but some enchantment weaves the +noises of the countryside into graceful harmony. The cry of a bird, +the soft stirring of the animals in the barns, the far barking of a +watchful dog—all these Rosemary heard; and the insects filled in the +pauses. +</P> + +<P> +She did not know how long she had been at the window when, +faintly—miles away, she would have said—she heard the notes of a +violin. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary!" whispered someone from the doorway. "Are you awake, +darling?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis came across the room and knelt beside her daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear it, Mother? It couldn't be a violin—yes, it is! But at +this time of night and way out in the country!" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" said Mrs. Willis softly. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary had inherited her passionate love for music from her, and her +delight and wonder were no greater than her mother's as the music came +nearer. Someone was playing Schubert's "Serenade" in the moonlight. +</P> + +<P> +"I see him!" whispered Rosemary. "Look, Mother—an old man!" +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, as they watched, a halting figure came down the road which +the moonlight had changed to a silver ribbon. They knew he was old for +he was stooped and walked with the shuffling gait that comes from +feebleness. His head was bent over his violin, and as he walked those +unearthly sweet strains melted into the moonlight and became a part of +the silver mist. Just as he reached a point opposite the house he must +have stopped. A tree hid him from the two watching. Probably he sat +down on the large rock at the side of the road to rest—to rest and +play. For, hidden from the enthralled listeners, he played the +"Serenade" through twice, lovingly, delicately, with a haunting +yearning that held a touch of genius. Then, still playing, he shuffled +on. They caught a glimpse of him as he came out from behind the tree, +saw the light flash on his bow and he was gone. They listened until +his music had died away in the distance—always the "Serenade," over +and over. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—Mother!" Rosemary raised her blue eyes, swimming in tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dearest—" there was a little catch in Mrs. Willis' tender voice. +"It was very beautiful and very wonderful—but you must go to bed now. +It is late." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary, turning drowsily to pillow her cheek on her hand after her +mother's kiss, was conscious of a hope that the old violin player might +not lack a comfortable bed and the peace and security of a +home—somewhere. +</P> + +<P> +"It is so nice at Rainbow Hill," murmured Rosemary, drifting off into +delicious slumber. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FIRST IMPRESSIONS +</H3> + +<P> +"Aren't you ever going to get up?" demanded Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary sat up and regarded her sister sleepily. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear the violin?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"What violin?" Sarah's surprise was an answer in itself. +</P> + +<P> +While she dressed, hurried by the impatient younger girls, for Shirley +soon joined Sarah, Rosemary told of the music she had heard the night +before. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother heard it, too; we both saw the old man," she asserted when they +were inclined to be skeptical and scoffed that she had been dreaming. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie had evidently risen "with the larks" as she was fond of +declaring (though when pressed by Sarah, intent on the habits and +traits of larks, she had been forced to admit that she had never seen +one) for the windows on the first floor were unlocked and open to the +fresh morning air and the upper half of the Dutch door folded back to +let in a flood of sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes," Winnie greeted the girls. +"Ten minutes, no more, no less; and you're not to set foot out of the +house until you've eaten, because I don't intend to spend my time +fishing Sarah out of the well and pulling Shirley from under a hay +stack while the muffins are getting cold." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis, coming downstairs, cool and sweet in a blue linen gown, +laughed at this arraignment but she, too, insisted that the farm should +be seen after breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"And do be careful about hindering Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth," she +cautioned them as they sat down at the table. "They are very busy +folk, I know, and you mustn't expect them to answer too many questions. +Richard and Warren will have their work laid out for them and can't be +distracted—you will have weeks to explore Rainbow Hill and I don't +want you to feel that you must be shown everything in one day." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll help you, Mother," promised Rosemary. "Sarah and Shirley can go +out and play, but I'll help you and Winnie unpack." +</P> + +<P> +However, when Sarah and Shirley dashed out of the house a few minutes +later, Rosemary was with them. Mrs. Willis had explained that her +eldest daughter could help her more by "looking after" the impetuous +Shirley and that unknown quantity, Sarah, than by remaining in the +house to open the trunks and boxes. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to do just as much as I can and then stop," the mother +said, smilingly. "I promised Hugh and Winnie to be temperate and not +tire myself needlessly. Hugh will probably call up this morning and I +want to be here when he does. You run along with Sarah and Shirley, +Rosemary—Mother feels safe about them when she knows you are with +them." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary flushed with pleasure and resolved to be worthy of the +confidence. She would be more patient than she had ever been before. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just like Rosemary, to offer to stay in and help," said Winnie, +watching the three girls cut across the lawn in the direction of the +barns, "you could see plain she was crazy to go out and look around, +but she never grabs what she wants—that child was born unselfish." +</P> + +<P> +Rainbow Hill was what, in the farming parlance, is known as "an all +around" place. That meant the owner, Mr. Hammond, believed in general +farming as distinguished from the specialized type such as truck +farming or dairying. Some oats and wheat were grown at Rainbow Hill, +several acres of tomatoes raised yearly for the cannery, a good crop of +hay harvested; there would be one "field crop" raised for marketing, +generally potatoes or cabbage. The milk from a small herd of cows was +sold at the local creamery and all food for the animals on the place +was grown on the farm. How much hard work was bound up in the tilling +of the well-ordered fields, the cultivation of the thrifty orchard and +the healthy aspect presented by the live stock was something the three +Willis girls could not be expected to grasp at once. Everything was +beautifully neat, from the freshly swept barn floor to the white-washed +chicken houses; not a weed showed its head in the large vegetable +garden and a town-bred girl might easily make the mistake of thinking +that this state of affairs was always to be found on every +farm—something to be taken for granted, like fresh eggs or new milk. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the vegetable garden that they found Warren Baker. He was +dressed in a clean blue shirt and dark blue overalls and he was on his +knees beside a long row of thin green spikes. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning," he greeted the visitors politely. "Out seeing the +sights? But didn't you forget your hats?" +</P> + +<P> +Warren wore an immense straw hat that shaded the back of his neck as +effectively as his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we don't want to bother with hats," said Rosemary carelessly. +"Aren't those onions you're weeding?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're onions," answered Warren, "but I'm not weeding them; I'm +thinning them. If you stayed in one place in the sun as long as I do, +a hat would feel pretty good." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah asked why he was "thinning" the onions and he explained that he +pulled out some to give those left more room to grow. +</P> + +<P> +"This the first time you've been on a farm?" he asked her. +</P> + +<P> +"The first time I ever stayed on a farm," said Sarah with precision. +"I've been to different farms with Hugh—that's my brother; but we only +stayed a little while. I think, when I grow up, I'll have a farm and +be an animal doctor." +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah loves animals," Rosemary explained. "We've seen the horses in +the barn and the chickens and the pigs; but we didn't see a cow yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Rich turns them into the lane as soon as he finishes milking," said +Warren, rising from the onion row. "I'll go down and let them into the +pasture now and you can come and see them, if you like." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—you're sure it won't be a trouble?" hesitated Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother says we mustn't bother you," added Shirley primly, speaking for +the first time. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't bother me," said the boy so heartily that he reminded +Rosemary of Jack Welles. +</P> + +<P> +"Then don't you have to work, only when you want to?" suggested Sarah +who unconsciously then and there outlined her ideals of labor. +</P> + +<P> +Warren, leading the way out of the vegetable garden, laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I have to work," he said good-naturedly. "If you knew Mr. +Hildreth, you wouldn't ask a question like that; he does two men's work +every day of his life and encourages everyone else to follow his +example. But you see, I can talk and work, too; it's all right to +talk, if you don't stop work to do it." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it?" queried Sarah doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a question about it," declared Warren, taking down two bars for +the girls to go through into a green lane fenced in on either side with +a heavy wire fence. "Talk and work, mixed, are all right, but all talk +and no work makes Jack a poor hired man—haven't you ever heard that +proverb?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah puzzled over this until they came up with the cows and then she +forgot it promptly. There were ten of the sleek, cream-colored +bossies, gentle, affectionate creatures who pressed their deep noses +trustingly into Warren's hands and begged him to open the wide gate +that kept them from the shady pasture. +</P> + +<P> +He swung the gate back and they moved slowly forward, beginning to crop +the grass before they were half way through. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a brook," cried Shirley, catching sight of the water. "I want +to go wading—come on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not now," said Rosemary, catching Shirley by her frock as though she +feared that small girl might plunge into the stream head-first, "after +lunch, dear, if Mother is willing." +</P> + +<P> +"We want to do a lot of other things first," Sarah reminded her. "We +haven't been up to the top of the windmill yet." +</P> + +<P> +Warren turned and looked at her, a twinkle in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't like it if you got up there and your sash caught on the +wheel," he told her. "Think how you would look going round and round +like a pinwheel. Folks would come to look at you instead of the +circus." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't catch my sash," said Sarah positively. "There's a little +platform up there and I could stand on that. And I saw the little iron +stairs that go up inside like a lighthouse." +</P> + +<P> +The twinkle went out of Warren Baker's eyes and his pleasant voice was +serious when he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"There are just two places on this farm from which you are barred," he +said, his glance including the attentive three before him. "One is the +windmill; the door is usually locked and I don't know how it came to be +left open this morning. But locked or not, keep out of it—it is no +place for anyone unless a mechanic wants to oil or repair the machinery. +</P> + +<P> +"The other place is the tool house. Mr. Hildreth has a bunch of fine +tools and they're the apple of his eye—apples, would be more accurate, +perhaps. The tool house is usually locked, too, and there are only +three keys; but if you do find it unlocked some fine morning, take my +advice and stay outside. Or, if you must go in, don't touch a tool. +The rest of the farm is open to you and the four winds—with reasonable +restrictions, I ought to add." +</P> + +<P> +Three pairs of eyes stared at him so solemnly, that he felt +uncomfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not laying down the law in my own name," he said earnestly. "Mr. +Hildreth is mighty particular about how things are run at Rainbow Hill +and I thought I could save you future trouble by warning you. Of +course I only work for him—'hired man' is my title—and very much at +your service." +</P> + +<P> +There was so much boyish honesty in the speech, so much genuine good +will and an utter absence of attempt to strike a pose, not unmixed with +worth-while pride and a desire that his position should be clear to +them from the start, that even Sarah, who was quick to resent real or +fancied efforts to "boss" her, answered his smile with her own +characteristic grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we won't go where we shouldn't," said Rosemary warmly. "At +least not now, when there is no excuse for not knowing." +</P> + +<P> +But Warren, noting that Sarah became absorbed in the antics of a beetle +crossing her shoe, registered a resolve to see that the windmill door +was kept locked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's your brother," said Shirley, pointing to a figure coming down +the lane. +</P> + +<P> +"Rich isn't my brother—he's my pal," replied Warren. "And Mr. +Hildreth is with him, so you'll have a chance to meet a real farmer and +a good one." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I can ask him about the insides of cats," was Sarah's rather +disconcerting response. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DAYS OF DELIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +"You're the doctor's sisters," declared Mr. Hildreth when he was within +earshot. Then, to Warren, "That row of onions isn't done." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hildreth, the girls were to learn speedily, made statements. He +did not ask questions. And usually his declarations stood unchallenged. +</P> + +<P> +He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a rather grim, weather-beaten +face and shrewd blue eyes. A hard worker, his neighbors said, and +accustomed to demanding, and receiving, the best from his helpers. He +was intolerant of laziness—"shiftlessness" the country phrase ran—but +he had the reputation of being a just taskmaster and he could be very +kind. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going back and finish the onions now," said Warren. "I came down +to let the cows out." +</P> + +<P> +"Rich was late this morning," asserted Rich's employer, "because he +wasted time at the creamery. We're going to fix the line fence." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary looked at Richard Gilbert who carried a box of tools. He did +not seem to mind the accusation brought against him—though, as a +matter of fact, he had waited to get a piece of ice for Winnie and this +had delayed him at the creamery—but then Richard was not easily +offended. He was inclined to be easy going and was much less apt to +"fire up" than Warren. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going with Warren," announced Sarah, who liked her new friend very +much and saw no reason for leaving him in doubt of her feelings. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hildreth stalked toward the brook, followed by Richard and Warren, +and Sarah started up the lane. Rosemary, picking a buttercup for +Shirley, was surprised to hear a sudden shout. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hildreth!" yelled Sarah—there is no other word for it—"Mr. +Hildreth! Can you make violin strings from a cat's insides?" +</P> + +<P> +The farmer, knee-deep in the brook, looked up, startled. Rosemary +stared and Shirley looked interested. As for Richard and Warren, they +laughed immoderately. +</P> + +<P> +"A girl in school said you could," went on Sarah, still shouting. +"Violin strings, she said—can you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure—haven't you heard cats sing at night?" called back Mr. Hildreth, +having recovered his breath. "Any cat that's a good singer, will make +good violin strings. Miss—er—what's her name?" he questioned Richard +who was holding up one end of the sagging wire. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Sarah," said Richard. +</P> + +<P> +"You ask Warren, Sarah," called the farmer. "He'll tell you." +</P> + +<P> +And as Warren walked on, Sarah, tagging after him, began an exhaustive +and relentless study of cats and violin strings. +</P> + +<P> +Richard held the wire carefully, but his dancing brown eyes suggested +that he was not too busy to talk. +</P> + +<P> +"There was an old man playing the violin last night," said Rosemary. +"Did you hear him?" +</P> + +<P> +Richard nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Fiddlestrings," he answered. "You'll probably hear him every +moonlight night. Winter and summer he goes up and down the road +playing his one tune." +</P> + +<P> +"It was the 'Serenade,'" said Rosemary. "Does he always play that? +Where does he live? Is he poor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not so poor as he is crazy," declared Richard sententiously. "He has +enough money so he never has to work. He lives in a crazy little cabin +on the other side of the hill and has a garden where he raises herbs +and sells them—they say he does a big business with the city +drugstores." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you'd call it work, digging in that yard of his," observed Mr. +Hildreth drily. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what I mean is, he doesn't have to go out and work by the week," +explained Richard. +</P> + +<P> +"And his music?" asked Rosemary, pulling Shirley back as the +investigating toe of her sandal threatened to dip into the water. +</P> + +<P> +"He only plays when there is a moon," said Richard, his merry face +sobering. "Seems like he can't rest on a moonlight night. Sometimes +he walks up and down the road for hours and sometimes he sits out in +his yard and plays; but they say he never goes to bed and he never lays +his violin down till morning." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a good fiddler," said Mr. Hildreth. +</P> + +<P> +"His music was wonderful," glowed Rosemary. "Mother and I couldn't go +to bed as long as he played. I'd give anything if I could play like +that!" +</P> + +<P> +"You play the piano just as nice!" chirped Shirley loyally. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, there is a piano in the house, isn't there!" Richard almost +dropped the wire. "Can you play?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not as well as my mother," said Rosemary, "but I've studied several +years." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you play 'Old Black Joe'?" demanded Richard. "That's a song I +always liked." +</P> + +<P> +The contrast between his cheerful, open face and his melancholy taste +in music was so great that Rosemary could not help laughing. But she +said she could play "Old Black Joe" and promised to play it for him at +the first opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +Those early days at Rainbow Hill were not long enough. That was the +general complaint. Mrs. Willis and Winnie, busy in the house, said +evening came before the delightful tasks were half started or the more +prosaic duties completed. There was the garden to be visited, the +flower vases to be filled, the porch made cool and clean and +comfortable, every morning; Winnie reveled in her kitchen, hung over +the great pans of milk in the speckless pantry and gloated as she +skimmed the heavy cream. Sarah said she saved all the cream till Hugh +was expected and then served it up to him, whipped stiff in the largest +bowl she could find, with fresh, hot gingerbread, the doctor's favorite +dessert. +</P> + +<P> +The girls roamed the place from one end to the other and knew every +inch of the farm as well as the Hildreths did, in a week's time. They +came in only to sleep, Winnie declared, but Mrs. Willis insisted, with +a gentle firmness that was effective even with the determined Sarah, +that the most strenuous day should end at five o'clock. Then, freshly +bathed and dressed, they rested quietly till dinner and spent the short +evening on the porch or in the pleasant living-room. +</P> + +<P> +That living-room proved a magnet to Richard and Warren. As soon as the +lamp was lighted and Rosemary or her mother sat down at the piano, the +boys seemed irresistibly drawn to the little white house. Their +evenings with the Hildreths had been dreary in the extreme—both the +farmer and his hard-working wife practised and preached that "early to +bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise"—and +they either sat silently in the twilight until nine o'clock when they +went to bed and set the alarm clock for five, or lit a single lamp in +the kitchen and read agricultural papers by its uncertain rays. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope I can be as good a farmer as Joe Hildreth," Warren once +confided to Mrs. Willis, "but I think I'll have one less cultivator on +my farm and a couple more lights in my farmhouse." +</P> + +<P> +No wonder that the shaded lights of that other living-room, which cast +a soft and rosy glow over the simple wicker furniture and cretonne +cushions, the books and magazines and the always open piano, spelled +comfort and cheer to the lonely young fellows miles distant from +relatives and old friends. Richard Gilbert said it was the books that +drew him, while Warren thought the music lured him. In reality, it was +the gracious, lovely presence of the mother, gentle Mrs. Willis who +never raised her voice above its soft, even level, who moved +noiselessly about the house and whose step was so light on the stair +that one might easily not hear her cross the hall and enter a room. +But she could not leave it that her absence was not noted and her low +laughter missed. +</P> + +<P> +No wonder that twenty times a day the cry, "Where's Mother?" sounded +through the house. No wonder that Doctor Hugh called up every morning +and "ran in" as often as his busy schedule would allow, or bore her off +with him to inspect the progress of the building at the Eastshore +house. No wonder the nervous, driving energy of Mrs. Hildreth's nature +was turned into channels that flowed back to the little lady in the +white house bearing gifts of the garden and dairy. And no wonder at +all that two boys, who had never known their own mothers, found no +words with which to tell her what her interest and friendship meant to +them. +</P> + +<P> +In time there came to exist a tacit agreement between Richard and +Warren that Mrs. Willis was not to be "worried" and in the effort to +spare her they assumed, unconsciously, a brotherly guardianship over +the three girls for which their mother was silently grateful. It was +obvious that she could not tramp the fields with them and equally +apparent that they would go wherever their healthy young active +curiosity might lead. Richard and Warren took upon themselves the +duties of friendly counselors—and had their hands full from the start. +</P> + +<P> +"Country life may be healthy," said Winnie one Saturday when Doctor +Hugh was spending the week-end at Rainbow Hill, "but I don't know as +I'd call it exactly beautifying. Rosemary has a crop of freckles on +her nose that will probably last all winter and Sarah is about as black +as the automobile curtains. As for Shirley, between the briar +scratches and the bruises on her hands and arms, she looks more like a +strawberry plant, than a natural, human child." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie was genuinely grieved at the girls' indifference to their looks, +especially Rosemary of whom she was very proud, but Doctor Hugh +declared that he liked to see folk look as though they lived outdoors. +</P> + +<P> +"They live outdoors all right," Winnie informed him, a trifle tartly, +"in fact I don't see why you didn't lug up a couple of tents and turn +'em loose inside. Rosemary is going to be blown out of the window some +fine night and, to my way of thinking, it's better to start sleeping on +the ground than to land there sudden like, right in a sound sleep." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary laughed. She was sitting on the arm of her brother's chair +and, despite the freckles across her nose, presented a charming picture +of a pretty girl in a dull rose frock. +</P> + +<P> +"Fresh air is good for you, isn't it, Hugh?" she demanded. "Winnie is +always saying I ought to sleep in the 'Cave of the Winds.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't say a word, if you'd be reasonable," said Winnie, setting +the table as she talked. "But it can rain or blow great guns and you +never as much rise up to put the window down; you might think it was +nailed up. Last night the rain poured in and soaked through to the +hall ceiling and what Mrs. Hammond is going to say when she sees that, +I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"We must have it repapered for her," said the doctor lazily. "Shirley +lamb, there seems to be something wrong with your dress—what is that +oozing out of your pocket?" +</P> + +<P> +Winnie glanced at the discomfited Shirley. +</P> + +<P> +"It's an egg—a fresh egg," she said resignedly. "I sent her out to +get me one for the French toast and I suppose she forgot to give it to +me. Never mind, Shirley, it's nothing to sit on an egg, dearie; the +mother hen does it every day. For goodness' sake, what are you +laughing at, Hughie?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WINNIE IS NERVOUS +</H3> + +<P> +When Doctor Hugh went back to the Eastshore house Sunday night, in +order to be ready for an early Monday morning appointment, he took his +mother with him. There were several things which their brief residence +at Rainbow Hill had demonstrated would be immediately required, +noticeably more frocks for Sarah. That small girl tore and wore out +and soiled an amazing number of dresses within a day. Winnie, too, had +a list of necessities and Mrs. Willis had proposed that she go in with +Hugh and gather frocks and utensils; then Hugh would bring them back in +the car and her, too. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be alone only one night," Mrs. Willis said to Winnie. "And if +you are the least bit nervous, I'm sure one of the boys will come up +and sleep in the house." +</P> + +<P> +"Now don't you worry about us," was Winnie's reply. "I guess I can +take care of things all right. There's nothing to be afraid of—and +anyway I don't see that two women in a house makes it any safer than +one." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie, though she would have been the last to admit it, had been +slightly timid at first about the sleeping arrangements. She had never +lived in the country in her life and she privately thought the farm a +lonely place, especially at night when, to quote her own words, "there +was nothing nearer than the moon." As a matter of fact Rainbow Hill +was not an isolated place at all, there were telephone connections to +the outside world and a private system of communication with the tenant +house. No one ever locked the house doors in that section and +gradually Winnie's unexpressed fears wore away. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis, in her wholesome nature, was seldom frightened and to her +the country meant peace and seclusion. All the girls had been trained +from babyhood to regard the dark as "kind to tired people" and each had +been taught to go to bed alone as a matter of course. They had never +been terrified by foolish stories and silly myths and so were not +afraid. Rosemary could lock up a house as competently as the doctor +and thought nothing of going downstairs after the lights were out for +the night to see if a window catch had been fastened. +</P> + +<P> +When bed-time came the night following the morning of Mrs. Willis' +departure, Winnie was too proud to ask Warren or Richard to spend the +night in the house. It is quite probable that either or both might +have offered to stay, but they had returned late from a trip to +Bennington and, driving into the barn at nine o'clock, had decided to +go to bed early. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to lock the doors?" asked Rosemary, turning on the piano +bench in surprise as Winnie shut the front door with a bang and slid +the heavy bolt and chain. +</P> + +<P> +"I am that," said Winnie with emphasis. "I'm responsible for the +rented stuff in this house and I don't aim to have any of Mrs. +Hammond's furniture being carried off." +</P> + +<P> +"Why Winnie, no one will take anything," remonstrated Rosemary. +"Warren says doors are never locked in any of the farmhouses around +here. There hasn't been a tramp seen this summer." +</P> + +<P> +"And I don't intend to have the record broken—not by me," said Winnie, +shutting the living-room windows with a bang and turning the catches. +"I'm going out in the kitchen now and bolt that door." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Shirley had been in bed for an hour and there was only +Rosemary to accompany the determined Winnie on her rounds. They made a +thorough job of the locking up—Winnie by preference, Rosemary by +compulsion—and then snapped off the lights and went upstairs together. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll leave my door open to-night, Winnie," said Rosemary. "Then if +you should want anything, you could call me." +</P> + +<P> +"It's going to rain," replied Winnie absently. "The wind is rising, +too. Don't let the ceiling get soaked again." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary kissed her good night—Winnie's arms had been the first to +hold Rosemary when she was born—and went into her own pretty room. +</P> + +<P> +She did not hurry over undressing and even attempted to read as she +brushed her hair. Of course neither pleasure nor task went forward +very smoothly, but Rosemary enjoyed the sensation of dawdling. She was +not sleepy and it was pleasant to play that she was a lady of leisure. +Then, before she was ready for bed, she must needs try her hair a new +way and turn on all the lights in the room to get the effect. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be so exciting," said Rosemary, staring with naive +satisfaction at the pink-cheeked girl in the white kimono who stared +back at her from the glass, "it will be so exciting to go to dances and +parties. If I ever get to high school, I'll be thankful, for then +there is always something happening. I hope there's a dancing school +that's some good in Eastshore this winter." +</P> + +<P> +At last Rosemary was ready for bed. She pattered over and felt of the +floor under the two screened windows—quite dry, so the rain, if there +had been rain, had not beat in. +</P> + +<P> +"But it isn't raining," said Rosemary to herself, snapping off the +lights and trying to see out into the darkness. "When it rains we can +hear it on the tin roof of the porch; it is only cloudy and windy." +</P> + +<P> +Mindful of her promise to Winnie, she opened her door—though as a rule +the Willis family slept with individual bedroom doors closed—and +listened for a moment, peering into the shadowy hall. There was not a +sound and no light shone under Winnie's door—it must be open and she +was asleep. +</P> + +<P> +"How the wind does blow!" said Rosemary, safe in bed, wondering if she +ought to get up and pin the muslin curtains back for they fluttered +madly. +</P> + +<P> +Before she could act on this thought, she was asleep. How long she +slept she did not know, but she woke to find Winnie standing beside the +bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary!" she whispered. "Rosemary! There's the most awful racket +you ever heard!" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary sat up in bed and drew the blanket around her. +</P> + +<P> +"What—what's the matter?" she stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush—don't wake up Shirley and start her crying," warned Winnie who +looked taller than ever in the scant gray dressing gown she had pulled +tightly about her. "Sarah wouldn't wake if the house caved in—there, +do you hear that?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary listened intently. She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't hear anything," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Then come out in the hall and you will," advised Winnie, stalking +toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary followed sleepily. She didn't want to listen to noises and +she couldn't help wishing that Winnie had been a little harder of +hearing. +</P> + +<P> +"There—hear that?" Winnie's tone was almost triumphant. +</P> + +<P> +Through the whole house sounded a wail that rose as they listened and +mounted to a shriek. In spite of her desire to remain cool and calm, +Rosemary shivered. +</P> + +<P> +"It woke me up," whispered Winnie fearfully. "I never, in all my born +days, heard anything like it." +</P> + +<P> +"What—what makes it?" said Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," declared Winnie. "I'm not +afraid of anything, once I know what it is; but when I don't know the +cause, I can be scared as well as the next one." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie was perfectly sincere in this statement. She might have added +that no matter how badly frightened she was, she could not be kept from +making her investigations. Now she prepared to go downstairs by +pressing the button that lighted both halls. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't go down, Winnie," begged Rosemary. "I don't believe it's +anything but the wind." +</P> + +<P> +"We had a high wind one night when your mother was home and nothing +made this kind of racket," was Winnie's retort. "You sit at the top of +the stairs, Rosemary, and you can see me all the time and you won't +feel alone; there's no use in you prowling around just because I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Hark—it's raining!" Rosemary had heard the sound of drops on the tin +roof of the porch "I'm coming down with you, Winnie—wouldn't it be +nice if only Hugh were here!" +</P> + +<P> +The wail sounded again, low and hesitating, then it began to rise. As +Winnie and Rosemary reached the level of the first floor hall the peak +of the shriek sounded in their ears. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't go out in the kitchen!" Rosemary's voice shook with +nervousness. "Winnie, don't go fussing around; come back in my room +and sleep with me. We can't hear anything there." +</P> + +<P> +"I aim to find out what—" began Winnie, then stopped suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +Someone was coming up the narrow flagged walk, someone who was +whistling softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" came a low-voiced hail. "Hello—don't be frightened—this is +Warren and Rich. Anything the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary promptly turned and fled and then, the second floor gained, +turned and hung over the railing to watch Winnie unchain and unbolt and +unlock the front door and then admit two dripping, but cheerful +figures, in yellow oilskins. +</P> + +<P> +"Raining and blowing great guns," said Warren's voice. "We got up to +close one of the windows and saw your house lighted—thought maybe +someone was sick." +</P> + +<P> +"You're the best boys who ever breathed," the grateful Winnie informed +them. "Nothing's the matter except I'm trying to find out what +makes—that! Listen!" +</P> + +<P> +"You've left the upstair doors open," said Richard promptly. "There's +something about the way this house is constructed that does it. +Whenever there's a wind of any account, all the second story doors have +to be closed; it's the one drawback. I suppose Mrs. Hildreth didn't +think to tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"We left our doors open to-night, because we're lonely without Mrs. +Willis," was Winnie's simple explanation. "Rosemary was down with me, +but she left when she heard you—I daresay she's listening up in the +hall now." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I am," said Rosemary. "Ask Warren and Richard to stay, +Winnie; there is the guest room all ready." +</P> + +<P> +"You go up and go to bed this minute," commanded Winnie, whose +invitations, like the queen's, usually brooked no refusal. "Now I know +the wind makes that howl, I'm not the least bit nervous, but I'd rather +have someone around to ask in case something else turns up." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing more of a disturbing nature "turned up" that night and the +household settled down and slept peacefully, secure in the knowledge +that very real protection, in the persons of the two husky lads, was +close at hand. Winnie summoned them at five o'clock the next +morning—knowing that Mr. Hildreth would not easily forgive a delayed +morning start—and actually had coffee and her famous waffles ready for +them at that hour. +</P> + +<P> +"Send for us any time," grinned Warren when he saw the table set. +</P> + +<P> +"Any time you need aid, Winnie—or plan to serve waffles." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ADVENTURE FOR SARAH +</H3> + +<P> +"Do you have to work all the time?" asked Sarah plaintively. +</P> + +<P> +She sat on the top of a fence rail and, her feet hooked around the next +bar, was placidly, if precariously, watching Richard Gilbert tinkering +with a cultivator that had developed a sudden "kink." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, summer is the time to work, on a farm," Richard answered +good-naturedly. "You have to cultivate the corn when there is corn to +cultivate, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah nodded, her eyes on the horse which stood patiently waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"He's shivering," she said. "Look—see him shiver, Rich. And it is +just as hot!" +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't shivering," replied Richard, glancing up from the wheel in +his hand. "Solomon is twitching to shake a fly off—that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he shake it off?" demanded Sarah with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," answered Richard absently, searching for a screw he had +dropped in the dirt. +</P> + +<P> +"I could get the fly batter and swat flies for Solomon," suggested +Sarah. "He'd like that, wouldn't he? I could ride on his back and hit +all the flies, Rich." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that sounds like a good scheme," admitted Richard cautiously, +"but something tells me it wouldn't work. If you didn't frighten +Solomon into fits, or start him galloping, or fall off and break your +neck, you'd be sure to distract me from the work in hand and then Mr. +Hildreth would want to know why I hadn't finished the corn. I'm +afraid, Sarah, Sol will have to worry along in the same old way. The +flies aren't bad to-day, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes they are, he's twitching again," said Sarah. "He ought to wear a +window screen—or something." +</P> + +<P> +She was secretly relieved that her swatter plan had not been accepted, +for she had a marked aversion to killing flies. Indeed many a royal +battle had she waged with Winnie over the matter of killing flies that +found their way into the house; Sarah, left alone, would slowly and +painfully have captured each fly alive and unharmed and given him his +freedom via the front door. +</P> + +<P> +"Horses sometimes wear nets—or they used to when they were used for +driving," explained Richard, beginning to pound the wheel in place. +"As a horse ran or trotted, the net hobbled up and down and was +supposed to keep the flies off; that wouldn't be any use when a horse +is walking slowly around a field. A blanket would keep them away from +Solomon, of course, but he'd die with the heat." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll invent something for him," said Sarah comfortably. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are the other girls?" asked Richard hastily. +</P> + +<P> +A few weeks' acquaintance with Sarah had already taught him the +expediency of keeping her in action. Sarah on the move might do some +very startling things but a contemplative Sarah presented possibilities +that were limitless. +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh came and took Rosemary and Shirley with him," answered the small +girl balancing on the fence. "I didn't want to go. I don't like +automobiles much. When I grow up, I'm going to have a hundred horses +and pigs and cows and everything." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll be fine," Richard approved. "There now, I think that will +work. Have to be moving on, Sarah; you going to wait for me to come +round again?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, that isn't any fun," said Sarah with more frankness than +politeness. "Guess I'll go out to the orchard." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't go through the upper field," commanded Richard, gathering up the +lines. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah scrambled down from the fence and reached for Solomon's glossy +black tail. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" she asked suspiciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Because Mr. Hildreth turned the old ram out to pasture there this +morning, that's why," said Richard. "Here, what are you trying to do?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah had grasped a handful of the horse's tail and was pulling on it +wildly. Old Solomon turned his head around and stared at her +reproachfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to get enough hairs to make a ring," explained Sarah. "The +washwoman is going to show me how next time she comes, but she said I +had to get the hair." +</P> + +<P> +"How many do you think you need?" said Richard, laughing as he released +the tail from the covetous clutch of the small fingers. "You won't +want more than half a dozen as long as these; Solomon thought you meant +to pull his tail out by the roots, didn't you, Boy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean to hurt him," apologized the somewhat abashed Sarah. +"What's a ram?" +</P> + +<P> +"His other name is Mr. Sheep," said Richard, handing her half a dozen +long black wiry hairs. "And he's old and cross and has been known to +butt people. I don't think he'd hurt you, but he might frighten you." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't be afraid," boasted Sarah, stuffing her horse hairs +carefully into the pocket of her middy blouse. "Shirley might, but I +wouldn't. Shall I bring you a sweet apple, Rich?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you find any," he said, swinging the cultivator back into place and +clucking to Solomon to go ahead. "I can't eat green rocks, you know, +and you shouldn't." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah, in spite of warnings and orders, insisted on trying to eat +everything in the shape of an apple that tumbled to the ground under +the orchard trees. No fruit was too green for her palate, no round, +bullet-like sphere too hard for her small white teeth. +</P> + +<P> +She crawled through the fence now, waved a farewell to Richard, who was +well on his way to the corner of the cornfield, and trotted off to +search the orchard for spoils. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah amused herself without much trouble—"though as much can't be +said for the rest of us," Winnie had once remarked when Sarah's efforts +to entertain herself had involved the entire family in explanations +with nervous neighbors who objected to tame white mice—and the life at +Rainbow Hill suited her exactly. She not only visited the horses and +cows and pigs regularly, made friends with the flock of sheep and +claimed to know every fowl in the poultry yard by name and sight, but +she had a tender word for every bug, spider and grasshopper she met. +Little water snakes were Sarah's delight and not even the ants and +worms were beneath her notice and affection. Truly, as Doctor Hugh +said, Sarah was certainly intended to live in the country. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to see a ram," she said to herself as she scrambled up the +bank to the orchard. "I never saw one. It wouldn't do any harm to go +around the upper pasture and look in." +</P> + +<P> +But she had a number of things to do in the orchard first. Sarah was +noted for her thoroughness in whatever she undertook and now her heart +was set on finding an apple soft enough for Richard Gilbert to eat—and +just a plain apple for Miss Sarah Willis. Alas, Mrs. Hildreth had been +out earlier in the day and had carefully picked up every windfall. She +and Winnie were adepts at making delicious apple sauce and the first +summer apples were scarce enough to be carefully hunted for. +</P> + +<P> +So, though Sarah went the rounds of every tree and even shook one or +two cautiously (Mr. Hildreth had intimated that he would "shake" anyone +detected trying to knock down green apples or pears and Sarah had a +wholesome respect for his mandates, so far) but she was forced to go +appleless. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'd better go look at my apple seed I planted," said Sarah +aloud. +</P> + +<P> +She had borrowed the coal shovel from Winnie a few days previous and +with much effort and earnestness, had planted a plump seed from an +apple in a sunny, open space in the orchard. The apple was exceedingly +green, but aside from doubtful fertility, the seed was doomed never to +sprout because of the overwhelming curiosity of its small planter. +Sarah had "looked" at that seed each day since planting it. +</P> + +<P> +"If all these trees didn't grow any faster than my seed," mourned +Sarah, scratching around in the soil with an oyster shell, the shovel +having been confiscated by Winnie, "I don't see how people get any +apples to eat." +</P> + +<P> +Then a large—a very large—black ant hurrying up the trunk of a young +pear tree, caught her eye and she stopped to study him. She thought +for a moment of writing her name and address on a piece of paper and +tying it to him so that at some distant date, say a hundred years +ahead, another little girl might find the ant and read that Sarah had +also known him. +</P> + +<P> +"If a turtle lives sixty years, why can't an ant live a hundred?" Sarah +asked the black crow who sat on a branch and stared at her. "Only, I +haven't any paper or pencil or thread to tie it on with—so I'll wait." +</P> + +<P> +With this sensible conclusion she turned her attention to the swing +Warren had put up for her and Shirley on a conveniently low limb of an +apple tree. Sarah did not swing sedately—she must do that as she did +everything else, fast and furiously. She took out the notched board +that served as a seat and stood up in the loop, jerking herself forward +and backward until she attained the desired speed. Swooping down in +one of these mad rushes, she caught sight of something moving in the +next field. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the ram!" she thought. "I'll go see what he looks like"; and +jumping out of the swing she ran over to the wire fence that enclosed +the orchard on three sides. +</P> + +<P> +"He doesn't look cross—you're not, are you?" said Sarah, addressing +the Roman-nosed wooly creature that stood gravely regarding her. +</P> + +<P> +The flock of sheep were up at the other end of the field and the ram +stood alone. Perhaps he had glimpsed the flashing of Sarah's frock +through the trees as she swung and had come down to see what made the +fluttering. Sarah was quite enchanted with him and thought he looked +lonely. +</P> + +<P> +She dropped to her knees and crawled through the fence, holding back +the heavy wire strands with difficulty, and sat down on the grass to +pull up her socks, brush her hair out of her eyes and tuck in a handful +of gathers at her waistline where her skirt had torn loose from the +band. +</P> + +<P> +Having made herself neat for the introduction, Sarah advanced +fearlessly to greet the ram. To her surprise he came toward her with +lowered head, and something in his wicked little eyes made her uneasy. +The next thing she knew, she felt a terrific impact against her legs +and down she went with a thud. She had presence enough of mind to roll +over and she kept rolling, in a frantic instinct to get out of the way +of that powerful head. Dizzy and shaken—for she had fallen +heavily—she scrambled to her feet and began to run, the ram coming +after her valiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary! Mother! Rich—Rich! Warren!" screamed poor Sarah, running +as she had never run before, "Rich! Rich!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Warren who heard her and reached her first. He had been working +in the tomato field which was near the orchard and he had no horse to +consider—Richard could not abandon Solomon in the middle of the +cornfield. Warren ran in the direction of the cries and, leaping the +dividing fence, came to the rescue. The ram stopped short as soon as +he saw him and Sarah fled straight into Warren's protecting arms. +</P> + +<P> +"There, there, you're all right—you couldn't run like that if you were +hurt," he soothed her. "Don't cry, Sarah—see, here comes your Mother; +you've frightened her. And Winnie, too! Look up and smile and wave +your hand—don't let your mother be frightened, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis had heard Sarah's shrieks and now she was running across +the field, Winnie imploring her to walk at every step. +</P> + +<P> +"She isn't hurt!" called Warren, trying to relieve the mother's anxiety +at once. "She's all right, Mrs. Willis." +</P> + +<P> +And then Sarah gained her vocal powers of which, till this minute, she +had been deprived. Fright and running had taken her breath and she +almost choked with the effort to articulate. Lifted high in Warren's +arms, the tears running down her face, Sarah managed to put her chief +sorrow into words that reached her mother and Winnie half way across +the pasture and Richard just breathlessly rounding the orchard. +</P> + +<P> +"I lost my horse hairs!" screamed Sarah. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +STORM SIGNALS +</H3> + +<P> +Rosemary, seated on the lowest porch step, was outwardly "cool and calm +and collected," to borrow one of Winnie's favorite phrases. She was +dressed all in white and Doctor Hugh, coming from the shed where he had +put his car, noted appreciatively what a lovely dash of color the blue +wool she was knitting made in the picture. It just matched her eyes, +he thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, sweetheart!" he greeted her, and then, as she raised her face +to kiss him, "why, what's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +For the blue eyes were mutinous and stormy and it was easy to see that +Rosemary was unhappy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Hugh! Don't go in right away—I never get a chance to talk to +you," she said, moving over to give him room to sit on the step. +"Everyone will have a thousand things to tell you—it was that way last +Sunday. I suppose if we see you only once a week, or every other week, +it's natural, but I wish I could ever talk to you without Shirley or +Sarah asking you questions at the same time." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh laughed as he took off his hat and dropped down beside his +sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me you have a good deal of energy for such a warm day," he +commented, running his fingers through his thick dark hair. "Doesn't +that breeze feel good, though! Eastshore has been becalmed this week +and the dust from the plastering has settled on everything in the +house—I'm glad Mother can't see it. And where is Mother, Rosemary?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lying down," answered Rosemary, beginning to purl. "She didn't expect +you for an hour. Sarah and Shirley went to town with Warren—he had to +go over and get a bolt or something, so Mother let them go. How far +has Mr. Greggs got with the building, Hugh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you know he isn't naturally swift," said the doctor cautiously, +"and he and his helper have more labor troubles than any union I ever +heard of—they differ continuously. But I will say that the lawn is +piled high with lumber and bricks and I never come home at night that I +don't have to chase a dozen boys away—kids who think I'm a grouch +because I won't have them breaking their necks at my front door. Jack +Welles says I ought to take patients wherever I find them and not be +too particular." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me about Jack," Rosemary said, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack is the same old Jack," declared the doctor. "He works in the +garden, when his father makes him, and he goes fishing as often as the +law allows. I believe he and half a dozen of the high school boys are +going camping next week and Jack is counting on coming up here in +August when I take my two weeks off. He's determined to work—asked me +to speak to Mr. Hildreth about a job while I am here." +</P> + +<P> +"Warren and Richard will be glad, if he does come," asserted Rosemary. +"They think Mr. Hildreth ought to have another man all the time—Warren +was grumbling because he had to go after the bolt this afternoon; he +said it would put him back two hours." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor watched the busy needles clicking placidly for several +minutes. Then— +</P> + +<P> +"And now, as we feel a little more serene," he said quietly, "suppose +you tell me what was the trouble when I came." +</P> + +<P> +"The trouble?" fenced Rosemary. "What trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"She thinks she can fool me," said Doctor Hugh, apparently addressing +his remark to the solitary white hen that wandered around a bush on the +lawn at that moment. "She thinks I don't know the signals—those +famous storm signals. She thinks I didn't know the moment I looked at +her that she wanted something she couldn't have." +</P> + +<P> +"I had—an argument," admitted Rosemary with hot cheeks. "It was all +Winnie's fault." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" said her brother politely. +</P> + +<P> +"It was, Hugh, honestly it was. Winnie is as good as gold, but I do +wish she wouldn't try to look after me, as she calls it. I can look +after myself. Mother would let me do lots of things, if it wasn't for +Winnie." +</P> + +<P> +"Here, here, you'll have to take out all that knitting, if you're not +careful," warned the doctor, for the blue eyes were stormy again and +Rosemary was knitting furiously. "What was this particular argument +about?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to sleep outdoors," explained Rosemary. "I could take out a +quilt and spread it on the grass and a blanket to cover me—I've never +done it and it would be such fun. And Winnie says if I must be crazy +can't I wait till I get back to Eastshore? As if anyone ever slept out +on the grass in town where everyone can see you!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, that wouldn't be exactly the thing to do," agreed Doctor Hugh, his +lips twitching. "Well, Rosemary?" +</P> + +<P> +"First Mother said I could, and then, after Winnie had talked to her, +she said she thought it wouldn't be best," reported Rosemary. "Winnie +told her a cow might step on me—and all the cows are in the barnyard +or the pasture at six o'clock and never get out!—or, she said, someone +might come and carry me off! And where would I be, while they were +carrying me?" demanded Rosemary with intense scorn. "I'd like to see +anyone carry me off!" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope this 'argument' didn't degenerate into a clash," said the +doctor seriously. "You know how it tires Mother to have to hear these +quarrels, Rosemary, and to be constantly called upon to act as +arbitrator." +</P> + +<P> +"I banged the door," confessed Rosemary. "I can't help it, Hugh, I +always lose my temper when I argue. And Winnie kept saying the same +thing a hundred times—I don't see why I shouldn't sleep outdoors, do +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"If mother has said 'no,' there's one hard and fast reason," pronounced +her brother. "But I believe in the value of experience as a teacher, +especially for strong-willed little girls who are slow to learn that +their own way isn't the best in the world. Good gracious, that isn't +Sarah, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +He broke off abruptly as an energetic figure advanced toward him, +waving two small hands black with grease, in welcome. It was Sarah, a +Sarah whose socks were down to her ankles and whose dress was torn and +spotted with the same black grease that liberally anointed her face as +well as her hands. Her dark, straight hair straggled into her eyes and +there was a large bump on her forehead that evidently gave her little +concern. +</P> + +<P> +Behind her trotted Shirley, a little less disheveled, a little less +dirty and quite as radiantly content. +</P> + +<P> +"You look nice," said Rosemary severely. "I should have thought Warren +would have been ashamed to ride home with you—where is he? I didn't +see the wagon drive past." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hildreth made him turn into the field, without going to the barn," +explained Sarah, standing at a safe distance from Doctor Hugh who +would, she was sure, see the bump even under a layer of dirt. "We had +lots of fun, Rosemary; the wheel came off and I helped Warren put it on +again." +</P> + +<P> +"And I had a chocolate ice cream cone," said Shirley, standing on +tip-toe to kiss her brother and leaving small finger marks on his +collar as visible marks of her affection. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd better go and get washed up," announced Sarah blandly, though to +her hearers' knowledge this was the first time on record she had made +such a suggestion voluntarily. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh quietly, "I want to look at that +bruise on your forehead." +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't anything," Sarah assured him, backing off. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here and let me see it," the doctor repeated and, as Sarah +reluctantly approached him, "how did you get it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was under the wagon," said Sarah, wincing slightly as Doctor Hugh +felt of the bruise with firm, practised fingers, "and I heard Warren +coming and I jumped up and hit my head." +</P> + +<P> +She did not think it necessary to add that Warren had requested her to +stay in the road and not crawl under the broken wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, the skin isn't broken," announced the doctor. "But it +aches a little doesn't it, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little," nodded Sarah, winking to keep back the tears. +</P> + +<P> +He put an arm around her, heedless of the dirt and grease. +</P> + +<P> +"That won't last long," he promised, "and if you and Shirley will go in +and get washed and dressed without dawdling, I'll take you for a little +drive before dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary, too?" asked Shirley, balancing like a butterfly on the top +step. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary, too." +</P> + +<P> +Forgetting her aching bump, Sarah followed Shirley into the house with +a shout, and the sound of their feet clattering up the open stairway +proclaimed their intentions of not wasting a minute. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes Mrs. Hildreth," said Rosemary in a low voice. "I wish I +could fix her just once—she doesn't know how to be pretty." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary, with uncanny penetration, had hit upon the truth. Mrs. +Hildreth did not know how to be pretty. She would have said she had +not the time to "fuss with her looks," but it would have taken little +extra time to have done her really abundant hair in a becoming style +instead of the tight knot into which she invariably twisted it. And +surely, if she could don that clean, starched dark calico dress in five +minutes, it would have taken no longer to put on a pretty light-colored +frock. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought your brother would be out to spend Sunday," said Mrs. +Hildreth capably, in her high-pitched, nervous voice, "so I brought up +two extra bunches of asparagus. Winnie told me the doctor liked it." +</P> + +<P> +"Winnie has my likes and dislikes down pat," declared Doctor Hugh, +rising and shaking hands. "Will you come in, Mrs. Hildreth? My mother +will be down in a minute." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary took the asparagus and seconded the invitation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks, I can't stay," said Mrs. Hildreth, rather regretfully. "I +have to tend to the chickens and get the milk pans and strainers ready +and do a lot of little chores before I get supper. You use your porch +a lot, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Rosemary who, she had once told her mother, always felt as +though Mrs. Hildreth's sharp eyes condemned her as lazy. "We all love +to be out of doors." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm outdoors most of the time," said Mrs. Hildreth, "but I don't have +time to sit on the porch, unless it is Sunday afternoons." +</P> + +<P> +She went back to her work and Rosemary, returning from delivering the +asparagus to Winnie, found her mother and an immaculate Sarah and +Shirley entertaining Doctor Hugh. He brought the car around presently +and they went for the promised drive to Bennington, the pretty county +seat, and back. +</P> + +<P> +After dinner that evening Rosemary, quite restored to good humor, was +surprised to have a question put to her. +</P> + +<P> +"How would you like to try sleeping outdoors to-night, Rosemary?" asked +Doctor Hugh placidly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ONE WISH COMES TRUE +</H3> + +<P> +Rosemary answered her brother's question characteristically. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Hugh! I'd love to." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, don't tell Sarah or Shirley," he cautioned, "because I don't +want a riot—wait till they have gone to bed and then at nine o'clock, +if you really want to try the experiment, you may." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't Mother care?" asked Rosemary doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I've talked it over with Mother, and she is willing to let you try the +plan while I am here," said the doctor. "It is a clear warm night and +too early in the season for heavy dews, so there could not be a better +time. You'd find it harder to go to sleep if there were a moon, so +that's in your favor, too." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't want to sleep outdoors on a moonlight night," declared +Rosemary decidedly. "Old Fiddlestrings—Warren says everyone calls him +that—would be walking up and down the road, playing the 'Serenade.' +I'd rather sleep outdoors in the dark—as soon as you are used to it, +it isn't dark at all and I love to see the stars." +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Rosemary that Sarah and Shirley must have turned back the +hands of the clock to delay their bed hour. They monopolized their +brother, seated on either side of him in the porch swing while the +summer dusk slowly deepened and Mrs. Willis rested in the big chair +which had an arm strong and broad enough to hold Rosemary who knitted +with outward calm and inward fever. Were those children never going to +bed? +</P> + +<P> +Winnie had gone over to the bungalow with Mrs. Hildreth, who was +delighted to have someone with whom to exchange household lore, and +Warren and Richard had tactfully betaken themselves to Bennington, +knowing instinctively that Doctor Hugh would like to have his family to +himself for one brief evening, after a week's separation. +</P> + +<P> +"Too dark to knit, Rosemary," he said at last. "And don't turn on the +light, dear; can't you be content to do nothing for a little while?" +</P> + +<P> +"Time for bed, Shirley," announced Mrs. Willis. "Run along and see how +nearly undressed you can be before Mother comes up." +</P> + +<P> +Shirley obediently clambered down and looked at them wistfully. Her +bed hour was half-past seven and Sarah had the privilege of staying up +till eight o'clock. She clung jealously to this prerogative and as a +rule nothing would induce her to go to bed when Shirley did. She might +fall asleep on sofa or rug, but she would protest vigorously, if sent +upstairs before the eight strokes of the clock were heard. Thirty +minutes at bed-time marked the difference to Sarah between six and nine +years old. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come up with you to-night, honey," said Doctor Hugh. "I don't +believe I've forgotten how to put you to bed. Sit still, Mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to tell a story, Hugh?" asked Sarah anxiously. "Are +you, Hugh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you, Hugh?" begged Shirley. "Tell about the little boy in the +hospital who wouldn't eat his supper? Will you, Hugh?" +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I will," promised the doctor, "if you'll march upstairs +this minute." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm coming, too," announced Sarah. "I was up early this morning, +wasn't I, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes indeed you were," agreed her mother, catching her as she scrambled +past and holding her tightly—Sarah usually had to be caught or pursued +if one wanted to kiss her. "Kiss Mother good night, dearest." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis understood perfectly that Sarah was saving her pride when +she spoke of being up early that morning—some excuse had to be made to +explain her willingness to go to bed when Shirley did. +</P> + +<P> +"If Sarah had known I'm going to sleep outdoors to-night, she would +have been wild to come, too," said Rosemary, when she and her mother +were left alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you want to try it, dear?" asked Mrs. Willis. +</P> + +<P> +"Why Mother, I've always wanted to sleep outdoors!" cried Rosemary +earnestly. "I'm so tired of ordinary beds and houses—and—and things. +It will be perfectly lovely to lie under a tree and see the stars over +my head and pretend I am out on the desert. I'd like to sleep outdoors +every night." +</P> + +<P> +When Doctor Hugh came down to report that both little girls were +asleep, he found his mother and sister knitting under the shaded porch +light. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't approve of night work for women," he informed them gravely. +"Especially for those who have had as active a day as you have had. +You don't want to knit, do you, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +She put down her work at once and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll play for you," she said quickly and went in to the piano. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh sat down in the swing and patted the pillows invitingly. +Rosemary, fastening her needles securely in place, put down her work a +little reluctantly and crossed over to the swing. But when he put his +arm about her and she leaned back against the cushions, her head on his +comfortable shoulder, she gave a little tired sigh of relief. A big +brother was nice! +</P> + +<P> +And as the music drifted out to them—all the sweet old melodies the +doctor loved best, played as only Mrs. Willis could play them—Rosemary +felt her impatience and hurry slipping away. She who had been so eager +to have nine o'clock come, so anxious to get the evening over so that +she might be free to put her wish into practise, began to wish that she +could stay up later than usual. +</P> + +<P> +"Ten minutes after nine," said Doctor Hugh, all too soon. "I must help +you get your sleeping outfit together." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll just take a quilt and spread it out and then roll myself up +in it," planned Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +But Doctor Hugh insisted on a rubber sheet, to go under the heavy quilt +and insure positive protection from dampness; and blankets, he +declared, would be indispensable. He arranged the quilt under a maple +tree—the tree most distant from the house—which was Rosemary's +choice, carried out a pair of light blankets and parried Winnie's +volley of questions good-naturedly when she came in from visiting Mrs. +Hildreth and discovered what he was doing. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Rosemary, I see you're going to have your own way and I only +hope you don't regret it," was Winnie's greeting when Rosemary danced +out, a dark kimono over her gown and moccasins on her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't," Rosemary replied confidently. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I won't," she said to herself stoutly, when she was curled +up on a quilt, under the blankets. "This is heaps of fun!" +</P> + +<P> +She could see the light from the porch lamp which made a golden shaft +through the wire netting into the darkness of the night. Over her head +the stars twinkled and the leafy branches of the maple spread out like +a network. +</P> + +<P> +Pouf!—Rosemary scrambled to her feet, brushing at her face frantically. +</P> + +<P> +"Something fell on me!" she gasped. "A bug—I'm almost sure it was a +bug!" +</P> + +<P> +But after feeling around on the quilt and finding nothing that felt +like a bug, she decided that after all it might have been a leaf. She +didn't mind the thought of a leaf tumbling down on her nose, so she +carefully smoothed out the tumbled quilt, shook the blanket and laid +them straight and went to bed again. +</P> + +<P> +Usually she fell asleep readily, but to-night she did not feel sleepy. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what time it is?" she meditated, turning sideways so that if +another leaf—or bug—should drop it would not fall on her face. "I +wish I'd brought my little clock." +</P> + +<P> +Presently she heard the sound of horse's hoofs on the road, soon saw +the winking white light turn into the drive that led to the barn. She +watched it moving slowly forward, saw it stop and knew that Richard and +Warren were harnessing outside the barn. In another moment the light +flickered out as Warren backed the runabout into the shed and Richard +led the horse to a stall. The hollow echo of the barn door as Richard +slammed and bolted it, came next. She thought she could see the dim +outline of two figures walking toward the bungalow but that might have +been imagination. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary sighed and twisted about uneasily to face the other way. The +porch light was out! That meant her mother and Hugh had gone to bed +and she was utterly alone on the lawn. She felt inexplicably +abandoned—Hugh might have whistled to her, to see if she were asleep, +before he turned off the light. That, thought Rosemary, would not have +been much to do. +</P> + +<P> +She decided to lie flat on her back for a while. In that position she +might begin to feel sleepy. It was not a pitch-black night, indeed the +darkness seemed half luminous—the kind of light in which, after the +eyes have grown accustomed to it, it is possible to make out the +outlines of objects quite plainly. Rosemary knew she could not be +mistaken when she saw a shadowy form on the other side of the lawn. +</P> + +<P> +She sat up with a jerk, staring. Yes, something was certainly moving. +Frantically she recalled her arguments that all animals slept at night. +How foolish she had been to advance a statement of that sort. Vividly +now she remembered stories heard and read of night marauders—foxes, +weasels—skunks! These prowled about at night and she wouldn't care to +come in contact with any of them. +</P> + +<P> +"Snakes!" whispered Rosemary with a sudden prickling of her scalp. "Do +they go around at night, I wonder? Sarah would know." +</P> + +<P> +But Sarah, the naturalist, was safely asleep in her own bed. Rosemary +suddenly envied both her sisters. She remembered that Mrs. Hildreth +had spoken of the warfare she waged against rats which tried to carry +off the young poultry at night—Rosemary, in imagination, could picture +a procession of rats running over her as she slept, on their way to the +hen houses. +</P> + +<P> +She got gingerly to her feet, straining her eyes to see the moving +object. What could it be? Something brushed past her, close to her +face. Instantly Winnie's horror of bats came to the girl's nervous +mind. +</P> + +<P> +"If the screen door is unlocked, I'm going in," whispered Rosemary, +gathering her kimono tightly about her. "Sarah may like animals but I +don't." +</P> + +<P> +She started as the mournful cry of a hoot owl sounded in the +distance—and then something cold and wet touched her hand! With one +bound Rosemary cleared the quilt and ran like a deer across the grass. +The shadowy object she had seen came toward her, moving slowly. +Rosemary dodged, tripped on her kimono and fell. +</P> + +<P> +She was up again in a moment and running again, her breath coming in +little sobbing gasps. Jack Welles had once said that she did not +"happen to be the screaming kind of girl" and though terrified now she +made no outcry. She gained the porch step, tugged frantically at the +screen door and felt it open in her grasp. She pitched forward, +striking her knee against a chair and felt herself caught in a strong, +firm clasp. For a moment she struggled furiously and silently and then +realization came to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Hugh!" she cried. "Hugh! There's something out there!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN EVENTFUL DAY +</H3> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh snapped on the porch lamp, carefully turning the shade to +shield Rosemary's eyes from the sudden light. He was fully dressed and +had evidently been dozing in the swing. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush—don't wake Mother!" he said warningly. "What frightened you, +dear?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary's face was quite white and her wide, startled eyes gave +eloquent testimony that she had been alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"Something wet touched me—wet and cold," she whispered. "And there +was something else moving around, too. I ran as fast as I could." +</P> + +<P> +"Some of the farm animals out for a stroll," said Doctor Hugh with a +quiet assurance that his sister found most comforting. "What do you +say to going to bed now, dear, and investigating in the morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," agreed Rosemary. "Is it nearly morning, Hugh?" +</P> + +<P> +The doctor consulted his watch. +</P> + +<P> +"It is just eleven o'clock," he said quietly. "Try not to make a noise +as you go upstairs for I hope Mother is asleep. I'll turn the lamp so +that it will light you as far as the landing." +</P> + +<P> +So she had been out there only two hours, thought Rosemary as she +tumbled into her own bed. Two hours! +</P> + +<P> +"It seemed like two years!" she murmured, drifting off into a peaceful +sleep almost instantly. +</P> + +<P> +She woke in the morning to find the others downstairs, breakfast over +and all traces of her couch under the maple tree removed. +</P> + +<P> +"I know Hugh did that," she said to herself gratefully as she dressed. +Her first act had been to run to the window to see if the quilt was +spread out on the grass. "He'll never give me away, either. And I +know, too, he would have stayed out on the porch all night, if I hadn't +come in, just so he would be on hand to help me when I needed him. +Hugh is so dear to me!" +</P> + +<P> +She said something of this to him late that afternoon, following him +out to the barn when he went to get the car, preparatory to making the +trip back to Eastshore. Sarah and Shirley had remained in ignorance of +the brief experiment and Winnie had proved extremely tactful, asking no +questions at all. Rosemary had learned, from the conversation of +Warren and Richard, that a cow had strayed from the pasture and a blind +old sheep had cropped the grass all night. It had been the wet nose of +the cow that touched her hand and she had clumsily dodged the sheep. +</P> + +<P> +"You're so good, Hugh," said Rosemary, pretending to polish the +foredoor handle. "But I won't want to sleep outdoors ever again—did +you know I wouldn't?" +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh smiled a little. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll all go camping some day and you'll 'love' sleeping outdoors, as +you say," he declared. "My dear little sister, I would be the last +person to try to discourage you in that effort. But Mother knew and +Winnie knew and I knew that, for a number of reasons, it isn't +practical for you to try to sleep outdoors here; neither practical nor +necessary. It wasn't a matter of sleeping outdoors, Rosemary—it was +just the same old question, 'Why can't I have my own way?' Now wasn't +it?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary blushed, but her eyes met his honestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess it was," she admitted. "But I'm sorry I was so +obstinate—truly I am, Hugh." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh leaned forward from behind the wheel and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll make the Willis will an aid and not a hindrance yet," he +declared. "All I want to do, dear, is to save you from learning these +lessons the most painful way. Hop in and I'll drive you around to the +house," he added cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning was naturally a most busy one at Rainbow Hill. Monday +morning is apt to be a busy time anywhere, but Mrs. Hildreth, who would +sooner have dreamed of starting the day without breakfast than starting +the week without washing, saw to it that not one idle moment was +unaccounted for as far as her jurisdiction extended. She rose at four, +instead of the customary five, and Warren and Richard, alternating, +helped her with filling and emptying the tubs and lifting the heavy +boiler. Mrs. Hildreth scorned the modern washing machine and did her +clothes in the old-fashioned laborious way. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie had a woman to help her wash—a Mrs. Pritchard who cheerfully +walked two miles each way—but the temptation to bleach the household +linens on the lawn in the hot sunshine appealed powerfully to the +housewifely instincts of Winnie, and Mrs. Willis declared that she +washed everything she came to, regardless of its state of cleanliness. +Certainly one would have thought that her normal wash of light summer +dresses for three girls and two women would have contented Winnie, but +the combination of soft water, soap, floods of sunshine and the washing +machine left by Mrs. Hammond proved well nigh irresistible to Winnie. +She may have been said to fairly revel in wash. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go wading, Rosemary," coaxed Shirley this Monday morning, soon +after breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't—not now," said Rosemary. "I want to help Mother first and +then I must practise. Ask Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah's cross," complained Shirley. "She brought the cat in from the +barn and put her to sleep in the clothes basket and Winnie tipped her +out." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that would make Sarah cross," agreed Rosemary. "Where is she +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Shirley and her tone indicated that she didn't +particularly care. "Come on and let's go wading, Rosemary." +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary is going to make the beds for Mother," interposed Mrs. +Willis. "Winnie is so busy this morning she hasn't time. Don't you +want to pick up the papers on the porch, Shirley and put the cushions +straight in the swing and bring in some fresh flowers for the glass +jar? Then, when you have it all in order, I'll come out there and sit +and make a new dress for your doll." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, that will be nice!" beamed Shirley, trotting off busily. +</P> + +<P> +In all that hive of industry, represented by the farm, Sarah was the +one idle figure. She sat on the fence commanding a view of the pig +pen—not the pleasantest prospect Rainbow Hill afforded, it must be +confessed—and dangled her feet moodily. She was still resentful at +the summary ejection of the barn cat from the clothes basket and, in +addition, had been worsted in an argument with Warren whose turn it was +to cultivate the corn. Sarah had wished to ride on the cultivator, +preferably in the driver's seat or, failing that, on the horse's back. +Warren had endeavored to dissuade her as tactfully as possible but +finding that tact made small impression on Sarah, had been obliged to +come out with a flat refusal. +</P> + +<P> +"What a funny chicken!" said Sarah aloud, turning her attention from +the grunting pigs before her to a solitary chicken behind her, a feat +which nearly cost her her balance. +</P> + +<P> +"I do b'lieve it's sick!" she declared, jumping down and walking over +to the limp-looking fowl which stared at her coldly from a glassy eye. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah, in the few weeks she had spent on the farm, had really learned a +good deal about the care of the stock. To her natural love for animals +and aptitude for handling them, she had added a store of knowledge +gleaned by asking questions of the boys and Mr. Hildreth and observing +them as they went about the barns. She had faithfully tagged Mrs. +Hildreth, who took care of the poultry too, and had often seen her pick +up a chicken and examine it. +</P> + +<P> +So now she picked up the apathetic bird and felt of his crop with +exploring little brown fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"You're hungry, I'll bet," she informed him. "You probably didn't feel +well this morning and the other hens knocked you away from the corn. +Don't you care, I'll get you some breakfast, all for yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah knew where the grain bins were in the barn and she went in and +opened them all. Using her dress as an apron she selected a handful of +wheat, another of cracked corn, some buckwheat, a generous scoop of +"middlings" and a double handful of the meat scraps bought especially +for the ducks. Then out she dashed and spread the feast before the hen +who really did brighten up and eat a good deal of the grain. No one +hen could have eaten it all—and survived—and of course the other +chickens spied the feast in time, but not before the invalid had been +revived somewhat. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'll put you in a coop till you feel better," said Sarah, "so +nothing can pick on you." +</P> + +<P> +She stuffed her patient into one of the feeding coops in the poultry +yard, gave her a pan of water and then, feeling more cheerful herself, +decided to go wading. +</P> + +<P> +She glanced toward the house, reflected that if she went back to get +Shirley her mother might object to the wading plan or, worse yet, +Winnie set her at some useful task, and made up her mind to amuse +herself alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Going wading?" called Warren cheerfully, as she skirted the cornfield +where he sat on the swaying cultivator pulled by the plodding Solomon, +both horse and boy protected from the blazing sun by straw hats. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah refused to reply. She had no intention of resuming friendly +intercourse so soon after the painful episode of the morning. +</P> + +<P> +"He needn't think he can boss me," she scolded, sitting down by the +brook to take off her shoes and stockings. "Ow, the water's cold!" +</P> + +<P> +Like a great many older people, Sarah preferred to think a long time +before she committed herself to an icy flood. She tucked her feet +under her comfortably and gave herself up to thought. +</P> + +<P> +In the grass beside her a hundred busy little ants ran to and fro and +Sarah's speculations led her to wonder whether they had ever made a +trip by water. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll build them a little boat," she planned, "and give them a little +ride." +</P> + +<P> +Actuated by the kindest of motives, she fashioned a rude sort of ferry +boat from a leaf and then spent twenty minutes catching passengers for +it. In her energy and haste she squashed several of the little +creatures and alas, when she finally sent a dizzy half dozen on their +voyage the leaf capsized and the passengers were drowned. This +effectually discouraged Sarah and she turned again to the prospect of +wading. +</P> + +<P> +The water was so cold that the soft green grass seemed more inviting +and Sarah began to walk along the brook's edge, wincing a little now +and then as her foot struck a sharp stone. Then, without warning, she +stepped into a hole and sharp, darting tongues of fire attacked her +ankles. +</P> + +<P> +"Yellow jackets! Wasps! Bees!" shrieked the unfortunate child, +flinging her shoes into the brook and her stockings clear on the other +side as she started to run. "Get away—leave me alone!" +</P> + +<P> +She had stepped into a nest of yellow jackets and stirred up great +wrath. Her feet and ankles suffered the most stings, though one +furious insect lighted on her elbow and another on her wrist while a +third punctured her cheek. Running madly and crying with pain, Sarah +finally succeeded in distancing the yellow jackets, but her shoes and +stockings, as far as she was concerned, were a total loss. Nothing, +she was positive, would induce her to go back and get them. +</P> + +<P> +She limped sadly to the orchard and climbed her favorite wide-branching +apple tree, to take count of her injuries. Angry, white puffy +swellings showed where each sting had exacted toll. +</P> + +<P> +"There must be a million," said the suffering Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +But it was cold comfort, counting the wounds, and she longed for +sympathy. Glancing through her leafy screen she saw Richard skirting +the orchard fence on his way to the barn. She turned to scramble down +and in the descent struck her elbow on the bark, the poor elbow already +tender from a vicious sting. Sarah cried out in pain, let go hastily +and tumbled to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Richard had heard her cry and he came running to pick her up. +</P> + +<P> +"Good grief, you are a wreck!" he ejaculated when he saw her. "There, +there, Sarah! You haven't broken any bones—I'll brush you off and +you'll be as good as new. Don't cry like that—please don't!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ALL SERENE AGAIN +</H3> + +<P> +"I think," said Richard, judiciously, "I'll carry you up to the barn +and wash you off; your mother might think you were permanently +disfigured if she saw you now." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was truly a forlorn-looking object, but he tucked her under his +arm and set off for the barn, trying in vain to soothe her as they +went. Sarah wept continuously and only stopped when she was put down +on the barn floor. She stopped then because someone was making more +noise than she could possibly make. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to hear another word," Mr. Hildreth was saying in a cold, +loud voice. "Not another word. You left those grain bins open and the +least you can do is to admit it like a man." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not leave them open!" Warren's voice was as passionate and +shaken as the other's was cold. "I tell you I did not! I haven't been +in the barn this morning, except once to get the oil can. I wasn't +near the bins." +</P> + +<P> +Richard was pumping water into a basin and Sarah was glad he was not +looking at her; She had forgotten to put the lids of the grain bins +down! The door of the small washroom was jerked violently open and +Warren strode in. Mr. Hildreth had evidently terminated the argument +by leaving the barn. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, you look about as amiable as a thunder storm," Richard greeted +his chum. "Got a clean handkerchief handy?" +</P> + +<P> +Warren grimly extended a clean square. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with Sarah?" he asked curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, she's had a hard morning—thought I'd wash off some of the worst +of it before she scared everyone at the house into fits," explained +Richard, beginning gently on Sarah's face, with the clean handkerchief +dipped in water. "What was the row?" +</P> + +<P> +Warren's face darkened. He bit his lip. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hildreth found the whole flock of hens having a Thanksgiving +dinner out of the grain bins this morning," he said in a tone which he +strived to make light and even. "He insists I left the lids up and I +am just as sure I didn't. In a moment of madness I might leave one up, +but I never had all the bins open at the same time since I've worked +here." +</P> + +<P> +"If Mr. Hildreth had a grain of sense," pronounced Richard, looking +dubiously at Sarah who still presented a sad appearance notwithstanding +his ministrations, "he'd know better than to accuse you. Of course +some of these children have been fooling around the bins." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah jumped at this uncanny penetration. She wanted nothing in the +world so much as to get out of that washroom, away from Richard's +straightforward gaze. +</P> + +<P> +She edged carefully toward the door—but there was to be no escape. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah, were you in the barn this morning?" asked Richard. +</P> + +<P> +Her answer was a look that Doctor Hugh would have been able to +instantly interpret—it meant that Sarah had retreated into one of her +obstinate, sulky silences and had made up her mind not to be forced +into speech. +</P> + +<P> +Richard turned and shot the bolt across the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Were you in the barn this morning?" he repeated. "Answer me—but I +know you were; and you must have left the grain bins open." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah remained silent. Richard took a step toward the obdurate little +figure, but Warren's voice halted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Quit it, Rich," he said quietly. "Open that door. Run along, Sarah, +and next time you climb an apple tree, have a pillow on the ground +ready to catch you." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah stepped over the sill, turned around, seemed about to speak and +then went silently out of the barn. She heard Richard say something +and Warren's reply: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what difference does it make, if she did?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis knew what to do for the yellow jacket stings and she knew +how to cure scratched hands and arms and soothe aching little heads. +She knew, too, the signs of a hurt heart—when it was Sarah's. Shirley +thought her sister was merely "cranky" when she pushed her out of the +swing and Rosemary decided to let Sarah severely alone when that small +girl hurled her music from the piano rack and began a violent +performance of "chop sticks." But Mrs. Willis waited patiently. +</P> + +<P> +It can not be denied that Sarah made the remainder of the day a +veritable "blue Monday" for her family. Secure in the privileges +accorded her as an invalid, she quarreled with Shirley and Rosemary, +drove Winnie to distraction with repeated requests for cookies and +lemonade and answered Mrs. Hildreth snappishly when that good woman +stopped in for a moment's chat and generally behaved, as Winnie put it +"like all possessed." +</P> + +<P> +And yet, when Rosemary announced at supper that Richard and Warren were +going to walk to the "Center" to see a man at the creamery and that +they would be back before dark and had said the girls might go with +them, Sarah's refusal to go immediately convinced her sisters that she +must be really ill. +</P> + +<P> +They set off as soon as the meal was over, Rosemary and Shirley and the +two boys, and Sarah curled herself, a disconsolate little heap, in the +porch swing. And there her mother found her and in less than two +minutes had the whole story, from the pathetic beginning. "The hen was +awfully sick, Mother," down to the "queer feelings" Sarah had +experienced when Richard, always so good-natured and kind, had turned +into an entirely different person. +</P> + +<P> +"And I'm afraid of Mr. Hildreth," wailed Sarah, the tears flowing again +as she ended her recital. "He'll yell at me, if I tell him, the way he +did at Warren." +</P> + +<P> +"Why no," said Mrs. Willis, in the most matter-of-fact tone. "Why no, +he won't, Sarah. Certainly not. And you're not one bit afraid of him. +He'll he sitting out on the porch now, smoking his pipe and quite ready +to listen to whatever you have to tell him. You don't want Mother to +go with you, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not," said Sarah, almost as matter-of-factly. "I'll go now, +before the boys get back, Mother." +</P> + +<P> +And away she marched to the bungalow, confidently, if not cheerfully. +She had meant to ask her mother whether it would be necessary to +confess that she had been the one who left the bins open, but Mrs. +Willis had so evidently taken for granted that Sarah meant to do this +at once, that the question had never been asked. Well, if Mr. Hildreth +wasn't going to yell at her and if she wasn't afraid of him—and her +mother had said he wouldn't and she wasn't—there was no earthly reason +why she should not admit that she had been careless. +</P> + +<P> +It all happened exactly as Mrs. Willis had said. Mr. Hildreth was +sitting on his porch, smoking comfortably and resting after a hard day. +He was surprised to see Sarah, but he did not yell at her. Instead he +listened silently while she stammered out that she had been to blame +for the hens feasting in the bins. She told him about the sick hen and +she outlined her eventful day, culminating in the tumble from the apple +tree and Richard's attempt to render first aid in the washroom. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Mr. Hildreth spoke for the first time, when she had finished. +"Well, I'm glad you came to me and told me—though that's the natural +thing to do. Own up when you're wrong—isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it?" asked Sarah doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Only square thing to do," the farmer assured her. "I'll tell Warren +before I turn in to-night, then we'll be above board all around. You +like animals, don't you?" he added suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"When I grow up," she announced, "I'm not going to do a thing but take +care of animals. I'm going to have a farm, like yours, Mr. Hildreth, +and I'm going to have seven automobiles with men to drive 'em. They'll +go through all the cities and take the poor sick horses and dogs and +cats and—and birds and things and bring 'em back to my farm. Then +I'll doctor them up and cure them." +</P> + +<P> +"So you think you'll be a doctor, hey?" said the farmer lazily. +</P> + +<P> +"An animal doctor," Sarah affirmed. "I won't take care of sick folks, +'cause they're cross; Shirley is going to be that kind of a doctor +maybe. Animals are never cross, no matter how sick they are. Did you +know that, Mr. Hildreth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come to think of it, I do," Mr. Hildreth admitted, enjoying the +conversation immensely. "But where'll you get money to run this farm, +Sarah? Don't you think you ought to raise some crops?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah pondered. +</P> + +<P> +"Rich and Warren can do that," she decided easily. "They'll be through +agricultural college by then and perhaps they'll like to run my farm. +But Warren will have to buy a tractor, because I won't let my horses +plow. None of the animals are going to work, when I take care of them." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hildreth glanced at her queerly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're just like the rest," he said grimly. "You think of work as +something to side-step, don't you? Let me tell you, Sarah, that unless +you give these animal friends of yours something to do and train them +to do it regularly, you will have to spend all your days dosing them." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean they'll be sick?" asked Sarah, worried at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course they'll be sick," declared Mr. Hildreth. "Animals and +people need work to keep them well. Ask your brother." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll let my animals work just enough," said Sarah thoughtfully. +"Not too much, but just enough. And maybe I'll let Warren plow with +the horses." +</P> + +<P> +"I would, if I were you," agreed Mr. Hildreth. "You work pretty hard +yourself, don't you, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah stared at him suspiciously. Apparently he was serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," continued Mr. Hildreth, "you call it play. But when I see +you flying over this farm and trying to be in two places at once and +cram half a hundred experiences into one short day, I think you work as +hard as I do. Maybe harder. Don't you ever get tired, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +"When I go to bed," responded that active person. "But I'm not tired +when I first go," she added hastily. "Mother or Hugh or Winnie are +always making me go to bed before I'm sleepy. I want to study the +insects on the lawn, but how can I when I have to go to bed?" +</P> + +<P> +"You're not the first person who has wanted to turn night into day," +said Mr. Hildreth calmly. "It's lucky for some of us that you're not +successful. If we had to keep an eye on you all night, Sarah, as well +as during the waking hours, think how little else we'd get done." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah had a shrewd suspicion that he was laughing at her. She turned +to go. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute—wouldn't you like a pet?" said the farmer quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes!" replied Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking you might like a baby pig," Mr. Hildreth informed her. +"There's one in the last litter that isn't getting a fair chance. He's +a runt and crowded out. If you want to take him and bring him up on a +bottle, you can have him for your own." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take him," said Sarah quickly. "I can learn how to feed him, +can't I? And he can sleep with me—or at least in my room—I knew a +girl who had a little puppy and he slept in her doll's bed. Thank you +ever so much, Mr. Hildreth." +</P> + +<P> +So it was arranged that Sarah was to have her pig in the morning and +she and Mr. Hildreth parted excellent friends. +</P> + +<P> +She did not go back to the house but, instead, started off down the +road over which, she knew, Warren and Richard, Rosemary and Shirley, +must come. She had walked perhaps half a mile, when she saw them. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah became unaccountably shy. She walked more and more slowly and, +reaching Rosemary, who was ahead, she found she had nothing to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, dear," Rosemary greeted her, wondering why Sarah had changed +her mind and come to meet them. "Do you feel better?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come back and walk with me, Sarah," said Warren pleasantly, for he had +determined to put Sarah at her ease about the grain bins. +</P> + +<P> +"A fuss like that is nothing to worry about," he had told Richard, "and +I don't like to see a kid unhappy over such trifles." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah waited till the other three were a little ahead and then she +slipped a confiding hand into Warren's. +</P> + +<P> +"I told Mr. Hildreth," she whispered, "and he wasn't cross one bit; and +I'm going to have a baby pig for my own and bring it up on a bottle." +</P> + +<P> +Warren's face was as bright as the one she lifted to his. +</P> + +<P> +"Why Sarah Willis!" he said joyfully. "Why Sarah! You went to Mr. +Hildreth about those silly grain bins? You needn't have done that—I +meant to tell you not to worry. But, of course, I'm glad you did tell +him." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you talking about?" demanded Shirley, looking back. "Did +Sarah tell Mr. Hildreth something?" +</P> + +<P> +Richard's glance rested sharply on Sarah. He smiled, grasping what had +happened with his usual quickness. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a brick, Sarah!" he complimented her. "A brick—that's what +you are." +</P> + +<P> +But Sarah was eager to tell about her pig and Warren wished to change +the topic so no more was said then. Instead Richard addressed himself +to the three Willis girls collectively. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you've about explored Rainbow Hill," he announced, "at least +Sarah has. She's exhausted its possibilities, if I'm a fair judge. I +think you need some new interests." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," agreed Shirley with perfect gravity and not the slightest idea +of his meaning, "yes we do, Richard." +</P> + +<P> +They all laughed, but Richard was not to side-tracked. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the Gay family," he said. "You don't know them, but some of +the children must be about your own age." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary thought "Gay" a pretty name and said so while Sarah reproved +her. "Gay isn't a name, silly; it means they always have a good time. +Doesn't it, Richard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well no, not in this case," replied Richard, "but I'm going over there +to-morrow morning and, if you like, you may come along and get +acquainted." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE +</H3> + +<P> +The entire household was startled to be awakened at three o'clock the +next morning by the mad ringing of an alarm clock. Shirley wept, Mrs. +Willis and Rosemary were sure it was the telephone and Winnie scolded +vigorously and, still scolding, traced the noise to Sarah's bed. +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, the clock was there and Sarah admitted that she had set it. +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to be sure and get up early," she explained. "I have to get +my pig and go and see the Gay family." +</P> + +<P> +But she further conceded that she had not meant to rise at the witching +hour of three A. M. Her intention had been to set the alarm for +half-past five and her mistake was due to the fact that she had not set +an alarm clock before. +</P> + +<P> +"And never will again," commented Winnie, bearing the offending clock +away with her for safe-keeping. "Not if I have anything to say, will +you ever touch an alarm clock." +</P> + +<P> +Breakfast was half an hour later than usual, in consequence of this +performance, and Sarah was in a fever of impatience to reach the pig +pens. When finally excused from the table, she shot through the door +and was back before her mother and sisters had left the dining-room. +</P> + +<P> +Loud sounds of altercation in the kitchen proclaimed her return. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't bring that in here—go away, Sarah Willis!" came Winnie's +voice. "Where did you get that dirty beast?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's mine—he's a pig," countered Sarah, who always assumed that +Winnie was intensely ignorant in matters of natural history. "Mr. +Hildreth gave him to me." +</P> + +<P> +There was the noise of a scuffle, the slam of a door and then Sarah's +wail: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you've hurt him! And he's sick—you're the most cruel woman I +ever knew and I'll tell Mother so!" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis opened the swinging door into the kitchen and Rosemary and +Shirley pressed close behind her. Sarah stood on the back porch, a +young pig in her arms, and Winnie occupied the center of the kitchen +floor. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't keep our pigs in the parlor—not in this house," said Winnie +firmly. "Nor yet in the kitchen—as long as I'm in it." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary thought then, as she had often thought before, how easily her +mother settled differences and with how few words. It took scarcely +five minutes for Mrs. Willis to examine the pig and praise his +possibilities to Sarah; to suggest a comfortable box in the woodshed as +his logical home—where he might have fresh air in abundance and yet be +close to Sarah if he needed her attention; and to enlist the sympathies +of Winnie—whose bark was always loud and whose bite had never +materialized yet—to the extent that she provided a piece of soft +flannel to line the box and warm milk to comfort the interior of the +little pig. +</P> + +<P> +His pigship was a runt, as Mr. Hildreth had said, and deprived of his +fair share of nourishment was bony and far from prepossessing. +Rosemary had no desire to touch him, but Shirley was fascinated and she +and Sarah put him to bed in the box and covered him up with all the +care and devotion they had hitherto showered on dolls. As Richard +observed, when he came to tell them he was starting for the Gay farm, +even a pig could be killed by kindness. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother said she'd get me a bottle for him," babbled Sarah as she +emerged clean and damp from Winnie's polishing and joined Richard on +the step. "Hugh is going to take her to Bennington this morning and +she'll buy it then. And I can bring him up by hand and teach him +tricks. His name is—what is a good name for him, Richard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Napoleon Bonaparte," supplied Richard with mischievous promptness. +"You can call him 'Bony' for short, you know." +</P> + +<P> +The practicality of this suggestion charmed Sarah beyond words, and the +pig was immediately christened. "Bony" he became in that hour and +"Bony" he remained, with the use of his full name on state occasions, +long after he was as plump as any of his more fortunate brothers and +sisters. +</P> + +<P> +"Where do the Gays live?" asked Rosemary, when she and Shirley had +joined the two sponsors and they were all walking over the field that +led to the back road. +</P> + +<P> +"Their land joins Rainbow Hill," returned Richard, "and if I had my +way, we'd be better neighbors. The Gays are hard up and proud and the +Hildreths are busy and like to keep to themselves. I don't know now +whether Louisa and Alec will be glad to see me bringing three strangers +to meet 'em, but my honest opinion is they need someone to say 'Hello' +and be friendly without prying." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary looked at him speculatively. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps Mother had better go to see Mrs. Gay first," she suggested, +with a little touch of her mother's own generalship. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't any Mrs. Gay," said Richard soberly. "They're +orphans—all six of 'em. And Warren and I have it figured out that +grown people frighten them—Louisa and Alec shut up like clams when +they meet anyone in town. They won't think you and Sarah and Shirley +mean to boss their affairs. Maybe they'll be friends with you." +</P> + +<P> +The three girls drew closer to Richard as they approached a +tumbled-down fence. Six year old Shirley expressed, in a measure, +their feelings when she stopped Richard as he attempted to lift her +over, with the observation that she had never seen an orphan. +</P> + +<P> +"An orphan hasn't any mother or father, you know, Shirley," said +Richard, smiling. "You'll find Kitty Gay a little girl very much like +yourself. Show her how lovely a little girl named Shirley Willis can +be." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll know eight orphans then, in a minute," declared Sarah, her +statistical mind functioning even as she helped to replace the fence +bars. "The Gays are six and you and Warren are two; so you did see an +orphan before, Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +"For mercy's sake, forget the orphan part of it," begged poor Richard. +"Don't say 'orphan' once—I didn't bring you up here to look at the +Gays. They're no side show." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary laughed, then sobered instantly as a turn in the lane brought +them face to face with a tow-headed lad, carrying two pails of water. +He was about the age of Jack Welles, she decided, but infinitely +thinner and lacking Jack's solid build. +</P> + +<P> +"'Lo, Dick!" he said cordially. "Want me?" +</P> + +<P> +Richard introduced the three girls with more ease than Rosemary had +expected. Alec Gay was undeniably shy, but he asked them to come to +the house and meet his sister, Louisa. Richard took one pail and Alec +the other, and they went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Louisa!" shouted Alec as they came in sight of a weather-beaten house +set in a fenced enclosure of rank grass where a cow grazed peacefully. +</P> + +<P> +A girl appeared in the doorway, a tow-headed girl with blue eyes like +her brother's, and thin shoulders, like his, too. She wore a faded +blue dress and a black apron and looked clean and neat. +</P> + +<P> +This was Louisa Gay and noting that she glanced uncertainly into the +doorway, after Richard had introduced them, Rosemary tactfully +suggested that they sit on the stoop. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't stay long and it is too nice to go indoors," she said +sincerely. +</P> + +<P> +"The house doesn't look very nice this morning," apologized Louisa, "to +tell the truth, everything is in a mess; but if we stay out here, the +children will come hunting for me and they're a mess, too. There isn't +much choice, either way." +</P> + +<P> +She sat down beside Rosemary who kept fast hold of Shirley lest she +start an exploring tour of her own. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's the Kitty girl?" asked Shirley frankly. +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke a stream of children poured out of the house—or it seemed +like a stream, though when they were counted they were but four. Each +and every one of them had light hair and blue eyes like Alec and +Louisa, all were tanned and freckled and all were shouting madly. The +youngest was a baby, the oldest a year or so older than Sarah. Two +were boys and two girls. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim, Ken, Kitty and June," said Alec glibly. "For goodness' sake, do +keep still," he admonished the children. "Can't you see we have +company?" +</P> + +<P> +Richard, who evidently felt at home, had gone on into the kitchen with +the pail of water and came out in time to hear Alec's remark. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not company," he said quickly. "We're neighbors." +</P> + +<P> +Shirley, after staring a few seconds at Kitty, began to talk to her as +though she were an old friend. Sarah went over to look at the cow and +Jim and Ken followed her. The baby, June, climbed into Rosemary's lap +and sat quietly there. +</P> + +<P> +"She never goes to strangers," marveled Louisa, leaning over to +straighten out the crumpled little skirts. "Look Alec, she likes her." +</P> + +<P> +Alec was looking and so was Richard. Rosemary made a pretty picture +there in the sunlight, her lovely vivid face turned to Louisa, her arms +about the tousled little figure on her knees. +</P> + +<P> +"It's so nice to have a girl of my own age to talk to," Louisa said +appreciatively. "I never have time to go down to town any more and I +don't see the girls I used to know." +</P> + +<P> +"But in the winter?" suggested Rosemary, "You go to school, winters, +don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Louisa's lips tightened. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't last winter and I don't intend to this," she announced with +curious defiance. "There's no one to take care of the children except +Alec and me. We tried taking turns staying home, but neither one of us +could learn much that way so we gave it up." +</P> + +<P> +Richard had come over, so he said, to borrow a file and presently he +declared he must get back to work. June was handed back to Louisa, +Sarah summoned from her lecture on pigs—to which the boys were giving +rapt attention, and Shirley, with difficulty, detached from Kitty and a +dilapidated rope swing. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll come over and see us, won't you?" said Rosemary eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"No," interposed Alec, standing straight and tall beside his sister. +</P> + +<P> +The monosyllable sounded ungracious but Rosemary, looking at Alec, saw +that he did not mean to be discourteous. He looked a little unhappy, a +little shy, a bit afraid, even. And Louisa's blue eyes were wistful. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll come see you," promised Rosemary gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you said that," approved Richard, leading the way down the +road. "Alec never goes anywhere that he doesn't have to and Louisa is +getting to be just like him. First thing those kids know, they'll be +queer." +</P> + +<P> +"Am I queer?" asked Sarah in sudden alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, but you want to be mighty careful," Richard warned her. +"Lots of people get queer, thinking too much about pigs, I've heard." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't talk about any pig but my darling Bony," declared Sarah. "I +won't get queer talking about him." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GAY FAMILY +</H3> + +<P> +As Richard had foreseen, the Willis girls formed the habit of wandering +over to the Gay farm nearly every day. Rosemary liked Louisa and the +taciturn Alec, and the younger children were companionable in age and +tastes for Sarah and Shirley. +</P> + +<P> +It was Warren who explained something of the conditions under which the +Gay children worked and lived, one evening when the girls were in bed +and Winnie was busy setting bread in the kitchen. Warren treasured +these rare half hours on the porch with Mrs. Willis and he had once +declared to Richard that ten minutes' uninterrupted conversation with +"Rosemary's mother" could make him forget the hardest and longest day. +</P> + +<P> +"The way I figure it out," said Warren, his lean, brown face showing +earnest lines even in the shaded light from the porch lamp, "the way I +figure it, Mrs. Willis, the Gays will help Rosemary and Sarah and +Shirley and they will certainly help them. Alec is fifteen and Louisa +is just Rosemary's age—and yet they have the burden of supporting and +bringing up four younger children." +</P> + +<P> +"And my girls have such a happy, sheltered life," struck in Mrs. +Willis. "Yes, Warren, I can see what you mean; it won't hurt them to +learn of the existence of poverty and hard work. But what happened to +the parents of these children?" +</P> + +<P> +"They died a couple of years ago—within three months of each other, I +believe," said Warren. "All they left was these few acres—sixty, I +think Alec told me. There's a mortgage and most of the stock has been +sold off—Alec does wonders for his age, but he can't get the work done +alone. I helped him some last year and I'd help him more, but he is +too proud to take much." +</P> + +<P> +"But they can't go on like this," Mrs. Willis protested. "It is +unthinkable—to allow six children to struggle alone for a living on a +barren little farm. Doesn't anyone take an interest in them—the +Hildreths or any of the people who live near and who knew their father +and mother?" +</P> + +<P> +Warren settled deeper into his comfortable chair. +</P> + +<P> +"If the house burned down, I suppose they'd be taken in by some of the +neighbors," he said a trifle bitterly. "Or if they all came down with +the plague, someone might drop in to offer advice. But either of these +calamities would have to happen in winter at that, to attract +attention; the farmers of this community can't be disturbed in summer +when they're up to their elbows in work." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean that, Warren," the little lady opposite him smiled +confidently. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean at least half of it," asserted Warren doggedly. "Of course +when Mr. and Mrs. Gay died, everyone pitched in and helped the +children; I suppose they did, though I wasn't here to see. But I do +know that now when they need advice and practical help, they're +apparently forgotten. Their attendance at school last winter was a +farce and yet the authorities let an investigation slide; Mr. Hildreth +promises vaguely to 'look after them' in the fall—and there they are, +six fine American children left to bring themselves up." +</P> + +<P> +"Someone must be responsible," said Mrs. Willis firmly. "I'll speak to +Hugh—he will know what to do." +</P> + +<P> +Warren shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't—that is not yet," he declared. "It is rather difficult to +explain and—well, I suppose I haven't been quite fair in my +statements, either. Alec and Louisa do not invite friendship—they are +extremely proud and shy and so reserved as to be almost repellant to +strangers. I think every allowance should be made, under the +circumstances, for them, but the neighbors who tried to do for them at +first were miffed, I suppose, and take the attitude that if they want +to keep to themselves, they may. +</P> + +<P> +"Alec is close-mouthed, too, and I fancy he has resented attempts to +publicly discuss their financial affairs. There is a mortgage on the +farm, of course—what would a farm be without a mortgage?" Warren +digressed for a moment but was instantly serious—"and I suppose the +interest keeps Alec awake nights figuring. Both he and Louisa have +given up going anywhere—they send one of the children to the Center +for the few things they have to buy. It's simmered right down to +this—they're avoiding everyone and if they don't look out they'll be +as queer as—as the dickens!" +</P> + +<P> +"Like some of those mountaineers I saw when Hugh took me over the back +road to that little settlement at the foot of the hills," said Mrs. +Willis. "The women peep out of the windows furtively and the children +run if they see a stranger—all because they have lost the habit of +meeting folk." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it," agreed Warren eagerly. "That's what I mean. And I think +it is a shame, for the Gays are nice kids—clean and honest and +wholesome. You know I would never have taken the girls over there if +there was the slightest possibility of the Gays setting them a bad +example in any way. I have a cousin who is a teacher and she is always +preaching that children pick up the bad traits they see in others +quicker than they do the good ones." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not so sure of that," smiled Mrs. Willis. "But I am glad you are +so thoughtful, Warren. They are very precious to me—my three +daughters." +</P> + +<P> +"If I had three sisters like them—" Warren's voice faltered. +</P> + +<P> +He began again, hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +"What the Gays need," he said earnestly, "is human contacts—I think +that's the phrase I want. They need to know normal, happy children +their own age. It isn't the poverty that will hurt them—Rich and I +have been as poor as church mice and are still; but we have battled our +way through school and mixed with fellows and met people. In some ways +Louisa and Alec are ten years beyond their time—they run the farm and +train and punish those four youngsters and figure out expenses like a +couple of old stagers. Give 'em one more year and they'll forget how +to laugh and be hopelessly mixed on the true values." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I know what you are trying to bring about," observed Mrs. +Willis sagely. "You think they'll trust the girls and make friends +with them and, later, an older person will be able to gain their +confidence. An older head will be needed soon, if that farm is the +only source of income. Well, Warren, I believe you are right and it +will work out nicely in the end. I'm glad to have the girls see +something of lives that are different from theirs and I know they will +all three learn a great deal that will be helpful to them. I did plan +to go over and see the Gays but now I'll wait, for a time at least." +</P> + +<P> +"She's a wonder!" said Warren to himself, walking back to the bungalow +a few minutes later. "She can see just what is in a fellow's mind and +sort it out for him. Funny how Rich and I puzzled over what made those +three girls so different from any girls we ever knew—they do just as +many crazy things and Winnie says they have tempers and wills of their +own, but they have something that sets them apart—Rich said it was +ideals and I called it fine standards and, in a measure, I suppose +we're both right. But just two words will explain everything—their +mother!" +</P> + +<P> +It must be confessed that Bony, the pig, claimed a large share of +Sarah's time and attention. She let Rosemary and Shirley go over to +see the Gays very often without her. There were the pig's meals to be +served, his toilet to be made and his manners and training carefully +considered. +</P> + +<P> +"My conscience, Sarah Willis, you're not going to wash that pig, are +you?" demanded Winnie the first morning Sarah made known her ideas on +the question of cleanliness in connection with Bony. +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly am," announced Sarah with appalling firmness. "Hugh says +you can't be well, 'less you are clean. I don't suppose I can wash +Bony in the bathtub?" +</P> + +<P> +"Now Sarah, if I didn't love you, you would have driven me crazy years +ago," said Winnie, who was a famous general when she minded to be. +"You know washing a pig in the bathtub is out of the question. I +wouldn't wash him in the laundry tubs, either; we have to be nice to +Mrs. Pritchard for if she deserts us like as not there'll be no more +clean clothes this summer; you can't pick and choose your washwoman in +the country." +</P> + +<P> +"Where'll I wash him then?" asked Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"Take him out to the barns—there must be tubs there," directed Winnie. +"I'll give you a piece of soap and an old towel. Don't bring the towel +back, either." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll hang it on a bush to dry," promised Sarah amiably. "But I have +to have some hot water, Winnie; Bony is delicate and I can't give him a +cold bath." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he'll have to wait till to-morrow for his bath," said the wily +Winnie. "The tea kettle is empty and I can't be lighting the stove to +heat water just now." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll try the cold water," Sarah decided reluctantly, "but if +Bony catches cold, you'll be sorry—that's all." +</P> + +<P> +The pig under one arm and the towel and soap under the other, Sarah +made for the barn and reached the big tub where the horses were +watered, when Warren saw her. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do with that pig, Sarah?" he asked suspiciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Wash him," said Sarah, beginning to weary of being questioned. +</P> + +<P> +"Not in that horse tub," declared Warren. "I've just filled it for the +team. That's a drinking trough, not a bathtub." +</P> + +<P> +Brief experience had already taught Sarah, as it had Rosemary and +Shirley, that while Richard might be cajoled or persuaded, Warren was +firmness itself. If he said that pigs could not be washed in the +watering tub, that settled the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"The brook is the best place to wash a pig, anyway, Sarah," suggested +Warren helpfully. "You take this stiff brush and put Bony in the +middle of the brook and scrub his back and he'll be the happiest little +pig you ever saw. But if that is a good dress you have on, take my +advice and stay away from water," he added. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't get wet," said Sarah indifferently. "Well, I guess I'll have +to wash Bony in the brook. I never saw such a fussy bunch of people." +</P> + +<P> +She scrubbed the pig thoroughly, soaking herself to the skin in the +process, and dried him neatly with the towel. Then she took him back +to his box, fed him a nursing bottle of warm milk—he had readily +learned to take the bottle—covered him up and hung the soiled wet +towel on the rose bush by the front door. Leaving the scrubbing brush +in the porch swing and the jellied remains of the soap on a gingham +pillow, Sarah retired to put on a dry frock, feeling that she had +accomplished one task successfully. +</P> + +<P> +"That pig," said Winnie, when she came upon the soapy trail of his +bath, "that pig will drive us crazy yet. You mark my words!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GAY FINANCES +</H3> + +<P> +Sarah continued to bathe her pig every day. In fact she omitted no +slightest detail that could contribute to his health and comfort; and +the amount of care and affection she lavished on "that porker," as Mr. +Hildreth referred to Bony, would have amazed anyone unacquainted with +Sarah's trait of exceeding thoroughness. Whatever she found to +do—providing it was to her liking—this small girl did with all her +might. +</P> + +<P> +But naturally the most interesting of pigs could not occupy all her +time. Bony was young and he craved sleep. It was during his rest +periods that Sarah would consent to accompany her sisters to the Gay +farm. Once there, she was like the boy who, led protestingly to the +party, had to be dragged home. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear, I'm sorry you have to find the house in such a mess," Louisa +Gay apologized one morning, across the table filled with dirty dishes +and pots and pans piled high in confusion. "I was helping Alec in the +field all day yesterday and just let the dishes pile up. This morning +I meant to wash everything in sight—I was too tired to touch a plate +last night." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll help," said Rosemary sympathetically. She knew that the four +younger Gays were forbidden to light a fire in Louisa's absence—she +and Alec were most strict about this—and that, for this reason, they +could not heat water and wash the dishes for their sister. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll help," repeated Rosemary cheerfully. "I have washed tons of +dishes in cooking class; and Sarah will dry them for us." +</P> + +<P> +"I will, if Kitty will," qualified Sarah, hastily, having no mind to be +tied down to domestic duties while someone else played. +</P> + +<P> +"Kitty is in bed," said Louisa severely. "I told her to make the beds +yesterday and she never touched one. She said she forgot. So now she +has to stay in bed till dinner time to make her remember." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to get up now, Louisa!" shrilled the wrathful voice of Kitty +from the upstairs hall. +</P> + +<P> +"You go back to bed and stay there, till I tell you you can get up," +directed Louisa. "Unless you want to be locked in your room and your +dinner." +</P> + +<P> +Kitty retreated—they heard the door of room slam—and Louisa went on +with her plate scraping. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the baby!" Louisa started nervously. "Kenneth must have +stopped rocking her." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Kenneth appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking +distinctly cross. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why I always have to rock the baby!" he grumbled. "Alec +wants me to stake Dora down by the brook and when am I going to get any +time to help him if I have to keep June quiet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let me rock her," said Shirley. "I can rock just as nice—can't I, +Rosemary?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I think you could," admitted Rosemary, smiling. "You must touch +the cradle very gently, you know, Shirley—don't rock June as though +she were in a boat at sea." +</P> + +<P> +She went in to the darkened room off the kitchen with Shirley and +showed her how to sway the old-fashioned cradle with a soothing motion. +When she came back to Louisa, Kenneth had disappeared and Sarah with +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare, sometimes I get so discouraged, I don't know what to do," +confided Louisa, filling the heavy tea kettle at the sink and lifting +it to the stove. "We do everything the wrong way and yet I don't see +where we can take time to do them any better. +</P> + +<P> +"For instance, there's June. I know she shouldn't be rocked to +sleep—but the one day I tried to break her of the habit and make her +go to sleep quietly by herself, I didn't get a thing done. The other +children got into mischief, Alec was hurt trying to pitch hay and +manage the team without help and, after all, June didn't learn a thing. +She acted worse the next day, so I had to give it up and go back to the +cradle rocking." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose it is hard because she is used to the cradle now," said +Rosemary, busily clearing a place on the table for the clean dishes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's the reason," agreed Louisa. "And we spend a lot of time +staking Dora around in different places—she was in the front yard that +day you came over with Richard. She was there because the front yard +has the one decent piece of fencing left on the farm. She would give +more milk if we could let her go free in the pasture—but Kenneth has +to stake her with a staple and rope because the fences are so +poor—where there are any—that the only way to keep her home is to tie +her." +</P> + +<P> +"You're tired," said Rosemary quickly. "You worked too hard yesterday, +Louisa. I wish you'd go off somewhere—find a nice, cool place—and +rest; I'll do these dishes." +</P> + +<P> +Louisa did look tired. More than that, she looked discouraged. She +had not taken pains to brush her hair as carefully as usual and it was +"slicked back" in the tightest possible knot. Her dress was perfectly +clean, but so faded and mended that it would have taken a merry-hearted +girl to have been quite happy in it. Louisa was far from merry-hearted. +</P> + +<P> +"But the potatoes will bring in some money, won't they?" urged +Rosemary, who now knew a great deal about the Gay finances. +</P> + +<P> +"They will, if they're not all sunburned, before Alec gets them into +the barn," responded Louisa gloomily, pouring hot water over a pan of +dishes. "Last year the yield was poor, too. Ken and Jim try to help, +but neither Alec nor I can bear to keep such little boys working in the +hot sun all day long. It isn't right." +</P> + +<P> +Louisa was not given to complaint and Rosemary guessed something of the +pressure the slender shoulders must be enduring. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had a million dollars!" burst out Rosemary, putting her arm +about Louisa. "I'd give it all to you!" +</P> + +<P> +To her distress, Louisa began to cry. She was standing near the +kitchen table and she just put her head down on her arms and "let go" +as Rosemary later told her brother. Shirley, who had ventured to leave +the cradle, after several cautious tests to determine the depth of +June's slumbers, peered in aghast. Rosemary motioned to her to go on +and Shirley dashed out into the sunshine, glad to escape. +</P> + +<P> +"You're so sweet to me!" choked Louisa, raising her tear-stained face. +"And you're so pretty—I never saw a girl as pretty as you are. I wish +I could look the way you do and have the clothes you do!" +</P> + +<P> +So the faded dress had had something to do with it, after all. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary had always taken her pretty summer frocks for granted. Now +she looked from her own blue and white gingham to Louisa's old dress +and remembered the freshly-ironed linens and ginghams hanging in her +closet. Not many, perhaps, but dainty and pretty, every one, and +neither old-fashioned nor faded. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd let me give you a couple of mine," said Rosemary +impulsively. "We're almost the same size and you would look so nice in +blue, Louisa. I wouldn't tell a single soul." +</P> + +<P> +Louisa dried her eyes and reached for the dish mop. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ashamed of myself," she declared briskly. "I don't know what made +me cry like that—Alec and the boys would think I had lost my mind. +No, I couldn't take a dress from you, Rosemary—I don't really need it, +anyway. Thank you, just the same. We need so many things that I vow +there is no place to begin to replenish; a dress would be a drop in the +bucket." +</P> + +<P> +They both laughed a little at Louisa's mixed metaphor and the laughter +cleared away the last trace of the tears. As they washed and dried the +mountains of dishes, Louisa explained that what was really troubling +her, was the interest. +</P> + +<P> +"The interest on the mortgage, you know," she said earnestly. "It is +due the first of September. Mr. Greenleaf holds the mortgage and Alec +is desperately afraid he will foreclose." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary's experience with mortgages dated from that minute, but she +sensed the importance of the interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps the potatoes—" she suggested hopefully, having great faith in +Alec's main crop. +</P> + +<P> +"We owe for the seed and the fertilizer," answered Louisa. "And last +year's taxes are not paid; and if we do manage to scrape together +enough to pay the interest, I don't see what we're going to live on the +rest of the year." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary had to admit that the outlook was discouraging. She scoured a +paring knife thoughtfully and polished it off before she ventured a new +suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +"Why doesn't Alec go to this Mr. Greenleaf, and tell him that he is +having a hard time?" Rosemary proposed. "Ask him to wait a little +longer for his money. Hugh waits when people can not pay him; I heard +Winnie say that he never collects a bill, but waits for the money." +</P> + +<P> +Louisa looked graver than ever. +</P> + +<P> +"The one thing we must never do, and you must never, never tell," she +said impressively, "is to go to Mr. Greenleaf. Just as soon as it is +known in town that we are having a hard time to get along, do you know +what will happen? They'll take the farm away from us and send us to +the poor farm—probably bind Alec and me out and separate the family +for good and all. My father and mother would rather have us dead than +paupers." +</P> + +<P> +"Could anyone take the farm away from you and do that?" asked Rosemary, +much shocked. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course—it's often done," said Louisa, her light blue eyes gazing +intensely at her friend. "They'd take us to the poor farm in a minute, +if they knew we couldn't hold the farm." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it is pleasant at the poor farm," Rosemary was trying to find +the cloud's silver lining. "You might like it there; did you ever see +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, and I never want to," retorted Louisa with finality. +</P> + +<P> +Then Rosemary asked what it was to be "bound out" and Louisa told her +that children old enough to work were bound out to families who agreed +to give them their board and clothes and send them to school in return +for their services. +</P> + +<P> +"It would mean that until we are eighteen we'd never have a cent to +call our own," declared Louisa. "We couldn't do a thing for the +younger children and, worst of all, we should be separated." +</P> + +<P> +It was a very sober Rosemary who helped with the remainder of the work +that morning. She spread dish towels to bleach, she swept the porch, +made the beds—visiting for a brief moment with the unrepentant Kitty +who clamored to be allowed to get up and finally was released a half +hour ahead of time on her promise to pick the "greens" for dinner—and, +at Louisa's request, showed her how a simple soup was made in cooking +class at the Eastshore school. But she was unusually silent while she +did all this. +</P> + +<P> +Walking home across the fields at noon—they steadfastly refused to +burden the harassed family with three extra mouths to feed—Sarah +noticed her sister's abstraction. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Rosemary?" she asked curiously and Shirley echoed +the question. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—I'm thinking," said Rosemary. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE POOR FARM +</H3> + +<P> +Rosemary thought a great deal about the Gays in the days that followed. +Louisa had asked her to promise that she would tell no one the +precarious state of their finances—"no one can help and I won't be +discussed like the 'cases' they bring up at the sewing circle," said +Louisa passionately. +</P> + +<P> +"They'd be 'running up' clothes for June and Kitty," she said another +time, "and fitting us out to go to the poor farm looking respectable. +I'd rather stay here and look any old way." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was extremely observant for her years and she surprised Rosemary +and Louisa with a shrewd comment or two, until the latter deemed it +expedient to take her into the inner circle of confidence. Sarah could +be loyal and she could be silent. From that day she and Rosemary were +leagued with Louisa and Alec to circumvent the town authorities. +</P> + +<P> +Not that authority, in any guise, was ever manifested. At least it had +not been so far. Rosemary, on the beautiful moonlight nights when "Old +Fiddlestrings" wandered again up and down the road, playing the +"Serenade" with his soul in his fingers, found it hard to believe that +there could be such ugly things in the world as poverty and fear. She +was sure that Louisa and Alec must be mistaken—or else the money would +come from somewhere—it must. There could not be such music and such +moonlight and such heavenly scented breezes on an earth that was +anything but wholly lovely, wholly kind. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear child, you must go to bed," Mrs. Willis remonstrated on the +third night when she came in to find Rosemary's room flooded with +moonlight and Rosemary herself kneeling at the window. "You can hear +the music just as well in bed and I don't like to have you lose so much +sleep." +</P> + +<P> +And then she brought a light comfortable from the bed and, wrapped in +that, knelt with Rosemary at the window till the player and his violin +walked wearily away out of sight. After all, what was the loss of a +little sleep as compared with such playing? +</P> + +<P> +"Heard Old Fiddlestrings again last night," said Mr. Hildreth, drawing +up before the kitchen door the next morning while Richard carried in +the piece of ice they had brought from the creamery for Winnie. "I +declare it's a mercy we don't have full moon more than once a month; no +one would get a fair night's sleep. Does he bother you?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Bother</I> us?" echoed Rosemary in astonishment. "Bother us? Why, it +is the loveliest playing we have ever heard!" +</P> + +<P> +Richard judged this an excellent time to ask a question. +</P> + +<P> +"How would you like to go over to the poor farm?" he suggested, pulling +Shirley back from the dusty wheel and taking a firm grip on Sarah with +the other hand to prevent her from crawling under the horse—for what +reason she alone knew. +</P> + +<P> +"The poor farm?" Rosemary's mind immediately leaped to the Gays. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Richard, do let's go!" she cried, her enthusiasm kindling. "I've +always wanted to see the poor farm." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, your brother goes there often enough," said Mr. Hildreth drily. +"It's thanks to him that the new Board of Freeholders put in decent +plumbing all through the place." +</P> + +<P> +Richard climbed back into his seat and took the reins. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, be ready in about fifteen minutes," he directed. "It's thanks +to Mr. Hildreth that the poor-farm folks are going to get some early +tomatoes." +</P> + +<P> +"I've a good mind to cuff you," said the exasperated Mr. Hildreth who +had never been known to raise his hand against anyone. (Warren had +once remarked that when he raised his voice he needed no further +reinforcements.) "It's a pity when we have the first tomatoes and more +than we can use, not to send those poor creatures a few." +</P> + +<P> +The "few" tomatoes proved to be six peach baskets full and they made a +crimson splash in the back of the light spring wagon Warren presently +drove around harnessed to the useful Solomon. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother says do you want to take us all?" cried Shirley, balancing +herself on the lowest step and eyeing Richard anxiously. "I hope you +want all of us, Richard, because no one wants to stay home." +</P> + +<P> +Her mother, coming out in time to hear this speech, laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you room for three, Richard?" she asked. "The girls have had a +great many rides lately and I'm sure one or two will stay home without +grumbling, if necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Room for everybody," Richard assured her. "Don't you want to go, Mrs. +Willis? I'll tip the girls over with the tomatoes and you may have the +whole front seat, if you'll come." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you no," she answered him smiling. "Winnie and I have a busy +day ahead of us. You know the doctor and Jack Welles are coming up +next week to stay two weeks and Winnie and I want to have as much done +ahead as we can. Have a good time and bring me home some wild flowers +if you pass any growing along the road." +</P> + +<P> +It was a warm morning, but no one minds that in July. Besides, as +Sarah pointed out, there was now and then a breeze. Sarah and Shirley +were seated in the middle of the single long seat with Richard at one +end and Rosemary the other. +</P> + +<P> +As usual Sarah and Shirley both wanted to drive and, also as usual, +Richard settled the argument diplomatically by allowing each to hold +the reins in turn, stipulating fixed distances for each, using the +trees which could be seen ahead as boundary marks. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary was less interested in the driving than in their destination. +She plied Richard with questions about the poor farm. Who lived there? +How many people? How poor did one have to be before he was compelled +to live on the poor farm? Did one, once sent there, ever save enough +money to go somewhere else? Were there any children and what did they +do? +</P> + +<P> +"Good grief!" ejaculated the harassed Richard, at last rebelling. "I +never lived on a poor farm, Rosemary. I don't know a great deal more +about it than you do." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a nice place?" persisted Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"Depends on what you call nice," answered Richard. "It is a large farm +and the house looks comfortable. I'll tell you one thing—if I had to +be a county charge, I'd rather be sent to a country poor farm than to a +city almshouse; in the country you at least have something green to +look at." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you like to live at this poor farm?" said Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +Louisa and Alec, Kitty, Ken, Jim and June—they were in her mind. She +would, perhaps, have some comforting news to take them about the poor +farm. She was totally unprepared for the violence of Richard's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Like to live at the poor farm?" thundered he. "Not if it was the most +magnificent place on earth! Do you think for one moment that I'd have +charity handed out to me? I'd rather wash dishes for a living—what do +you take me for, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +Three pairs of astonished eyes stared at him. Then Rosemary laughed +and, after a moment, Richard laughed with her. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess I got too eloquent," he admitted a little shamefacedly. "But +honestly, Rosemary, I pity those poor souls who have to live at the +poor farm, more than I pity any other people of whom I've ever heard. +There is nothing worse, to my mind, than to be deprived of your +independence and ability to work." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you come to live in the poor house?" inquired Rosemary. "Sit +still, Sarah; no, it isn't your turn to drive yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sometimes you're old and haven't saved any money," said Richard +absently. "Sometimes you're old and sick and have to stop earning. +Lots of people lose those who would have supported them—say their +children. And now and then parents die and leave a family of kids who +must be brought up as wards of charity." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary hardly noticed when he took the reins from Shirley and turned +Solomon into a beautiful tree-lined road in perfect condition. She was +thinking that "wards of charity" did not sound half as happy as when +one said "the Gay children." +</P> + +<P> +"Here we are!" announced Richard, stopping before a handsome red brick +building with a great white front porch and a fine stretch of lawn +before it. "How do you do, Mrs. Carson? Mr. Hildreth thought you +might like some early tomatoes for supper." +</P> + +<P> +A stout gray-haired woman had come out from the beautifully paneled +door and Richard performed the introductions. Mrs. Carson was voluble +in her thanks and suggested that the "young ladies" might like to go +through the buildings. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll come, too," whispered Rosemary to Richard, pressing closer +to him. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Carson was a rather handsome woman and there was efficiency and +competency in every crisp fold of her immaculate gingham dress and +every neat coil of her iron-gray hair. No doubt the Board of +Freeholders was to be congratulated on its choice of a matron for the +poor farm—but it was awe she inspired in the minds of the three girls +before her. Not for worlds would they have left the safe companionship +of sunny, kind-hearted Richard and gone on a tour alone with this +formidable personage. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are the people who live here?" whispered Sarah, when they had +been led through spotless corridors, glistening with varnish and +covered with bright linoleum, into orderly rooms stiffly furnished and +showing no signs of use and out again on to the porch tiled in red and +supported with white columns. +</P> + +<P> +It was a question Rosemary had been debating, too. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they're out back—there's a porch there they can use," said Mrs. +Carson carelessly. "Some of 'em spend the time in their +dormitories—just puttering around. The old ones are so messy I can't +have them out here or it would never be clean; and the young ones work +in the kitchen, mornings. Now if you'll come upstairs, I'll show you +the bathrooms your brother had installed for us." +</P> + +<P> +Richard had explained that they were Doctor Hugh's sisters and Mrs. +Carson was determined to show them every courtesy. They saw the large +kitchen at last, with three young girls, in blue dresses made exactly +alike, scraping carrots, and four old women peeling potatoes, and then +went out to the back lawn where half a dozen old people dozed in the +glare of the hot sun. +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't bother to speak to them," said Mrs. Carson. "Most of them +are deaf." +</P> + +<P> +But Rosemary, catching several indignant glances darted at the speaker, +doubted this. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you'll come over again," Mrs. Carson said, walking with them to +the wagon after they had, as she expressed it, "seen everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Mr. Hildreth he'll be a popular man tonight when we have those +tomatoes for supper," she added. "The old folks would rather have +something they like to eat than any other kind of gift; and our +tomatoes are late this year." +</P> + +<P> +Yes, she meant to be kind—one could see that, thought Rosemary, +mechanically holding on to Shirley as Solomon speeded up in his haste +to reach the home barn. +</P> + +<P> +She was very silent during the return drive and busied with her own +thoughts. Richard's quizzical announcement, "This car doesn't go any +further—end of the line, lady," woke her from her dreaming to find +that they were home. +</P> + +<P> +As she lightly jumped to the ground, she put the gist of her +meditations into words: +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Rosemary with conviction. "No, I wouldn't want to live at +the poor farm!" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah remained untroubled by any idea of living at the poor farm, but +at the supper table that night she had an individual announcement to +make. +</P> + +<P> +"All those people weren't deaf," she said placidly. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" Rosemary asked in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"I found out," Sarah answered, buttering her mashed potato lavishly. +</P> + +<P> +"But how?" insisted Rosemary, not without anxiety. One never knew what +Sarah would do next. +</P> + +<P> +That small girl grinned impishly. +</P> + +<P> +"I asked one old lady," she replied. "She said she wasn't. And that's +how I know." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SARAH'S SURPRISE +</H3> + +<P> +Winnie folded up a pair of stockings and dropped them into the +capacious bag which hung on the arm of her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"It beats me," she said conversationally, "where Sarah runs to every +afternoon. It's been going on now for three weeks and she shuts up +like a clam when I ask her any questions." +</P> + +<P> +Winnie and Mrs. Willis were seated in the cool, shaded living-room with +their mending. It was an intensely warm afternoon and several degrees +cooler inside the house than on the porch. Winnie insisted on helping +with the darning—she would have felt hurt had she been denied the task +of mating and sorting and mending the stockings and socks for the +family each week—and she took pride in assisting Mrs. Willis to keep +Doctor Hugh's belongings in perfect order. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother!" Rosemary hurried in, her hair a tangle of waves and ringlets +dampened from heat and perspiration, her cheeks like scarlet poppies +and her eyes glowing with enthusiasm. "Mother, I've thought of +something!" +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary leads an exciting life," Jack Welles had once declared in +Mrs. Willis' hearing. "She can get all worked up about anything she +happens to be thinking about." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary's mother remembered this speech now, smiling a little at the +recollection. +</P> + +<P> +"Richard and Warren are down in the tomato field, working their heads +off in this broiling sun," said Rosemary more picturesquely than +accurately. "And Mother, couldn't I make lemonade and take it down to +them?" +</P> + +<P> +"We have lemons," put in Winnie. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis nodded approval. +</P> + +<P> +"Make plenty, dear," she said cordially. "Don't put in too much sugar, +for the boys don't like it so sweet; but why not wait an hour until it +is cooler?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mother, let me do it now—they'll like it when they're working +hard. Where's Shirley? She could carry the cups," and Rosemary paused +in her flight kitchenwards. +</P> + +<P> +"Shirley is asleep—don't wake her," cautioned the mother. "Ask Sarah +to help you, dear; she is out in the barn. And do keep out of the sun +as much as you can, dear." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm," promised Rosemary obediently, disappearing. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go crack the ice," said Winnie, rising. "There's no use in +making the kitchen look like Niagara Falls, if a little forethought can +prevent it." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary was a quick worker and a neat one, when she didn't have to +chop ice, and she soon had a shiny white enamel pail half filled with +delicious cold lemonade. She poured out two generous glasses for her +mother and Winnie and carried them in with her compliments and then set +off expeditiously, carrying pail, dipper and three cups, a feat that +required her closest attention. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah!" she called when she reached the barn. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" called back Sarah, not very graciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Please come help me take some lemonade to the boys?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah put her head out of the barn door and eyed the pail thirstily. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me have some?" she begged. +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll help me carry these things," said Rosemary. "I brought +three cups and there's enough lemonade for everyone." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—all right, I'll help you," decided Sarah, "but I'm thirsty now." +</P> + +<P> +"The ice will melt if you're going to talk all day," said Rosemary, the +blazing sun making her more impatient than usual. "Come help me first +and drink your lemonade after we get down to the tomato field." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah darted back into the barn and reappeared in a moment with Bony, +the pig, under her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah Willis! You can't carry that filthy pig and help me lug this +pail, too—put him down," scolded Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"Bony isn't filthy—he's had a bath this morning!" flared Sarah. "He's +just as clean as any person, so there. And I want to show Richard and +Warren what he can do." +</P> + +<P> +"You know what Hugh would say if he saw you fussing with a pig and then +coming around food without washing your hands," Rosemary reminded her. +"If there is one thing Hugh won't stand, it's to have you handle pets +and then come to the table without scrubbing your hands. You know +that, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not coming to any table," insisted Sarah. "Besides Bony is clean, +I tell you. If I can't bring him I won't come at all." +</P> + +<P> +The walk down to the tomato field was long and hot, and Rosemary could +not hurry unless she had someone to share the weight of the pail which +would, she knew, grow heavier at each step. She capitulated. +</P> + +<P> +"But keep Bony on the other side of you," she commanded Sarah. "I +don't see why he can't walk; do you carry him everywhere he goes?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah tucked the pig under one arm and gave the other hand to the +handle of the pail. +</P> + +<P> +"Bony can walk, but I am saving his strength," she remarked with a +dignity worthy of Winnie. "You wait till you see what a smart pig he +is, Rosemary; no one appreciates him except me." +</P> + +<P> +Warren and Richard, bending over the long rows of tomatoes, +straightened up in surprise as Rosemary's clear call came down to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Stay up by the fence—you'll get your dress stained!" shouted Warren. +"We'll come over." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye gods, lemonade!" ejaculated Richard when he was near enough to hear +the inviting tinkle of ice. +</P> + +<P> +"And a pig!" grinned Warren. "Isn't Bony too heavy to cart around on a +day like this, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah shook her head in negation, but remained silent. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be baked!" Rosemary looked with sympathy at the two flushed +faces. +</P> + +<P> +Both boys looked warm and tired, but they averred stoutly that no one +minded the heat "after they were used to it." They declared that +nothing had ever tasted as good as the lemonade. +</P> + +<P> +"What made you think of bringing us it?" asked Warren, sitting down on +an overturned crate after his second cup and mopping his face with his +handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, last winter Jack Welles and the high school boys were shoveling +snow, we took them hot coffee and doughnuts," said Rosemary carelessly. +"I suppose I must have remembered how much they liked something warm to +drink—and you like something cold just as much, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"We sure do," agreed Richard warmly. "This Jack Welles is coming up +next week, isn't he? Mr. Hildreth is counting on him for two weeks." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary moved the pail beyond the reach of Sarah who seemed to have +developed an excessive thirst. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack and Hugh are both coming next Sunday," she answered. "You'll +like Jack, Warren, and so will you, Richard. He lives next door to us, +you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I only hope he's used to hard work," said Richard. "How old is +he, Rosemary? Almost sixteen? I don't suppose he has ever picked +tomatoes from sunup to sundown, but the cannery opens next week and +we'll be picking steadily until it closes. Mr. Hildreth is shipping +some crates to-day, but the real picking starts when the cannery opens. +We're counting on Jack to make a third hand." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll want to go fishing," declared Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack doesn't care how much he hurts the poor fish, jabbing hooks into +them." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Jack had had more than one violent argument over this +question. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't cruel to go fishing," said Rosemary impatiently, thinking how +tired Warren looked. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't been this year," announced Richard, "though they say there +are several good streams near here. Sundays I seem to lack ambition +and during the week, of course, there isn't time." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah edged a little nearer the pail. +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't catch fish would you, Warren?" she asked coaxingly. +</P> + +<P> +Warren looked at her and grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Not only would I catch them," he told her, "but I'd eat them; if we +are to have fish to eat, Sarah, someone must catch them for us. The +same way with roast chicken for Sunday dinner and roast pork, you know; +they don't grow on bushes." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah's eyes turned to Bony, now lying comfortably sprawled across her +lap. She was sitting on the ground and Rosemary beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"I never would eat Bony!" she said in horror-stricken tone. +</P> + +<P> +"No, of course not," Richard put in quickly, "but you'd eat a pig you +were not acquainted with, wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was most uncomfortable. She liked roast pork and in winter was +fond of little sausages. And now here was Richard telling her that +pigs—like Bony—had to be killed before one could have roast pork to +eat. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Sarah," said Rosemary, taking pity on her sister. "You +don't have to think about what you eat—just don't try to make everyone +see your way and don't argue so much and eat what Winnie gives you and +you'll have nothing to worry about." +</P> + +<P> +Warren laughed and held out his cup as Rosemary lifted the dipper +invitingly. +</P> + +<P> +"In other words, Sarah," he counseled, "don't be so valiant a reformer." +</P> + +<P> +"What's a reformer?" demanded Sarah, eyeing the pail anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"You're one when you try to stop your friends from going fishing," +Warren informed her. "That's the whole trouble with reform—no one is +willing to improve himself and let his neighbor alone; for all you +know, Sarah, you drive Jack Welles fishing in self-defense. Perhaps, +if you let him alone, he wouldn't go at all." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah stared, but Rosemary nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about Jack," said Rosemary, "but I do know that as soon +as someone says it isn't right to do such and such a thing, I always +want to do it. And it may be something I never thought of before." +</P> + +<P> +"Like coasting down hill backward," contributed Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary dimpled and Warren, who had been uneasily thinking they ought +to go back to the vines, resolved to wait a few minutes longer. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you coast backward?" asked Richard with interest. "What happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I ran into another sled and cut my wrists and nearly broke the +legs of the two boys on the other sled," Rosemary recited. "The +trouble was I never would have thought of it, if it hadn't been for +Miss Johnson. She's a woman who lives in Eastshore and she's forever +scolding about girls—the way they 'carry on,' she calls it. I +happened to hear her say that no nice, well-brought up girl would make +herself conspicuous on a coasting hill." +</P> + +<P> +"So you thought up the most conspicuous way of getting down the hill +and did it?" suggested Richard. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it turned out more conspicuous than I intended," Rosemary +acknowledged. "I never intended to tangle up three or four sleds and +have the news get around that there had been an accident on the hill. +Mother was so frightened when she heard of it—remember, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah remembered. But she was more interested in the lemonade. +</P> + +<P> +"There's some left, Rosemary," she tactfully declared. +</P> + +<P> +"You've had enough," said Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +Richard rose to his feet at a significant glance from Warren. It was +pleasant to rest a few moments, but the driving force of waiting work +had not relaxed, merely slowed down. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could help you," said Rosemary, simply and sincerely. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you call it you've just been doing?" answered Warren. +"Picking tomatoes isn't so hard, but it is monotonous; giving us a +little break in the day is something that counts big, Rosemary." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, anyway, Jack will be here to-morrow to help you," said Rosemary. +"Then perhaps you won't have to work so hard—many hands make light +work, Winnie says." +</P> + +<P> +"Now what," said Richard thoughtfully, "should you say was troubling +the small Sarah at this moment?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah, cut off from the supply of lemonade, had turned her back on the +others and was busily disgorging an assortment of articles from her +blouse. When she whirled around upon the astonished group it was +apparent that she had secreted upon her small person a pair of baby +shoes, a doll's dress and a small parasol. In these her pig, Bony, was +now arrayed. +</P> + +<P> +"You want to look at my pig!" she announced in clarion tones. "He can +do tricks!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tricks!" echoed Richard, while Rosemary rapidly identified the dress +as belonging to Shirley's largest doll, ditto the parasol, and the +shoes as a pair of Sarah's own carefully treasured for years by Winnie. +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of tricks?" demanded Warren. +</P> + +<P> +"You wait and see—" Sarah was so excited her voice trembled. "I +taught him lots of things. I've been teaching him every afternoon in +the barn—he is a naturally bright pig." +</P> + +<P> +Her audience was inclined to share her opinion, after watching Bony +perform. The pig walked up and down before them in the absurd costume, +twirling the parasol and bowing to each in turn as he passed. +</P> + +<P> +He danced, very mincingly, to a tune Sarah played for him on the +harmonica—Rosemary wondered how many other treasures Sarah's blouse +could hold—and though Richard said that no pig, no matter how highly +educated, could hope to identify that tune, it was admitted that Bony +was a graceful dancer. +</P> + +<P> +"He can wear spectacles and read a book, too," declared Sarah proudly, +"but I couldn't bring them!" +</P> + +<P> +Like all managers of celebrities she had begun to experience the +tyranny of the "props." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you must have had a heap of patience," commented Warren +admiringly. "Can he do anything else, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jump through a hoop," enumerated Sarah, "push a doll carriage and walk +around carrying a doll like a baby—I broke two of Shirley's china +dolls, teaching him that trick, but she doesn't know it yet. And, oh, +yes, he can sweep—with a toy broom—and play a toy piano." +</P> + +<P> +"So that's where all Shirley's toys have gone to!" Rosemary tried to +speak severely, but she ended by laughing. "Shirley has been missing +her playthings, one after the other," Rosemary explained to the boys. +"And we thought she took them outdoors to play with and forgot where +she left them." +</P> + +<P> +"After supper to-night," said Sarah, calmly ignoring this disclosure, +"I'll give an exhibition in the barn." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WILLING AND OBLIGING +</H3> + +<P> +Sarah was as good as her word. She not only assembled the entire +Rainbow Hill family in the barn that evening and put Bony through his +paces, but she continued to give "exhibitions" whenever and wherever +she could assemble an audience of one or more. Eventually she took +Bony over to the Gay farm and delighted the children there who thought +he was absolutely the most clever pig they had ever seen and Sarah the +most wonderful trainer. +</P> + +<P> +The fame of Bony spread abroad and gradually Sarah's family grew +accustomed to having a horse and wagon drive in, usually with a couple +of empty milk cans rattling around in the back showing that the driver +was on his way home from the daily trip to the creamery; and to hearing +a knock at the door, followed by a voice asking, "Is the little girl +in—the one with the pig?" +</P> + +<P> +Answered in the affirmative, the inevitable request would be: "Do you +think she would mind letting me see him do tricks? They tell me, down +to the creamery" (or at the store or the postoffice) "that he is sure a +smart pig." +</P> + +<P> +These requests pleased Sarah immensely. She, would sally forth +importantly and rout Bony out of his comfortable box, present him as +one would introduce a famous artist and put him through his program. +The audience never failed to be pleased and grateful and to be generous +with praises. Warren declared that there was small danger of Bony ever +forgetting his accomplishments for hardly a day passed that he wasn't +"billed to appear." +</P> + +<P> +But before Bony attained this place in the limelight, Doctor Hugh and +Jack Welles arrived for their promised two weeks' visit and vacation. +Even her marvelous pig could not hope to compete with these arrivals +and Sarah's interest in Bony slackened slightly though she kept him +rigorously in training. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor and Jack came in the former's car. It was difficult to say +whose disappointment was keenest when Jack announced that he intended +to sleep at the bungalow and eat at Mr. Hildreth's table—Mrs. Willis, +Winnie and Rosemary were equally dismayed. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack dear, I thought of course you'd live with us," protested Mrs. +Willis. "You know we'll love to have you and I'm afraid you won't be +comfortable at the bungalow." +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be any kind of a vacation for you," declared Rosemary. +"You'll have to get up at five o'clock because they have breakfast at +six; and Mrs. Hildreth won't let you put a book or a paper out of +place—Richard says so." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not saying anything against her cooking," pronounced Winnie, +through the screen door, where she had been drawn by the argument. +"But I tell you this in all honesty, Jack Welles; Mrs. Hildreth puts +too much salt in her oatmeal, to my way of thinking, and she skimps on +the shortening in her pie crust." +</P> + +<P> +Jack glanced across the porch at Doctor Hugh, who was seated in the +swing with Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't a vacation, you know," said Jack mildly. "I've hired out, +at wages, and I'm to go to work to-morrow morning. And it is in the +agreement that Mr. Hildreth is to 'board and lodge' me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you can work for him and live here with us, too," suggested +Rosemary comfortably. "Can't he, Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's ever so nice of you to want me," said Jack, "but you see, I've +figured out that I want the complete experience; I want to get up when +the other hired men do and eat breakfast when they do—Winnie wouldn't +like to get me a six o'clock breakfast for the next two weeks—and I +wouldn't let her, if she did." +</P> + +<P> +"Richard doesn't think you'll stick it out for the whole two weeks," +offered the placid Sarah, looking up from the book she was sharing with +Shirley on the grass rug. "He said so." +</P> + +<P> +Jack flushed, Doctor Hugh looked annoyed and Mrs. Willis sighed. +Sarah's remarks usually aroused varied emotions. +</P> + +<P> +"I think Jack is quite right," said the doctor firmly, before anyone +could speak. "He wants to see this thing through and while he knows +I'd like first rate to have him stay here at the house, I think he'd be +handicapped from the start. There'll be the evenings left him, anyway, +and Sundays—two of them at least." +</P> + +<P> +"You must come to us for Sunday dinner," planned Mrs. Willis instantly. +"I'll ask Richard and Warren, too; Winnie has wanted me to for some +time, but there never seemed to be a mutually convenient time." +</P> + +<P> +So Jack took his suit case over to the bungalow and was introduced to +the little room next to the one shared by Warren and Richard. He had +met Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth on one of his trips to Rainbow Hill with +Doctor Hugh, but he had not seen Warren and Richard till this afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +The three boys shook hands pleasantly. Jack was the youngest by a +couple of years and not so deeply tanned; though, being an active lad +and fond of outdoor sports, he had acquired a coat of brown since the +closing of school. But he felt, looking at the other two, that he +lacked their muscular advantage and a certain hardness that bespoke +sturdy endurance. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready to go to work," said Jack, in response to a question from +Mr. Hildreth. "I've brought overalls and I'm said to be willing and +obliging." +</P> + +<P> +Richard grinned and Warren's gray eyes smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I hope you'll tumble up early in the morning," observed the +farmer, his mind busy already with the next day's work. "We're going +to start picking tomatoes for the cannery." +</P> + +<P> +There wasn't much thrill about the persistent ringing of the alarm +clock the next morning and Jack turned over with a groan. The dial +said five o'clock, though he was sure he had not been asleep longer +than two hours. +</P> + +<P> +"Morning," was Mr. Hildreth's brief greeting when he met his new hand +at the back door. "Glad to see you made it. Warren's your boss—he +knows what has to be done. You'll find him out in the barn, milking." +</P> + +<P> +Even a careless observer—and Jack was not that—would have been struck +with the dewy freshness of the grass and shrubbery and the magnificent +splendor of the Eastern sky; and Jack, on his way to the barn, drew a +deep breath of something like contentment. +</P> + +<P> +"Not so bad," he thought, beginning to whistle. "Not so bad, after +all." +</P> + +<P> +Warren glanced up from his milking, his eyes cordial, his busy hands +continuing their task. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hildreth said you're my boss," said Jack directly. "What do you +want me to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can't milk, can you?" replied Warren. "No, of course, you haven't +been around cows. Richard is feeding and cleaning the horses—you +might help him." +</P> + +<P> +Jack was inclined to remember the remark Sarah had attributed to +Richard, but five minutes spent in that cheerful youth's company were +enough to dispel any faint resentment he might feel. Richard liked to +chatter and he liked to sing and whistle; and while he showed Jack what +constituted a proper breakfast for a horse and how these useful beasts +should be groomed, he kept up a running fire of comment and +good-natured musical effort that made up in volume what it lacked in +depth. By the time Warren's pails were full and the barn work done, +the three boys were on a friendly footing and they marched into +breakfast to the tune of "There Were Three Crows Sat in a Tree." +</P> + +<P> +Jack could have found it in his heart to wish that Mrs. Hildreth might +think less of time and more of passing comfort. The dining-room of the +bungalow was fully furnished, but the farmer's wife used it only on +state occasions. It made less work, she said, to eat in the kitchen +and she could "get through" a meal more rapidly and take fewer steps +when those to be served were close to the stove. +</P> + +<P> +It fell to the lot of Jack to be close to the stove this morning and he +gave a momentary sigh for the coolness and order and daintiness that he +knew would give atmosphere to the breakfast in Mrs. Willis' household. +Not that he minded eating in the kitchen—he and his mother often did +that when his father was away and thought it a lark; but he did mind +the heat and the haste and the silence in which this, his first meal +with the Hildreths, was consumed. +</P> + +<P> +"Ready?" said Warren briefly, when they had finished, leading the way +to the barn. +</P> + +<P> +They had been working in the barnyard and vegetable garden for an hour +and were on their way to the tomato field—it was necessary to wait for +the heavy dew to dry before they began to work among the vines—when +the Willis family gathered for their breakfast at the round table set +on the porch this warm morning in Doctor Hugh's honor. +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh, will you come watch me wade in the brook?" asked Shirley, eating +her cereal as though hypnotized and quite forgetting to protest that +she didn't see why she had to drink milk. +</P> + +<P> +"You wait till you see Bony, Hugh," Sarah told him. "He's the best pig +you ever saw. He's bright." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish, if you have time, Hugh," said Rosemary, "you'd show me what is +the matter with the camera. Every picture I take is overexposed." +</P> + +<P> +"For mercy's sake, let your brother rest," Winnie admonished them, +bringing in a plate of fresh Parker House rolls. "He only gets a bit +of a breathing spell and he doesn't want to race from one end of this +farm to the other. Take that large brown one, Hughie." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Willis, behind the silver coffee pot, smiled at her son. +</P> + +<P> +"Best rolls I ever ate, Winnie," he said appreciatively. "I'll bet if +Mr. Greggs' wife could make rolls like these he'd be a sweeter-tempered +carpenter. I'm going to have the finest of vacations and rest +thoroughly by going everywhere with everybody. I'll watch you wade, +Shirley; and I'll give Sarah my opinion of this remarkable pig; +Rosemary and I will 'snap' the whole farm. But I wish it distinctly +understood that Mother and I have an unbreakable engagement to take a +drive every afternoon, or just after dinner, as she prefers." +</P> + +<P> +"And won't you have to go see any sick people at all?" demanded +Shirley, almost upsetting her glass of milk in the excitement of having +a brother with time to spare. +</P> + +<P> +"I left word with Mrs. Welles that I'd answer emergency calls, of +course," explained Doctor Hugh, answering his mother's unspoken +question. "I've arranged it so I won't have to go the hospital and, +barring the unforeseen, I can count on a free fortnight. So we'll hope +there won't be any sick people to go see, Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you going, Rosemary?" the doctor hailed her as she and Sarah +started down the lawn after breakfast was over. +</P> + +<P> +"We thought we'd go down and see Jack," called Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh pushed open the screen door and came down the steps. +</P> + +<P> +"Let Jack get his bearings first," he advised. "There is bound to be a +number of new experiences for him this initial day and I think it will +be kinder to let him get adjusted to his job. He'll be up this evening +and you and Mother can play for him and cheer him up generally." +</P> + +<P> +"Why—why—will he need cheering up?" Rosemary looked so startled that +her brother laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Not precisely cheering up, perhaps," he said, "but a mental and +physical rest. Jack is bound to have sore muscles, after a long day +bending over tomato crates; he thinks he knows what it means to work, +but he has never worked in his life as he will now. And I don't know, +but I suspect, he may have a sore mind; Jack has never worked for +anyone and he must learn to be 'bossed.' All in all, Rosemary, I'd put +off going down to the tomato field till to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—all right," agreed Rosemary reluctantly. "I do think he might +have stayed with us and then he would have had a better time." +</P> + +<P> +"If we're not going down to the field, I'll go get Bony and take him +down to the brook," said Sarah, quick to seize her advantage. "I can +wash him while Shirley goes wading." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEW FRIEND +</H3> + +<P> +They spent the morning down at the brook. Shirley was enchanted to be +allowed to help build a dam—the height of his ambition, Doctor Hugh +whimsically told them. Shirley paddled around in the brook and brought +him stones and he laid them in a chain that made a crude dam, both +getting very warm and very wet and having a thoroughly enjoyable time +of it. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary had brought the camera and snapped a dozen poses of the +sunny-haired Shirley as she gamboled about with her skirts tucked up to +her waist, looking like a particularly chubby elf. Doctor Hugh had +done something to the camera that would, Rosemary was sure, correct her +tendency to overexpose a film and the results fully justified her +faith; whether it was due to his manipulation of the "innards" of the +camera or his instructions to her, the prints were exceptionally good +and clear. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah, of course, devoted her morning to scrubbing the pig. The +doctor's shouts of laughter could not persuade her to curtail the +ceremony in the slightest detail. She had brought soap and towels and +brush with her and she gravely scrubbed and rinsed and dried Bony and +put him out in the sun to dry. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll bake," protested Doctor Hugh, when, the pig's bath finished, +Sarah arranged him on a dry towel in the sun. "You'll have roast pork, +Sarah, if you're not careful." +</P> + +<P> +"No I won't," answered Sarah confidently, straightening the pig's legs +for him since he did not offer to move. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't he even grunt?" demanded Doctor Hugh who had never seen an +animal so willing to be waited upon. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he can grunt—" Sarah was indignant. "He can do anything." +</P> + +<P> +"When the sun dries him on that side, she'll turn him over on the +other," whispered Rosemary. "You'll see." +</P> + +<P> +The dam was built, the roll of films used up and Bony dry and +immaculate by the time Winnie rang the bell to tell them that lunch was +ready. +</P> + +<P> +"We must have a picnic," said Doctor Hugh as they went up to the house, +he carrying Shirley, who objected to putting on her socks and sandals, +and Sarah carrying the pig with almost as much care. "I haven't been +to a picnic in years." +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon he carried his mother off for a drive in the car, and +the three girls were left to their own devices. Rosemary's natural +inclination was to find Jack and ask him how his day was going, but +mindful of her brother's advice, she resolved to wait. She was playing +jack stones with Shirley and Sarah when Mrs. Hildreth came hurrying +across the lawn. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary," she said, fanning her flushed face with her apron, "I +wonder if you'd do me a favor. All the men are busy and I couldn't ask +them to drop their work for such a trifle; and I have to grease the +chickens for lice, so I can't go myself." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth always seemed to choose the hottest days for the most +unlovely tasks, reflected Rosemary, but Sarah held a different opinion. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come hold 'em for you, Mrs. Hildreth," she offered, rising in +such haste that she almost knocked Shirley off the step. "I love to +see you grease chickens!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I do need somebody to help me," said Mrs. Hildreth +gratefully. "Rosemary, Miss Clinton telephoned me this morning she +wanted a dozen fresh eggs—why do they always say 'fresh eggs'?" she +broke off irritably. "'Tisn't likely I'd go out and get her a dozen +stale eggs, even if I could find 'em. Well, she wants them this +afternoon and I hate to disappoint her. She's kind of used to getting +what she wants and everybody feels sorry for her. I know you like to +walk and when I saw your mother and brother going off in the car, I +says, 'Maybe she won't mind walking over there for me, having nothing +else to do.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go," said Rosemary pleasantly, "but where does this Miss Clinton +live?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth gave minute directions for finding the house. It was +close to the road, the same road that went past the Gay farm, but in +the opposite direction. It wasn't over a quarter of a mile and +Rosemary was to knock on the door and when someone called "Come in" to +lift the latch and enter. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take Shirley with me," said Rosemary, "and you'll tell Winnie, +won't you, Mrs. Hildreth? She went down to the mail box at the +cross-roads to mail a letter and she'll wonder where we are when she +comes back." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth promised to tell Winnie and she and Sarah departed to +begin their war on the chicken pests while Rosemary and Shirley set off +to follow the back road to the little yellow house where Miss Clinton +lived. +</P> + +<P> +They found it without difficulty, knocked and heard someone call "Come +in," just as Mrs. Hildreth had predicted. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do?" said the same voice when they stepped directly into a +large square room. "I'm very glad to see you." +</P> + +<P> +A very tiny old lady sat in a wheel chair in the center of the room. +Her skin was almost as yellow as the paint on the house and +considerably more wrinkled. She had bright black eyes that reminded +Rosemary of a bird and little, eager claw-like hands that were +strangely bird-like, too. She beamed at the girls, plainly delighted +to have company. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you came," she said when Rosemary had given her the eggs and +explained they were from Rainbow Hill. "Mrs. Hildreth told me the +Hammonds rented their house this summer. Sit down and we'll talk. Let +the little girl play with the toys in the cabinet—she won't hurt 'em." +</P> + +<P> +The cabinet stood in one corner of the room and was well stocked with +toys, some new, some well-worn. Shirley sat down on the floor and +amused herself contentedly while Miss Clinton kept up a running fire of +comment till Rosemary's wrist watch showed half-past four. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd come see me again," said the old lady wistfully. "I get +lonesome for someone to talk to. I get around pretty good in this +chair and I have lots of books and papers to read; but I like to talk +and summers everyone is so busy they don't think to drop in." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll drop in," promised Rosemary impulsively. "Mother would come to +see you, too, but she couldn't walk this far; perhaps Hugh, my brother, +will bring her some day." +</P> + +<P> +"Let me have my knitting, if you're really going," said Miss Clinton +regretfully. "It's there in that basket beside you. That's my sixth +bedspread, or will be, when I get it finished." +</P> + +<P> +"What beautiful work!" exclaimed Rosemary as the old lady spread the +knitted square over her knee. "How fine it is—isn't it very +difficult?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit," Miss Clinton assured her. "I do it when my eyes get tired +of reading print. I'll teach you how to make a spread, if you'll come +see me now and then," she offered quickly. "They tell me they're worth +seventy-five dollars apiece but I never sell mine; I give them to +relatives and friends." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary and Shirley said good by and were half way down the path when +the door was opened and Miss Clinton called after them: +</P> + +<P> +"Bring the little girl with you, too; I'll get her something new to +play with when she gets tired of the cabinet toys." +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary," said Shirley, skipping happily—she seldom walked, her +brother said, but ran or hopped her way along—"Rosemary, what is +there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" said Rosemary, puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>There,</I>" insisted Shirley, pointing behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, nothing—except Miss Clinton's house—you know that, Shirley," +replied Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not Miss Clinton's house," said Shirley, shaking her head. "Next +to that, Rosemary." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean around the curve?" asked Rosemary, for the road curved +sharply beyond the big maples that marked the line of Miss Clinton's +property. +</P> + +<P> +Shirley nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"What is there?" she repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, dear," Rosemary admitted. "I've never been that far. +Do you want to go and see? We have time, I think." +</P> + +<P> +Shirley slipped a small hand into her sister's. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go," she said eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary had often felt a curiosity to know what was beyond a bend in a +road, but she never remembered making a deliberate attempt to gratify +that feeling. Shirley, having been made curious, had no mind to go +away unsatisfied. +</P> + +<P> +They turned and walked back, Rosemary hoping the little old lady might +not see them. But she was nowhere in sight and was, in all +probability, absorbed in her knitting. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe the three bears live around the corner," suggested Shirley, +beginning to regret her curiosity as they neared the turn. +</P> + +<P> +"The Big Bear and the Middle Bear and the Little Bear?" said Rosemary. +"I wonder if they do? In a cunning little house, Shirley, with three +beds and three porridge bowls—wouldn't that be fun?" +</P> + +<P> +Shirley pressed closer. She preferred to hear about the three bears, +rather than meet them face to face. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes' walk brought them to the curve and around it—and there +was a vegetable stand; almost a small market, with fruits and garden +produce attractively displayed and a number of boldly painted signs +announcing that fresh eggs and dressed poultry were for sale on +specified days of the week. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a store?" asked Shirley, much interested. +</P> + +<P> +"It's like a store," Rosemary told her. "I remember Hugh was telling +Mother something about this plan the other night. He said that down on +the shore road he saw lots and lots of stands, when he spent his +summers at Seapoint. And he was wondering why some of the farmers +inland didn't do this—sell to people who have automobiles." +</P> + +<P> +"Do people come and buy?" asked Shirley, staring at the tomatoes as +though she had never seen that homely vegetable before. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, they come out in their cars, from Bennington and further away, I +suppose," said Rosemary. "And they buy all this stuff fresh and take +it home with them. I wonder who takes care of the stand?" +</P> + +<P> +A sharp, thin, freckled face rose slowly from behind the tiers of +baskets and a reedy voice announced, "I do—want to buy anything?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary jumped. She had not known there was anyone near. Now she saw +the owner of the freckled face was a girl, a few years older than +herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you take care of the stand?" Rosemary asked, smiling her friendly +smile. +</P> + +<P> +The freckle-faced one nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"That's my job summers," she confided. "Winters I'm studying. I'm +going to be a school teacher. What are you going to be?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary pulled Shirley back from a contemplated investigation of a +basket of early pears. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—I don't believe I know," she answered the question. "I've +thought of being a nurse—my brother Hugh is a doctor; or I might be a +music teacher." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to teach school," the other girl declared again. "I'm going +to have some pretty dresses and go to the city every Saturday, if I +have a mind to. What's your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary Willis," Rosemary answered meekly. "This is my sister, +Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Edith Barrow," the girl announced. "I don't live here, except in +summer. I help Mr. and Mrs. Mains—know them?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"We're here for the summer," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Renters," said Edith Barrow as though that catalogued the Willis +family as perhaps it did. "Well, when I'm going to school I live with +my aunt. She boards students. I don't suppose you're in high school +yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't touch those onions, Shirley," Rosemary warned. "No, I'm not in +high school—not for a year. In June I'll graduate from the Eastshore +grammar school," she explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like keeping store?" asked Shirley, who had kept still longer +than usual. She may have thought it was her turn to ask questions. +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't a store—it's a stand," Edith corrected her. "Yes, I like +it well enough. I took in twelve dollars yesterday. You have to be +good at arithmetic to make change; that's why Mr. Mains likes me to be +out here. Mrs. Mains can't tell how much money to give back when she +gets a bill from a customer." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any candy?" was Shirley's next query. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit," Edith Barrow answered. "Only things that are good for you +to eat. Candy makes you sick. Did you know that?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary couldn't help thinking that, young as she was, Edith already +talked like a school teacher. +</P> + +<P> +"Like the fussy kind," Rosemary emended to herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes a car now," said the young saleswoman suddenly. "They're +going to stop—I know them. I hope they'll want tomatoes today. We +haven't much else." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to go," Rosemary declared hastily. "Good by—say good by, +Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +"She isn't looking at me," complained Shirley and indeed Edith was +centering her attention on the coming car and her thoughts were +evidently all for the approaching sale. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack would say she was chasing success," Rosemary told herself smiling +as she took Shirley's hand and led her away. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh and his mother were on the porch when Rosemary and Shirley +reached the house, but Sarah was nowhere in sight. When a few minutes +later she walked out among them, radiantly clean, attired in fresh tan +linen, her shining dark hair neatly brushed, her family welcomed her +with delighted surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"How nice you look!" said her mother appreciatively. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you could have seen her half an hour ago," announced Winnie +from the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +Her words were in direct opposition to her desire, for she went on to +say that she had met Sarah as the latter came from the chicken yard. +</P> + +<P> +"She was grease from head to foot," pronounced Winnie, while Sarah sat +down on the rug and looked innocent. "You'd have thought, to look at +her, that Mrs. Hildreth had been greasing her and not the chickens; +there were feathers in her hair and dirt ground into her face and +hands, and she must have been sitting in the dust pile where the +chickens scratch. I had to give her a bath and change every stitch of +her clothes, because I was afraid you wouldn't know her. And if dinner +is late to-night, you can thank Sarah Baton Willis." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come set the table." offered Rosemary, jumping up. +</P> + +<P> +As she laid the knives and forks, she told Winnie about her visit to +Miss Clinton. +</P> + +<P> +"I know her," declared Winnie, slicing bread—she had fastened back the +communicating door between the kitchen and the dining-room. "At least +I know of her; Mrs. Hildreth was telling me the other day. She's a +woman who likes company—that's all she wants and all she doesn't get, +summer times at least. I never saw a neighborhood like this one—I +don't believe any of the farmers dare die in July or August for fear +their friends couldn't stop farming long enough to come to the funeral." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary giggled. +</P> + +<P> +"Is she poor, Winnie?" she asked with frank curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +"My, no, not that I have heard tell of," answered Winnie. "She has an +income of her own and plenty of relatives, scattered hereabouts. I +believe a niece comes and stays with her during the winter months—her +brother's daughter. Mrs. Hildreth was telling me that she writes +hundreds of letters—though I guess she can't write as many as +that—and she wheels herself out to the mail box and back in that chair +and washes dishes and everything, sitting in it. But summers she gets +fearfully lonesome. The neighbors run in a good deal in the winter and +hold sewing-circle meetings there, but they haven't time to bother in +the growing season." +</P> + +<P> +"She had toys in a cabinet—Shirley played with them and she said she'd +get her some more if she tired of those," said Rosemary, placing the +chairs. "Do many children go see her, Winnie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Hildreth told me she keeps those toys to amuse the children who +may come visiting with their mothers," explained Winnie. "Miss Clinton +figured that if the children had something to play with they wouldn't +be in a hurry to go home. Downright pathetic, I call it, to be so +hungry for someone to talk to that you try to bribe people to stay a +little longer." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to see her," Rosemary said, as she filled the water glasses. +"I told her I'd come—it isn't far to go and I have plenty of time. +Can I do anything more, Winnie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing except to tell your mother dinner is ready," was Winnie's +grateful reply. "You are the handiest child, sometimes, Rosemary, and +I declare I don't know how I should have got dinner on the table +to-night without a bit of a lift. I hate to be late, too, when Hughie +is here." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope Jack comes up to talk to-night," said Rosemary as they sat down +at the table. "I want to know if it is fun to earn your own living. +I'm going to try it myself some day." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACK—HIRED MAN +</H3> + +<P> +It wasn't all fun, Jack assured her when, soon after dinner, he came +toiling up the grass path and mounted the porch steps wearily. +</P> + +<P> +"I never was so tired in my life," he declared. "Gee, I thought I was +'hard' enough—I've been fishing lots since school closed and that +isn't a lazy man's work especially if you wade upstream. I've hiked +miles and I've worked in the garden at home; but at this minute I have +three hundred and ninety-eight muscles creaking in my machinery that I +never knew before existed." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh tossed him an extra sofa cushion and Jack stuffed it behind +his back as he sat in one of the comfortable wicker chairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Richard and Warren?" demanded Sarah. "I want to tell them +about greasing the chickens. Jack, did you ever grease chickens?" +</P> + +<P> +"Now look here, Sarah," protested Doctor Hugh hastily, "we've listened +to the unsavory details of that process once and not even for Jack's +sake can we go through it again. Besides, Jack has a recital of his +own; you come sit with me and we'll listen to an agricultural lecture." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Shirley both rushed to accept the invitation and after some +skirmishing managed to squeeze into the one big chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren and Richard have gone down to the brook," reported Jack. "Mr. +Hildreth thinks someone from town is gigging there nights and they want +to keep a watch. I haven't enough ambition to catch a worm, let alone +a gigger." +</P> + +<P> +"What's gigging?" cried Sarah, twisting about so that she placed her +feet in Rosemary's lap. +</P> + +<P> +"Gigging is fishing at night," said Jack briefly. "I'll show you +sometime—when I can bend my knees again." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh adroitly shifted the wandering feet by turning Sarah back +to her original position. +</P> + +<P> +"The first day is always the hardest," he said encouragingly. "You +will live through to-morrow, if that's any comfort, Jack." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of course, I'm not complaining," Jack declared. "I don't expect +to pick roses—ouch!—and I won't grunt. But that tomato field must be +twenty miles long!" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary played for him presently and Mrs. Willis brought out the drop +cakes she had "saved" for him, and before it was nine o'clock—his +self-imposed bed-time—Jack felt more cheerful in spirit if not in +muscle. +</P> + +<P> +But the days that followed tested his spirit severely. It was, as +Doctor Hugh had said, an entirely new experience for him to work for +anyone else and to work straight through a hot summer day with a brief +noon hour and no free time planned. There were even a number of chores +to be done after supper. "Vacation" to Jack had hitherto meant long, +cloudless days with leisure to read lazily in the hammock, or go +swimming when he pleased and license to grumble when his father +suggested that a little weeding would do the garden no harm. +</P> + +<P> +It had not occurred to Jack, when he so blithely decided to hire out to +Mr. Hildreth, that he was contracting to give six days of labor—and +part of the seventh—as a week's work; he had not thought much about +it, but somewhere in the back of his mind there had been a hazy scheme +of affairs that included a day or two off, when it should be convenient +for him—free days which he would spend fishing with Doctor Hugh and +"playing around" with Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley. He was surprised +to find that fishing and kindred sports had no place on Warren and +Richard's schedule; work was a serious thing to them and in their +experience money was not to be easily earned. +</P> + +<P> +Jack said little, but an undercurrent of friction began to develop +between him and Warren though to do him justice Warren was more than +ordinarily thoughtful and ready to make every allowance for Jack's +inexperience. But naturally the issuing of orders fell to him and he +was made responsible for the volume of work accomplished each day. Mr. +Hildreth permitted no excuses for failure in tasks set and though +extremely just he had a shrewd and accurate knowledge of the time +required for each chore and the amount of finished work to be turned +out each hour. +</P> + +<P> +Jack and Richard "hit it off together" very well, too well, in fact; +they began to "fool," to skylark and, insensibly, waste time. When +Warren interfered it was in the role of kill-joy, a character he did +not fancy. When, on his return from driving a load of tomatoes to the +cannery one afternoon, instead of finding filled crates ready for a +second trip, he discovered that neither boy had picked a tomato and +that they had broken several crates and mashed a quantity of ripe +tomatoes in good-natured tussling. Warren spoke sharply and to the +point. He sent Jack to one end of a row and Richard to the other and +kept them separated the remainder of the afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +The team was another grievance. Jack was sure he could be trusted to +drive Solomon and his mate to the cannery and back and this hauling +afforded a welcome break in a monotonous day. But Mr. Hildreth flatly +refused to allow Jack to handle the horses and either he or Warren made +the twice a day trip to the Center. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll quit to-morrow," said Jack desperately, night after night. +</P> + +<P> +And in the morning he would decide to stick it out another day. +</P> + +<P> +Twice he went to sleep in his chair on the porch of the little white +house, waking to find that Mrs. Hildreth and the girls had gone to bed +and left Doctor Hugh, reading quietly under the lamp, to keep him +company. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing to be ashamed of," said the doctor when Jack stammered his +apology. "After a day of honest toil, Nature's going to exact her +toll. You'll be as hard as nails, Jack, if you keep this up." +</P> + +<P> +The girls soon accepted the idea that Jack was not free to go about +with them and made their plans without including him. Rosemary went +nearly every day to see Miss Clinton, on some pretext or other, and +Shirley often accompanied her. Rosemary was rapidly learning to knit +the blocks for a bedspread with which she intended to surprise her +mother. Sarah gave most of her time and attention to Bony, but she +also visited the Gays though, in the excitement and pleasure of having +Doctor Hugh at their beck and call, it is to be regretted that the Gay +family were left more to themselves than Rosemary or her sisters +intended. +</P> + +<P> +Jack's irritation culminated in the second week of his contract. True +to her promise, Mrs. Willis had asked the three boys to Sunday dinner +and, under the mellowing influence of Winnie's best cooking and the +friendly atmosphere of the little white house, the tension had relaxed +and the afternoon spent on the porch had been restful for at least +three of the group and happy for all. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going fishing to-morrow," announced Doctor Hugh, a night or two +later. "The alarm clock is set for four and I'm coming home when the +last nibble plays me false." +</P> + +<P> +"Care if I go along?" said Jack impulsively. "I haven't had a bit of +fishing since I've been here. I brought my rod and tackle in case I +had a chance, but I haven't unpacked them yet." +</P> + +<P> +The creak of the swing ceased suddenly. Warren had been swaying back +and forth gently in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—no—come along, if it's all right," said the doctor, after a +moment's hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll meet you at the barn," promised Jack. "Gee, it will seem good to +take a day off." +</P> + +<P> +Still Warren said nothing. The three boys had said good night and +walked almost to bungalow before he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you really planning to go fishing tomorrow, Jack?" he asked +quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Jack shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"What about the work?" +</P> + +<P> +"One day out won't wreck the crops," hazarded Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't stand here arguing all night," urged Richard. "Come on—I'm +going to bed." +</P> + +<P> +Warren paid no attention and continued to address Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't turn out in the morning I'll know you've quit," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not fired till Mr. Hildreth says so," angrily retorted Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"You work to-morrow, or you're through," declared Warren, a steel edge +to his voice. "I'm bossing this job and it doesn't happen to be one +that can wait anyone's personal convenience." +</P> + +<P> +They tramped upstairs to their rooms, Jack inwardly seething. He took +off one shoe and hurled it across the bed as a relief to his feelings. +</P> + +<P> +He'd show Warren Baker! It was a pity if a fellow had to ask him every +time he wanted a few hours to himself—he didn't have to have money, +anyway—he'd let the old job slide. He had come up voluntarily to +"hire out" and he didn't intend to be treated like a day laborer. +</P> + +<P> +The other shoe followed the first. +</P> + +<P> +Richard had said he wouldn't "stick it out" for two weeks. Perhaps he +ought not to quit with the time so nearly gone. Mr. Hildreth would, of +course, uphold Warren. He would hate to be left short-handed in such +beautiful picking weather, but he would not condone a fishing trip. +And there was his record—Jack was secretly rather proud of that; he +and Richard were keeping count of the number of crates each picked +daily and Jack had high hopes of outdistancing Richard before the end +of the week. Maybe he might stay his week out—just to show Richard! +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh waited twenty minutes for Jack the next morning, then +rightly concluded that he had changed his mind. Warren, meeting Jack +in the barn at the usual hour, said "good morning" pleasantly, but Jack +merely gave a curt nod. He might be working, but there was no reason +why he should pretend to like it, he said to himself childishly. +</P> + +<P> +He went about his chores jerkily, still "sore" as Richard described it +and, as industrial statistics demonstrate, ill temper lowers our guard; +another time Jack might have been more careful, but this morning he +caught his finger on a nail in the harness room and tore an ugly gash +down its brown length. +</P> + +<P> +He said nothing about the accident, washed the cut as well as he could +and went doggedly to work after breakfast at the interminable rows of +tomatoes. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh and his car returned with a most respectable "catch" about +four o'clock that afternoon and the lucky fisherman suggested that +company be asked to dinner to enjoy the fish. +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw such acting boys—never!" scolded Rosemary, who had +volunteered to be the messenger. "They won't any of them come! Warren +said he was too tired to talk to anyone and Jack said 'No'—just like +that—he is too cross for words! And then Richard said if they were +going to act like ninnies he wasn't going to come and make excuses for +them, so he said 'No thank you,' too." +</P> + +<P> +"Jack has a sore finger," said Sarah wisely. "I heard Richard tell him +he ought to take care of it and Jack told him to mind his own affairs." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's been a warm day and perhaps they're entitled to be cross," +said Doctor Hugh pacifically. "We'll send Mrs. Hildreth three of the +fish and if she fries them as well as Winnie does, there may be a peace +treaty signed." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LITTLE GIRL LOST +</H3> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth may not have been as good a cook as Winnie. Whatever the +reason, no one came whistling up from the bungalow after dinner to +suggest "Let's hear 'Old Black Joe,'" or to offer to play a game of +croquet. Presently Doctor Hugh announced that he was going to walk +down to see Jack, and Rosemary went with him. Sarah and Shirley were, +with some difficulty, persuaded to remain behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody home," was Richard's disconsolate greeting as he rose from the +porch railing. "Mr. Hildreth has gone across fields to borrow some +more crates and Mrs. Hildreth is setting bread in the kitchen. Warren +has gone to the Center and Jack is nursing a grouch upstairs." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I came to see Jack," said the doctor. "I'll go up in a minute." +</P> + +<P> +"He and Warren are on the outs," declared Richard frankly. "Each one +thinks he is a Roman candle." +</P> + +<P> +"How perfectly horrid of Warren!" said Rosemary hotly. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren?" echoed the bewildered Richard. "What has Warren done to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He hasn't done anything to me—" Rosemary's color began to rise. +"But I don't think he is one bit fair to Jack." +</P> + +<P> +Before Richard could argue this, the door opened and Jack came out. He +had heard voices and perhaps wished to discourage the intention of the +doctor to come up and see him. He sat down on the opposite side of the +step from Rosemary and her brother and put one hand carelessly behind +him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" he said grumpily. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, those fish were fine," declared Richard, feeling his +responsibility as host, since Jack did not seem moved to speech. "They +were so fresh, I could almost see 'em leaping out of the brook. You +must have had good luck." +</P> + +<P> +"First-rate," said the doctor. "Sorry you couldn't come up to the +house for dinner, Rich." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I could have come," admitted Richard cautiously, "but I'm no +good presenting regrets for others. Warren and Jack were peeved—" +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't make any excuses for me," interrupted Jack coldly, holding +up a throbbing hand behind his back. +</P> + +<P> +"See?" said Richard with a gesture of despair. "What could a fellow +do? And I'll bet Winnie cooks fish so you never forget it." +</P> + +<P> +"She's a good cook," Doctor Hugh conceded. +</P> + +<P> +Richard sighed. He wished Rosemary felt more talkative. In his +anxiety to entertain his guests, he stumbled on a sore subject. +</P> + +<P> +"I used to go fishing pretty often myself," he said pleasantly. "The +first year we were in college, Warren and I went off by ourselves +nearly every Saturday afternoon. We made friends with the State +wardens and they told us a lot of useful things. Once we saw them +stock a stream—that was great. Ever see that, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," snapped Jack, "and I'm not likely to; the only thing I'll know by +the end of this summer will be how many cans of tomatoes the Goldenrod +Canning Company has packed this year." +</P> + +<P> +"How do they stock a stream?" asked Rosemary, her curiosity unloosening +her tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they have thousands of baby fish and they ladle 'em out like so +much fine gold," said Richard. "And we saw them net a pond once for +carp—I wish I had more time to play around. Perhaps when Warren and I +get our own farm we can carry out a few ideas of ours." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that you're going to do when you get your own farm, Richard?" +asked Mrs. Hildreth, coming out on the porch, looking warm and tired. +"I declare, every summer I say I'll have the baker stop here," she +added. "I get so sick of baking my own bread when it's warm." +</P> + +<P> +She did not sit down, but stood poised on the top step. Jack who had +risen with the rest, kept one hand stiffly away from his body. +</P> + +<P> +"What were you saying, Richard?" asked Mrs. Hildreth again. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I was day-dreaming I guess," Richard answered. "I said that when +Warren and I have our own farm, perhaps we'll have time to do some of +the things we have always wanted to do." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth mopped her flushed face with a handkerchief of generous +size. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you won't," she prophesied. "I never knew anyone who lived on a +farm to have a minute's time for anything but the hardest kind of work. +Even in winter when the crops are in, there's wood to get out and cut +and the animals to be fed and bedded down and the fires to look after +and paths to be opened and the milking to be done. It's one thing +after another, all the year round." +</P> + +<P> +Richard put one arm around the porch pillar. +</P> + +<P> +"It could be different," he insisted. "For instance, you could buy +bread—you just said so. That would save you some time." +</P> + +<P> +"Which I should feel duty-bound to use in canning more fruit," +countered Mrs. Hildreth promptly. "I'm not so keen on work, but the +way I'm made, I feel guilty if I waste a half hour." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't wasting time to have a little enjoyment and leisure," Richard +declared doggedly. "Is it, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +Jack a moment before had struck his hand against the porch railing, a +light tap, scarcely to be noticed. But his face was white as he turned +savagely on Richard. +</P> + +<P> +"Work is the only thing that counts and you know it," he said fiercely. +"The crops and the crops alone, are to be considered. If you kill +yourself getting them in, that's a small matter; next year someone else +will plant 'em again and perhaps kill himself, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, Jack, maybe you have a little touch of the sun," said Mrs. +Hildreth. "I think the doctor had better give you something to make +you sleep. You will, won't you, Doctor Willis?" the good woman urged +anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all right," said Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm sure I hope so," she returned in a voice that was far from +sounding convinced. "Mr. Hildreth had a brother who had a sunstroke +once and he wasn't right for years. Were you working in a blaze +to-day, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"He wore a hat," said Richard quickly, fearful that Jack's scant supply +of patience would be utterly exhausted. "Besides, there was a breeze +in the afternoon. It wasn't a bad day at all, Mrs. Hildreth." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you want to sit down, Mrs. Hildreth?" suggested Rosemary, +wondering how anyone could remain standing so long, after being on her +feet virtually all day. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm going down the road in a minute," Mrs. Hildreth answered. "I +want to ask Mrs. Tice about some new kind of rubber rings she got for +her jars. How much fruit did Winnie put up so far, Rosemary?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why—I don't believe I know," said Rosemary with a little laugh. "She +made jelly, I remember and she's been canning nearly every week; but I +don't know how many quarts or pints she has. Do you, Hugh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never counted," acknowledged the doctor lazily. "I'll warrant Winnie +can tell you right off the reel, Mrs. Hildreth. She's proud of her +success—I heard her tell my mother so." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll step over and look at her shelves some day," promised Mrs. +Hildreth. "Dear me, I'm tired. But if I don't go to Bertha's now, +I'll never get there. Tell Mr. Hildreth I'll be right back, if he asks +you where I am." +</P> + +<P> +She went heavily down the steps and disappeared across the lawn. +</P> + +<P> +Richard dropped with an exaggerated thud. +</P> + +<P> +"Another minute and my ankles would have given out!" he declared. "And +she thinks it is work that tired her out." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it is," said Rosemary. "She works from five in the morning till +nearly ten at night." +</P> + +<P> +"But she could rest, if she only knew how," Richard protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, now you have it, Rich," said Doctor Hugh. "There's a great deal +in knowing how to rest." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no use in knowing how, when you can't rest if you want to," +Jack complained bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't a very clear sentence, Jack," said the doctor. "Explain a +little, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm tired," Jack declared ungraciously, "and there's nothing to +explain, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +The desultory conversation that followed was almost wholly between +Rosemary and Richard. Jack was curiously silent and Doctor Hugh, too, +seemed content to listen. Finally he rose. +</P> + +<P> +"We must be getting back," he said. "First though, I'll take a look at +your hand, Jack." +</P> + +<P> +"There's nothing the matter with it," countered Jack gruffly. +</P> + +<P> +"You act remarkably like Sarah," was Doctor Hugh's response to this. +"Come in where I can have a light and don't be foolish." +</P> + +<P> +Jack followed him sulkily and Rosemary and Richard watched while the +doctor unwound the cloth that bound the injured finger. The cut was an +angry-looking one. +</P> + +<P> +"Needs attention," Doctor Hugh commented briefly. "Do you want to come +up to the house with me, or shall I send Rosemary for the iodine +bottle?" +</P> + +<P> +Jack elected to remain where he was, and Rosemary sped away to get +bandages and antiseptics. Mrs. Hildreth's tea kettle was requisitioned +for a supply of hot water and then the doctor washed and dressed the +cut, Jack enduring the process gamely. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't knock off," he said defiantly as the last gauze fold was +fastened in place. "I'm going to pick tomatoes, if I have to do it +with my left hand." +</P> + +<P> +"You can use your hand, if you'll keep the bandages in place," the +doctor assured him. "I'll dress it again for you in the morning—and +don't let me have to send for you. When you have had breakfast, come +and get your hand attended to, before you go into the field." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll feel better now," he said to Rosemary as they walked slowly down +the road, extending their walk to enjoy the beauty of the summer +evening. "His finger was throbbing and beginning to fester and must +have given him great pain all day." +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes Warren," whispered Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +Warren looked warm and tired. He stopped when he saw them and Rosemary +would have walked on with a short "Hello!" had not her brother's hand +upon her arm held her. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been down to the bungalow?" said Warren, after he had thanked +them for the fish and congratulated the fisherman on his luck. "I'm +sorry I missed you." +</P> + +<P> +"We went to see Jack," Rosemary informed him pointedly. "He's sick." +</P> + +<P> +"Jack sick?" Warren looked surprised and, though she would not have +admitted it, concerned. +</P> + +<P> +"Not sick—but he has rather a nasty cut on one finger," corrected +Doctor Hugh. "He'll be all right, if he follows directions." +</P> + +<P> +Warren's eyes were troubled. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid he's having a tough time," he said regretfully. "I'm +sorry, but—" he left the sentence unfinished. +</P> + +<P> +The storm signals in Rosemary's expressive face were easily interpreted +by her brother. He said good night to Warren and they resumed their +walk. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you say something, Hugh!" burst out Rosemary, hardly +waiting till they were beyond earshot. "Why didn't you tell him that +Jack is our friend and that Warren needn't think he can treat him like +that!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that Jack is being treated 'like that,'" protested Doctor +Hugh whimsically. "You looked so like a thunder cloud, Rosemary, that +there was nothing left to be said." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary jerked her arm free and faced him tempestuously. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you're taking Warren's part!" she accused him. "How can +you? Anyway, I don't care what you do—Jack Welles is my friend!" +</P> + +<P> +"Jack is to be envied," said Doctor Hugh gently. "Though I wish, dear, +that you would learn to reason a little more quietly. You know I am +very fond of Jack—he is a splendid lad in many ways. So is Warren. +This quarrel between them will blow over—why Rosemary, you and Jack +have half a dozen quarrels a year and none of them are serious." +</P> + +<P> +But the next day matters remained in much the same uncomfortable state. +Jack reported obediently to have his finger dressed and refused—with +more vigor than courtesy—Warren's offer to release him from picking +for that day. Rosemary had a hot argument with Sarah, who perversely +upheld Warren's cause, and then quarreled with her brother, who would +not admit that Jack was a martyr. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't discuss it any further, Rosemary," he said at last. "As far +as I can judge, Warren is in the right and Jack is acting like a young +and obstinate donkey." +</P> + +<P> +The following afternoon Mrs. Willis went in to spend the night at the +Eastshore house and choose the wall paper for the new suite of rooms. +Doctor Hugh drove her in and was to drive her out the next morning. +Jack had just finished bedding down the horses that night, and was +wondering whether he had the energy to dress and go up to the little +white house, when he heard Rosemary's voice outside the barn. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack! Jack, where are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here!" Jack hurried into sight. "What's the matter?" he demanded +when he saw her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah!" gasped Rosemary. "She didn't come in to supper and none of us +have seen her the entire afternoon. Winnie wanted to telephone Hugh, +but I am so afraid it will worry Mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't telephone!" commanded Jack. "She's somewhere on the place and +has forgotten to come in; let her get hungry and she'll turn up. But +we'll go find her and remind her it's after six o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +Jack's cheerful matter-of-fact acceptance of Sarah's absence was the +surest way to relieve the anxiety Winnie, as well as the girls, felt. +At once they assured each other that Sarah was playing somewhere on the +farm and had forgotten to come home. The discovery that Bony was also +missing bore out Jack's theory; Sarah and the pig were having a +beautiful time together. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving Winnie and the two girls to search the barn and outbuildings, +Jack hurried off to get reinforcements. He thought of Warren as a +tower of strength, cool, level-headed Warren who could manage any +situation. +</P> + +<P> +Warren and Richard had finished the last chore and were beginning to +change, when Jack burst unceremoniously into their room. +</P> + +<P> +"Warren!" he hurdled the wall of misunderstanding that had grown up +between them in one agile leap. "Warren, they say Sarah Willis is +lost. She didn't come home to supper. Mrs. Willis is in Eastshore +with Hugh to-night and we have to find Sarah without letting her mother +know." +</P> + +<P> +Warren agreed that Rainbow Hill was to be searched from one end to the +other. He and Richard and Jack went in different directions and Mr. +Hildreth took a fourth. Winnie stayed at the house, in case the lost +one returned, and Rosemary and Shirley went down to Miss Clinton's to +ask if Sarah had perhaps been there that afternoon. She had not and +when they came back Winnie put Shirley to bed for it was past her bed +hour and she was tired and sleepy. +</P> + +<P> +No trace of Sarah was found on the farm and no better luck was +encountered at the Gay farm, whither Jack went, or at the two nearest +neighbors, queried by Warren and Richard, cautiously, lest the alarm +spread and be relayed by the garrulous and unthinking to the little +mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Warren," Jack stopped him as he was setting out again. "Old +Belle isn't in her pasture." +</P> + +<P> +"Old Belle!" +</P> + +<P> +"And the light runabout and one set of single harness is gone—I +looked." +</P> + +<P> +"That kid couldn't harness without help and get off this place—don't +tell me!" Warren's tone was half skeptical, half alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah can do anything you don't expect her to do," declared Jack. +"Take it from me, that's what she has done this time. But how are we +to find out the direction she took?" +</P> + +<P> +"She'd go to Bennington," said Warren quickly. "If she had gone toward +Eastshore someone who knew her would have been sure to spot her; +besides, she is crazy about Bennington, always teasing to go with Hugh." +</P> + +<P> +Old Belle was the oldest horse on the farm, a shambling, half-blind +creature whose days of work had long been over. In summer she reveled +in clover pasture, and the warmest box stall and choicest oats were +hers in winter. Sarah had ridden her around the pasture a number of +times, but it had never occurred to anyone that she would attempt to +drive her. Indeed the boys had not known that Sarah knew how to +harness. +</P> + +<P> +Three pairs of willing hands quickly backed "Tony," Mr. Hildreth's +light driving horse, into the shafts of the buggy and, telling the +anxious Winnie and Rosemary that they would have good news for them +soon, they drove off toward Bennington, the county seat. +</P> + +<P> +They said little, but they were more worried than they cared to admit. +The highway was a state road and automobiles ran in both directions, +two fairly steady streams. It was dark by now and the glare of the +headlights might easily confuse an old, enfeebled horse and a little +girl whose driving skill was of the slightest. +</P> + +<P> +Warren drove and presently he pulled in the horse and gave the reins to +Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to look at the road," he said, leaping lightly over the wheel +and turning his pocket flash light full on the dusty macadam. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DOWN LINDEN ROAD +</H3> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Richard eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, what is it?" urged Jack. +</P> + +<P> +Warren stooped and picked up something from the road. +</P> + +<P> +"A horse shoe," he said briefly. "One of Belle's—hers were old and +thin, you know, Rich. And over here—" he walked a few steps to a +crossroad—"Sarah must have turned off. You can see the marks." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," sheer relief spoke in Richard's voice, "that's one thing to be +thankful for; if she turned off from the main road, she wouldn't meet +many cars. But how far do you suppose she can have gone down the +Linden road?" +</P> + +<P> +Warren climbed back into the buggy and turned Tony's head down the +Linden road. +</P> + +<P> +"She hasn't gone far, not with Belle," he asserted confidently. "The +old horse couldn't stand a long trip; I don't know whether there are +any places for Sarah to drive in down here, but I hope some kind farmer +has her safely housed." +</P> + +<P> +The Linden road was very dark and there was no moon to help out the two +twinkling buggy lights. Suddenly Tony whinnied. +</P> + +<P> +"Pull in, pull in!" cried Richard excitedly. "I think I see something!" +</P> + +<P> +With a sharp "Whoa!" Warren brought the buggy to a standstill. +</P> + +<P> +"Unscrew one of the lights," he directed Richard, at the same time +jumping out and running to Tony's head with the rope and weight, a wise +precaution for the horse might take fright easily in that strange place +and start to run. "Come on, Jack." +</P> + +<P> +They had to go only a few rods. Then the buggy lamp and the pocket +flash showed them the runabout, with something dark and small curled up +on the seat. The mare was down between the shafts and she raised her +head inquiringly as the lights flashed into her patient eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah—asleep!" whispered Jack. "And the pig, too!" +</P> + +<P> +"Belle fell down and Sarah couldn't get her up," said Warren, realizing +at once what had occurred. "The poor kid—she must have been +frightened stiff." +</P> + +<P> +Jack pulled himself up on the runabout step and leaned over Sarah. The +tears were not dry on her cheeks and as he looked she opened her dark +eyes with a little cry. +</P> + +<P> +"You're all right, Sarah," he said soothingly. "Warren and Richard and +I have come to take you home." +</P> + +<P> +To his astonishment, Sarah, who hated demonstration of any kind, threw +her arms about his neck and burrowed her face on his shoulder. Bony +rolled protestingly to the floor and squeaked sharply as he hit the +dashboard in his descent. +</P> + +<P> +"The horse fell down," sobbed Sarah, "and she wouldn't get up. And it +got darker and darker and there weren't any houses anywhere. Is Belle +dead, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it," said Jack stoutly. "She was tired, because she is +an old horse and isn't used to traveling far." +</P> + +<P> +"Now that she is rested, we'll have no trouble getting her home," put +in Warren. "You stay where you are, Sarah, till we get her up." +</P> + +<P> +But Sarah had had enough of the runabout and she insisted on climbing +down while the boys got Belle to her feet and went over the harness. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a wonder it didn't slide off her," declared Warren as he cinched +belts and snapped unfastened buckles. "I'll give you a lesson in +harnessing some day, Sarah, for you still have a few points to learn." +</P> + +<P> +It was an odd procession that drove into Rainbow Hill lane an hour +later. They dared not hurry the old horse and Sarah flatly refused to +be taken home in the buggy with Tony, leaving Belle and the runabout to +be driven in at a slower pace. Jack would have bundled her off +unceremoniously but Warren, while admitting that she had "made enough +trouble and ought to consider the feelings of other people once in a +while" would not force the issue. +</P> + +<P> +"She's dead tired and she's been badly frightened," he said quietly. +"After all, it will mean a difference of not more than half an hour. +We'll wait for old Belle." +</P> + +<P> +So Jack and Richard, driving the runabout and the old mare, set the +pace and Sarah and Bony in the buggy with Warren followed behind Tony. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary and Winnie and the Hildreths came running out to greet the +prodigal, who had to be awakened to answer their eager questions—and +Winnie bore Sarah off to bed while Rosemary flew to the kitchen and +began making sandwiches to serve with the ginger ale she knew was in +the ice box. Excitement has a way of making people hungry and the boys +especially were appreciative of the refreshments. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh read his small sister a severe lecture the next morning +when, upon his return with his mother, he heard the story, and +extracted her promise that hereafter she would not leave the farm +without explicit permission. A subdued Sarah made a shamefaced apology +to Mr. Hildreth for taking his horse and runabout and for as much as +three days she slipped about like a meek little shadow. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack told me you found the horse shoe, Warren," said Rosemary, meeting +Warren that next morning as he came from the creamery. "So you really +found Sarah for us—and I think you are very quick and clever." +</P> + +<P> +"Any one of us would have found her," declared Warren lightly. "You +can't really lose a little girl and a horse—you're bound to fall over +them sometime, sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah might have had to spend the night on that lonely road," insisted +Rosemary. "Hugh says so, too. And Mother thinks just as we do." +</P> + +<P> +She turned, with a little determined nod of her pretty head. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary!" Warren's voice halted her. +</P> + +<P> +He made no motion to drive on to the barn but sat in the wagon, holding +the reins, and looking at her steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not angry with me now?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary was perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not." +</P> + +<P> +"But you were a night or two ago—when I met you and Doctor Hugh?" +</P> + +<P> +The tell-tale color rose under Rosemary's smooth skin. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—" she hesitated. "Perhaps I was then—just a little. But I get +mad so easily, Warren, it doesn't count." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd prefer," said Warren composedly, "to always be good friends with +you." +</P> + +<P> +The impulsive Rosemary took a step forward that brought her close to +the wagon. +</P> + +<P> +"We <I>are</I> friends," she assured Warren eagerly. Then, mischief welling +up in her blue eyes, "When you've known me a little longer you'll find +out that I often quarrel with my friends." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," said Warren soberly, but he drove away to the barn whistling +merrily. +</P> + +<P> +The few days remaining of Doctor Hugh's vacation and Jack's agreement +with Mr. Hildreth, passed quickly and pleasantly. The three boys +worked together in perfect harmony and Jack began to enjoy a sense of +power and ease that came with the hardening of his muscles. The sun +might be hot, but the rays no longer made him uncomfortable—the rows +of vines were as long as ever, but he swung down them easily and picked +the ripe tomatoes almost automatically. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why you don't finish out the month," Mr. Hildreth said to +him the night before his two weeks were over. "I'd like to have you +first rate and it seems a pity to leave just when you're broke in." +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat to his surprise, Jack heard himself agreeing to stay. Warren +and Richard heartily applauded his decision and Doctor Hugh agreed to +carry back an approved report to Mrs. Welles. +</P> + +<P> +"It will do you good, in many ways, Jack," said the doctor seriously. +"And if you are going to try for the football team this fall, you'll be +in the pink of condition." +</P> + +<P> +The next day Doctor Hugh went back to resume his regular schedule +though, he promised his disconsolate family, he would try to spend the +week-ends, or Sundays at least, with them. +</P> + +<P> +"But I hope you realize that the summer is almost over," he told +Rosemary who was riding with him down to the cross-roads where she +expected to get out and walk back. "School opens next month and we +must be safely moved back to Eastshore before that important day. You +have not more than four weeks left to spend at Rainbow Hill, young +lady." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go over and see Louisa," said Rosemary to herself, as she reached +the back road that led to the Gay farm, after leaving her brother. +"Mother won't expect me back till lunch time, for I told her I might +stop in and see Miss Clinton. But I've seen Louisa only once since +Hugh came." +</P> + +<P> +The Gay farm looked more dilapidated than ever to Rosemary's eyes and +the little attempt at a flower bed, in the center of the long, dried +grass before the house, only made the general effect more hopeless. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary walked around to the back door and knocked. Louisa answered, +carrying June in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought maybe you'd gone back to Eastshore," said Louisa dully, "but +Sarah and Shirley said no, your brother was visiting for his vacation." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Hugh did come," answered Rosemary honestly, "and we went +somewhere with him nearly every day, if only over the farm. I would +have liked to bring him to see you and Alec, but I was afraid—I +thought—" +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, I'm glad you didn't!" the idea seemed enough to frighten +Louisa. "I wouldn't want a stranger coming here." +</P> + +<P> +"Louisa, do you know Miss Clinton?" asked Rosemary suddenly. "She +lives all by herself and she is so lonesome." +</P> + +<P> +She had a hazy thought of suggesting that Louisa might be willing to go +and see Miss Clinton—Louisa needed friends as badly as the little +wheel-chair woman did—but the girl's answer was not encouraging. +</P> + +<P> +"She lives in that little yellow house," said Louisa. "She may be +lonely, but she has enough money to live on and no one need be pitied +who can keep out of debt." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Louisa!" Rosemary drew nearer in concern. "Haven't you the money +for the interest?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a cent," said Louisa bitterly. "The little we did have saved +toward it, we had to spend on a pump. The old one gave out and you +can't get along without water, no matter what else you can do without." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary glanced toward the shining new pump—so obviously new and +shiny that it made everything else in the kitchen look shabbier by +contrast. +</P> + +<P> +"There ought to be <I>some</I> way to get money when you need it," she said +earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't," Louisa informed her. "Don't you suppose I've thought +and thought? No matter how much you need it, there isn't any money to +get—and if there was, you wouldn't need it because it would be there +to get," and Louisa laughed rather hysterically. +</P> + +<P> +"That may not make good sense," she added, "but I can't help that; it +is true." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SARAH HAS AN IDEA +</H3> + +<P> +Rosemary walked home slowly. Louisa, worn out by worry and work, had +yielded to the luxury of a good cry and though, when she had wiped her +eyes, she declared she felt much better and more cheerful than for a +week. Rosemary was not convinced. A glimpse of Alec, thin and brown, +with the same worried look in his nice clear eyes, had not helped to +convince her. It was plain that both Louisa and Alec were expecting +the foreclosure of the mortgage on the farm and anticipating the +separation of the family. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't stand it," said Rosemary earnestly to a chipmunk, who shook +his head in sympathy. "I couldn't stand it, if Sarah and Shirley and I +had to go live in different houses. Suppose we didn't have Mother and +Hugh and Winnie!" +</P> + +<P> +The realization of her own blessings only emphasized the hard position +of the Gays without a father or mother. By the time she had come to +the Rainbow Hill orchard, Rosemary was feeling very blue indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on up!" two sweet little voices called to her. "Come on up, +Rosemary!" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary peered at the trees, and giggles floating from one gnarled old +apple tree revealed where Sarah and Shirley were hidden. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" asked Shirley instantly, when Rosemary had swung +herself up to a seat beside them. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been to see Louisa Gay," explained Rosemary, "and they haven't a +cent of money for the interest on that awful mortgage. It's due the +first of September and Louisa says the man will take the farm and +they'll all be on the town!" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you had to go and live in the poor house, if folks took your +farm," objected Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all the same," said Rosemary impatiently. "Louisa says so. When +you're 'on the town' that means the town supports you and you live at +the poor farm. Girls, we just have to get some money for the Gays!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ask Hugh," suggested Shirley, as her favorite way out of money +difficulties. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't," Rosemary told her. "Louisa and Alec don't like strangers +and Hugh is a stranger to them. We mustn't even tell grown-up people +about them, because if they know the Gays are poor, they'll come and +take them to the poor farm, anyway. Alec says they don't even go to +the Center any more because he doesn't want people to ask him +questions." +</P> + +<P> +When Winnie rang the bell to signal that lunch was ready, the three +girls had not succeeded in forming any definite plan to help the Gays. +They had made up their minds that money must be obtained, but the way +was anything but clear. +</P> + +<P> +"You see," said Rosemary, taking up the question again after lunch, "we +can't ask Warren or Richard for any money. They are saving all they +earn to get them through agricultural college and Hugh told me they +have to do some work in the winter to get enough. Jack never has any +money of his own—he will have some at the end of the month, but he's +set his heart on buying his mother something lovely with the first +money he has ever really earned. There doesn't seem to be anybody to +help Louisa and Alec, except us." +</P> + +<P> +"And we haven't a cent, except the five-dollar gold pieces Aunt Trudy +sent us Fourth of July," said Sarah practically. +</P> + +<P> +"We must think," declared Rosemary solemnly. "You think <I>hard</I>, Sarah, +and you, too, Shirley. And I'll think with all my might." +</P> + +<P> +Such concentration of thought should have produced some result, but the +next morning each had failure to report. Then Richard announced that +Solomon must be shod and offered to take anyone over who felt free to +spend the morning in Bennington. +</P> + +<P> +"I have to make up my lost practising," said Rosemary, "and Hugh is +going to take Mother and Shirley with him—he telephoned he'd stop for +them. Sarah would like to go—she was wailing that everyone went to +places and left her home." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah climbed happily into her place by Richard and they drove off to +Bennington, at a slower pace than usual for Richard wished to "favor" +the shoeless foot. +</P> + +<P> +"Ph, look!" the rather silent Sarah kindled into animation at the sight +of a gay-colored poster tacked to a telegraph pole along the road. +"What's that, Richard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Circus!" he answered smilingly. "Coming next month. See the lions, +Sarah? How would you like one of those to play with, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +He obligingly pulled in the willing Solomon, and Sarah studied the +poster with intent, serious dark eyes. Driving on, Richard found her +curiously self-absorbed. She answered him in monosyllables and was +apparently deep in a brown study. +</P> + +<P> +"A penny for your thoughts?" he offered, wondering what she could be +pondering over. +</P> + +<P> +But Sarah refused to sell and continued to be silent. +</P> + +<P> +Richard would have been surprised indeed, could he have seen what was +going on in that active little brain. The circus poster had shown +Sarah, besides the wonderful lions, a marvelous performing bear, +dancing on his hind legs. A crowd of people laughed at him and +applauded. +</P> + +<P> +"Bony can do that!" Sarah had thought with pride, and then, like a +flash, followed the thought: "I could sell Bony to the circus and give +the money to Louisa!" +</P> + +<P> +The rest of the way to Bennington was occupied, as far as Sarah was +concerned, in selling Bony to the owner of the bear, who promised to +give the pig a kind home and explain to him frequently why his mistress +had consented to let him leave Rainbow Hill. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah had reached the moment when she put her precious pig into the +bear man's hands (she innocently assumed that he must have charge of +all the circus animals) just as Richard drew up before the blacksmith's +shop. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't want to hang around here," said Richard authoritatively, +lifting her down from the seat. "I'll have to give some orders about +shoeing Solomon and you wait for me on the side porch of the hotel. I +won't be long." +</P> + +<P> +He led Sarah unprotestingly—though at any other time she would have +teased to be allowed to stay and watch the fascinating work of the +smithy—across the street and to the steep little flight of steps that +led to the pleasant, vine-covered side porch of the country hotel. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, Mrs. King," he said, lifting his hat as a gray-haired +woman peered over the railing at them. "This is Sarah Willis—I want +to have her wait here while I'm over at the shop." +</P> + +<P> +"She'll be all right," answered Mrs. King kindly. "She can sit here +and rest; it's nice and shady." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. King was shelling peas, and Sarah sat down in the cretonne-covered +rocking chair next to her. There was one other person on the porch—a +stout gentleman, stretched out in an arm chair, sound asleep. His face +was covered with a white silk handkerchief which partially hid his +round, bald head. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like the country?" asked Mrs. King, glancing toward her small +visitor while her clever, quick fingers sent a continuous shower of +peas rattling into the pan in her lap. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I like it," nodded Sarah with enthusiasm. "I like it lots +better than Eastshore and going to school. I wouldn't mind living in +the country for always." +</P> + +<P> +"But you'd have to go to school if you lived in the country," said Mrs. +King mildly. "You can't get away from lesson-books, no matter where +you go." +</P> + +<P> +"Not in Africa?" suggested Sarah who never disdained an argument. +</P> + +<P> +"I've never been in Africa," Mrs. King replied, "so I can't tell you +positively. But my guess is all the children who aren't natives, have +to be educated." +</P> + +<P> +"What do the children who are natives do?" asked Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. King considered. +</P> + +<P> +"I imagine they go around without any clothes on and the tigers eat +them," she decided, recalling to mind several doleful pictures she had +seen in an old geography. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah shivered, not in sympathy with the scantily clad children, but +because of the tigers mentioned. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't want to be eaten by a tiger," she declared, rocking +violently back and forth, "but I would love to have a baby tiger to +play with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Look out you don't go over backward," warned the landlady. "Don't you +know a baby tiger would grow up to be a fierce, wild animal and +probably end up by eating you?" she added. +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't eat me, if I brought him up tame," said Sarah. "Baby +tigers are like kittens—I saw some pictures of them once. I'd keep +mine to guard my farm and I'll bet no robbers would come if they knew a +live tiger was roaming around." +</P> + +<P> +"No, robbers wouldn't come, or your friends, either," Mrs. King said +grimly. "And the butcher would be afraid to turn up, for fear the +tiger might think he was the meat ordered for his dinner. You and your +tiger would get lonely after a while." +</P> + +<P> +"I have a tiger cat home," volunteered Sarah. "But she isn't very +exciting. I like big animals. Maybe a baby elephant would be more +fun." +</P> + +<P> +"Than a tiger?" said Mrs. King, pausing to admire a freshly opened pod +in her hand. "Seven perfect peas," she murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I could use a baby elephant," Sarah informed her. "They are very +strong. I have an animal book that tells all about them. Even baby +elephants are strong. I saw a picture of one pulling a tree over." +</P> + +<P> +"My land, a farm won't be big enough for you," commented Mrs. King. +"What you ought to do is to go out West and start a place in the middle +of the desert. But the snakes would probably send you back home before +long." +</P> + +<P> +She was quite unprepared for Sarah's cry of rapture. +</P> + +<P> +"Snakes!" repeated that small girl in a voice of ecstasy. "Are there +snakes in the desert?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. King shook her pan vigorously in the effort to find a stray pod +that had slipped through her fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard that the place is full of snakes," she answered. "Man or +beast isn't safe from them. Rattlesnakes and all kinds—sometimes, +I've heard folks say, if the nights are the least bit chilly, the +rattlers crawl under the blankets to get warm. Imagine waking up in +the morning and finding a snake in bed with you!" +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't hurt you, if you didn't provoke him," Sarah asserted. +"Snakes are polite and they'll let you alone if you let them do as they +please. I think snakes are the most interesting things to see!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't!" said Mrs. King. "I'd run a mile before I'd face one. There +is nothing, to my mind, more disgusting than a wriggling snake." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah looked grieved. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the same way my Aunt Trudy talks," she observed. "She is +scared to death of little, tiny snakes. Even water snakes. And a +water snake never hurts anyone." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't show me one," said Mrs. King hurriedly. "I don't care what kind +of a snake it is, they're all alike as long as they can move. I never +want to see one on the place." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah wisely concluded that another topic would be welcome and +unconsciously the huge gray cat that climbed over the porch railing and +leaped heavily to the floor, provided it. +</P> + +<P> +"What a darling cat!" cried Sarah, abandoning her chair in such haste +that it narrowly missed falling backward. "Is it yours, Mrs. King?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's mine," said the landlady. "He used to be a right handsome +cat but lately he's getting too fat. The girls in the kitchen feed him +all the time. I don't believe he has caught a mouse or a rat for six +weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't catch mice," Sarah declared feelingly. "Would you, +darling? He's too nice for that," and she sat down in the +cretonne-covered rocker again, holding the cat in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +"No cat is worth his board, to my way of thinking, who <I>doesn't</I> catch +mice and rats," retorted Mrs. King. "Garry used to be a famous mouser." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess the poor mice want to live," Sarah protested, stroking the +thick fur of the purring cat with a practised hand. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a question of human beings living, or the mice," declared Mrs. +King. "Of course if you want the mice to move into your house and you +move out, that's another matter. Till I get ready to do that, I'm +going to set traps in the pantry every night and leave Garry shut up in +the kitchen." +</P> + +<P> +"Just like Winnie," murmured the hapless Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me you ought to run a zoo," said Mrs. King glancing curiously +over her spectacles at the small girl rocking the fat cat. "Though how +you're going to keep the mice and the cats and the snakes and the +tigers all happy and contented together, is more than I'm able to +figure out." +</P> + +<P> +"I could make 'em love each other," said Sarah confidently. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about that," argued Mrs. King. "Even in the circus they +can't bring that about. Mr. Robinson would tell you that," and she +pointed to the stout man who was still asleep in his chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that?" whispered Sarah, wondering why anyone should want to +sleep with a handkerchief over his face. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Mr. Robinson, dearie," replied Mrs. King, her swift fingers +never pausing in their work. "He's advance agent for the circus." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah sat up with a jerk. +</P> + +<P> +"Does he own the circus?" she asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you, no," said Mrs. King smiling, "he doesn't own it, though he +has a good deal to do with it, in one way or another. He comes every +year to see that the posters are put up and to arrange for space for +the tents and some extra help, if it's needed. He goes around to all +the towns, ahead of the circus, you see, and tells folks it is coming; +and in the winter he does considerable buying of animals and whatnot +and hiring of performers, they tell me." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah stared at the silk handkerchief in spellbound fascination. One +more question struggled for utterance. +</P> + +<P> +"What is whatnot?" she demanded, her eyes still on the fat man asleep +in his chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatnot?"—Mrs. King was puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"You said he bought whatnot for the circus." +</P> + +<P> +"My land alive, didn't you ever hear of whatnot? It doesn't mean a +thing—it's just a phrase," poor Mrs. King protested. "I meant Mr. +Robinson buys little tricks and novelties and small side-show stuff +like that." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah nodded absently, though she had no very clear idea of the good +lady's meaning even then. When Mrs. King went away presently, +murmuring that it was time to put the peas on to cook, Sarah sat +quietly in her chair, her gaze riveted to the silk handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, as she watched, a large and noisy fly also discovered the +handkerchief. He decided to investigate, experience probably having +taught him that handkerchiefs may be used to conceal a set of sensitive +features. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously he alighted and began to crawl—swat! the stout gentleman +slapped sleepily, narrowly missing the tormentor. +</P> + +<P> +Up rose Sarah and bore down upon the scene. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't swat him!" she begged. "He won't hurt you—flies only tickle. +Anyway, if you'd use a palm leaf fan, no flies would ever bother you." +</P> + +<P> +The circus agent snatched the handkerchief from his face and sat up in +astonishment, revealing a very kindly, very good-humored face fringed +with white hair and lighted by a pair of twinkling eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless me!" he cried when he saw the determined small girl. "What's +all this?" +</P> + +<P> +"The fly!" explained Sarah seriously. "You tried to kill him. And he +doesn't even bite." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I may have been hasty," apologized Mr. Robinson, his eyes +twinkling more than ever. "I don't always think when I am half asleep." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah's mind was already running on what she wanted to say to him. She +was more direct by nature than tactful as her next remark showed. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a circus man, aren't you?" she said, making it more a statement +of fact than a question. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm advance agent, yes," Mr. Robinson admitted. +</P> + +<P> +He was totally unprepared for the next query. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said Sarah gravely, "wouldn't you like to buy a very fine pig?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BONY JOINS THE CIRCUS +</H3> + +<P> +Mr. Robinson, recovered from his first surprise, proved to be an +excellent listener. Sarah told him of Bony and that animal's +accomplishments and he admitted that his circus did not have a trained +pig. He was interested, too, to hear how she had taught the pig these +tricks and Sarah, quite carried away by this flattering evidence of +understanding, told him a great deal more. In fact, unconsciously, she +presented him a picture of the family at Rainbow Hill and, before she +had finished, of the Gay family, too. This last, to do her justice, +was quite unintentional. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean to tell you about the Gays," she cried in quick remorse. +"Rosemary said we must never tell a stranger about them; when a +grown-up person knows how poor they are, the town will take them to the +poor farm." +</P> + +<P> +"Now don't you be sorry," Mr. Robinson comforted her. "Don't you be +sorry for one thing you've told me. I won't let it go any +further—least ways not among the town folk. I'm glad you told me +about this family, downright glad. I've known what it is to live on a +farm with a mortgage hanging over your head." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you?" asked Sarah humbly, much relieved. "Then maybe Louisa +won't care if you do know about their mortgage." +</P> + +<P> +"I've been thinking," said Mr. Robinson slowly, "that it would be a +good thing if I went with you this morning and saw the pig you've told +me about; mind you, I can't promise to buy it, till I've seen it. But +I'd like to look at it. And I'd like to see this Gay farm—maybe that +will turn out to be something I can use." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah did not see how he could use a farm in a circus, but she wisely +refrained from asking. Richard returning for her at this juncture, she +introduced him to the circus agent and explained that he wanted to go +back to Rainbow Hill with them. +</P> + +<P> +Richard was surprised, but cordial, and as Solomon, brave in a new shoe +and three tightened old ones, trotted them homeward, Sarah and Mr. +Robinson together explained their plans. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah's was comparatively simple. She wanted to sell Bony to the +circus and give the money to Louisa. The pig was the most valuable +possession she owned and would surely bring more money than anything +else she might part with—even her five-dollar gold piece. Yes, she +admitted, in response to Richard's questioning, she was fond of +Bony—but she thought he would like living with a circus. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Robinson's plan was more complicated. "For some time past," he +said to Richard, a little breathlessly, for he was stout and the wagon +jolted him considerably, "for some time past, I've been on the lookout +for new winter quarters for the circus. My idea has been to get a farm +in a good section of the country, but of course we can't afford to pay +a price a place in a good state of cultivation would bring; what we +want is acreage and buildings in fair shape. This Gay farm the little +girl tells me about, may fill the bill, providing they are willing to +sell." +</P> + +<P> +"They would sell, all right," Richard declared thoughtfully, "but I +don't see where they can go. The place won't bring enough to keep a +family of six very long." +</P> + +<P> +"We can talk that over, after I see the place," said Mr. Robinson. +"You can trust me to be fair to a parcel of kids—I lived on a farm and +I was bound out on a farm." +</P> + +<P> +Eager as Sarah was to exhibit her pig, she had to wait. It was "dinner +time" at the farmhouse and lunch time for the Willis family when +Richard stopped before the barn. Mrs. Willis and Shirley had +returned—Doctor Hugh had dropped them at the crossroads and gone on to +the hospital in Bennington—and while at the table Sarah made no +mention of her plans. She had a habit of taking no part in the general +conversation, unless personally interested, and her silence created no +wonderment. +</P> + +<P> +After the hospitable manner of the countryside, the circus agent was +asked to dinner by Mr. Hildreth who took it for granted that he had +asked a lift of Richard on his way from one town to another. And, the +meal over, Richard piloted him to the barn, where Rosemary and Shirley +and Sarah and the pig awaited him. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on and watch," said Sarah cordially, but Richard, declaring he +was too busy, went on to his work. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was a little fearful lest Bony develop "temperament," of which he +had his share, and refuse to act, but he happened to be in the best of +humors, thanks to a peaceful morning free from interruptions, which had +allowed him to enjoy a full-length nap. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah put him through his paces and change of costumes with pride. He +danced, he marched, he went through his acrobatics; he wheeled the doll +carriage and poured afternoon tea; he played the piano and read, +wearing a pair of glassless spectacles and turning the printed page +with a graceful air of interest. He grunted "Yes" and he squeaked "No" +to half a dozen questions. And finally, seated in a doll's rocking +chair, he fanned himself as though the exactions of his art were +wearing in the extreme. +</P> + +<P> +"I ought to sign <I>you</I> up with the circus," said Mr. Robinson +admiringly, when Sarah announced that Bony had displayed the extent of +his accomplishments. "You must have a gift, to be able to train an +animal like that. Of course he is a clever pig, but you have developed +him and made it easy for us to teach him fancier tricks. Do you want +to sell him?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah looked at Rosemary, who, with Shirley, had come out to witness +the performance. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Sarah, after a minute. "Yes, I want to sell him." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't change your mind, you know," announced the circus agent +warningly. He wanted the pig but he wished to be fair. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah's chin went up in the air. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't change my mind," she declared. "I won't sell Bony and then +ask for him back. You may have him—now." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't take him till to-morrow morning," said Mr. Robinson. "Don't you +have to ask any older person—your mother, for instance?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hildreth gave the pig to Sarah," she explained. "It is all hers. +And you mustn't tell anyone about buying it—that is, that the money is +for Louisa." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Robinson looked perplexed, as well he might. +</P> + +<P> +"But little grasshoppers!" he ejaculated, scratching his head. "You +can go just so far with a secret, you know; if I buy this Gay farm a +heap of people will have to know about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, who?" said Rosemary in quick distress. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the guardian, or whoever holds the estate for them," said Mr. +Robinson. "Then the lawyer who draws the deed and all the folks at the +Court House who have anything to do with the searches and like that." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand," declared Rosemary, while Sarah and Shirley began +to fold up the dresses Bony had worn. "But I am sure there is no +guardian. Louisa would have said something about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," said the circus agent kindly. "Plenty of time to find +out all that later. Now if the little girl really wants to sell the +pig—" +</P> + +<P> +He named a figure that surprised them all. Whether, as Doctor Hugh +suspected when he heard the story, Mr. Robinson wanted to help the Gays +too, and added more as a practical way to assist them; or whether, as +Sarah was firmly convinced, Bony was the smartest pig he had ever seen +and he recognized his value, does not really matter. There, before +three pairs of wondering eyes, he counted out a little heap of soiled +bills and gave them to Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take the pig in the morning," he said, folding up the remainder +of his money and fastening the roll with an elastic. "I expect to put +up with the Hildreths to-night and one of the boys will take me back to +town after breakfast. You look after the pig for me till then, won't +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah promised and then, as she did not seem to know what to do with +the money, he suggested that she run into the house and give it to her +mother to put away. +</P> + +<P> +The three girls were anxious to go over to the Gay farm with Mr. +Robinson, but he explained that he thought he could talk better to Alec +and Louisa alone. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm just going to wander over there and tell 'em that Richard Gilbert +sent me," he said. "I'll say he heard I wanted to buy a small place +and that I thought they might be in the market. I'll tell you all +about it, soon as I get back." +</P> + +<P> +They watched him start "across lots" to the Gay farm and then Sarah +went into the house to ask her mother to put away the money. +</P> + +<P> +"You've sold Bony, dear?" echoed Mrs. Willis when she heard the news. +"And for all this money? Who bought him, Sarah? When did you sell +your pig?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah told her about Mr. Robinson, and Rosemary and Shirley listened +eagerly for they had not heard the details, nor learned how Sarah had +met the circus agent. +</P> + +<P> +"I always said Bony was a smart pig!" wound up Sarah, watching her +mother counting the money into a little black tin box, fitted with a +lock and key. +</P> + +<P> +"But Sarah dear, I thought you were very fond of Bony," said Mrs. +Willis. "Why did you want to sell him—and what are you planning to do +with all this money?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a secret," declared Sarah, setting her lips tightly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, lamb! Don't you want to tell Mother?" +</P> + +<P> +Sarah shook her head so violently her black hair whipped across her +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody must ever tell—never, never, never!" she asserted and, +catching Shirley by the hand, she ran out of the room, dragging her +small sister with her. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary's beautiful blue eyes turned to her mother's troubled ones. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Mother," she urged. "Really it is; the man wanted to +buy the pig—he told Rich it was very cleverly trained. And what Sarah +wants to do with the money won't be a secret after the first of +September. She'll tell you then." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have to hold it for her until she does tell me," said Mrs. Willis +quietly. "I don't see how Sarah could bring herself to part with Bony, +Rosemary; she has been devoted to him." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary wanted to tell of the motive that had prompted Sarah's +sacrifice, but thought she was in honor bound not to. So she went +downstairs to her practising, wondering what Louisa and Alec were +saying to Mr. Robinson and whether he would buy the farm from them. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and her pig disappeared till dinner time and if during the meal +the former seemed more silent than usual it might easily have been +because she was tired. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth came for one of her rare chats with Mrs. Willis after +dinner that night and then the girls felt free to slip down to the +bungalow to hear what Mr. Robinson had to tell them. +</P> + +<P> +Eager as they were to learn what had been done for the Gays, they were +not to go directly to the bungalow for half way across the lawn Mrs. +Hildreth called to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Clinton sent me word to-day, Rosemary," she said, "that she'd +like very much to see you; the letter-man told me. I thought maybe +you'd go down there this evening." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't go," whispered Sarah. "We want to see Mr. Robinson." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary stopped uncertainly. It was still light and Mrs. Willis would +not object if they were back before dark. +</P> + +<P> +"We were going to see the boys," said Rosemary. "There was something I +wanted to ask them—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you can see them when you come back," Mrs. Hildreth answered. +"I'd go see Miss Clinton if I were you; she gets lonely and it isn't +very nice to disappoint an old lady. She hasn't so many interests as +you have." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary looked at the speaker a trifle resentfully. Mrs. Hildreth, +like many busy people, was an adept at pointing out duties for other +folk. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we go, Mother?" she asked doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +Now Mrs. Willis knew nothing of Mr. Robinson's all important visit to +the Gay farm and she saw no special reason for a visit to the bungalow. +</P> + +<P> +"Why I don't see why not, darling," she answered. "If you are not too +tired. Don't stay long, because you want to be home before dark. As +Mrs. Hildreth says, the old lady is probably lonely." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary went on and Sarah began to scold. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why you said you'd go," she complained. "We never plan to +go anywhere that someone doesn't spoil it. Why didn't you say you'd go +when you got ready and not before?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because that would have been disrespectful and rude and you know it," +retorted Rosemary tartly. "You and Shirley go on and see Mr. Robinson +and I'll see Miss Clinton. I don't mind going alone." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go, too," said Shirley. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not going to hear what he has to say and let you wait," announced +Sarah gruffly. "What do you suppose Miss Clinton wants?" +</P> + +<P> +"Company, probably," said Rosemary. "We'll tell her we can't stay +long, because Mother doesn't like us out after dark; we can stop at the +bungalow on the way back and the boys will walk back with us." +</P> + +<P> +They found Miss Clinton, sitting in her chair, in the center of the +doorway. Then they were glad they had come, for it was easy to picture +her sitting like that a whole dreary evening, watching and waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"I hoped you'd come this evening," the old lady greeted them. "Is that +Sarah with you? My, my, I don't often have you for a visitor, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah looked pleased. She appreciated cordial welcome as much as +anyone. +</P> + +<P> +"I told the letter-man to tell Mrs. Hildreth I wanted to see you, +Rosemary," went on Miss Clinton, "because I have a letter I can't read +and I don't want to trust it to anyone around here. They are such +gossips!" she added a little harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"But can I read it?" asked Rosemary, surprised. "I mean will I be able +to?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's written in English, all right," laughed the old lady, her +bright bird-like eyes twinkling. "I'm not asking you to translate a +French or Spanish letter. I don't believe it will take you very long, +because you are bright." +</P> + +<P> +"We mustn't stay till dark," murmured Rosemary, wondering what kind of +a letter it could be that Miss Clinton was unable to decipher. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have it done long before dark," Miss Clinton assured her. "Let +me see, where did I put it? Oh yes—look in that jar on the cabinet +shelf." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary lifted the lid of the Canton ginger jar. It was apparently +empty but feeling around in it, her fingers found some scraps of paper. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the letter," said the old lady placidly. "I put it down on a +pile of old papers this morning when it first came and then when I went +to start a fire this noon, I carelessly tore the papers across and with +them the letter. Fortunately I discovered what I had done in time to +save the scraps, but I can't put them together again. I thought you +could." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary emptied out the pieces of paper on the table and, instructed +by Miss Clinton, found the paste and a large sheet of paper on which to +paste the bits. Shirley and Sarah sat down on the floor and began +playing with the toys in the cabinet. +</P> + +<P> +"Adelaide has real good sense," remarked Miss Clinton as Rosemary +studied the pieces attentively, "she never writes on more than one side +of the paper. I'd be in a pretty fix, if she had." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary privately thought that she was in a fix as it was, for the +scrawled writing made no sense whatever, as far as she could see. She +arranged it tentatively, scattered the pieces again and laboriously +pieced them together in another combination. +</P> + +<P> +"Did it begin, 'Dear Aunt'?" she asked desperately. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy no." Miss Clinton looked up brightly from her crocheting. +"Adelaide calls me 'Clintie' and always has. Usually she begins, +'Clintie dear.'" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary worked feverishly, anxious to please the old lady and even +more anxious to be on her way. She wanted to know what the circus +agent had done about the farm and she was curious to know if Louisa was +displeased that their straits had become known to a stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" she said, after almost an hour's work. "I think I have it all +right—it makes sense, anyway. But there's a corner missing." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mind a corner, as long as you have the gist of it," returned +Miss Clinton gratefully. "I didn't want to write to Adelaide that I'd +destroyed her letter before I'd even read it. I'm sure I don't know +how to thank you, Rosemary!" +</P> + +<P> +She wanted the girls to stay and have some of her sponge cake—baked +that afternoon—but they were in a fever of impatience to be gone. +When they finally found themselves out in the lane that took them to +the Hildreth house, Sarah was the first to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"If she'd had a telephone we could have asked her what she wanted and +then we wouldn't have gone," she declared. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes we would," smiled Rosemary. "That wasn't much to do—or it +wouldn't have been, if we weren't going to hear about the Gays. Miss +Clinton didn't know that." +</P> + +<P> +"I see Mr. Robinson!" chirped Shirley as they came in sight of the +house. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TRULY A SACRIFICE +</H3> + +<P> +"Did you buy the farm?" asked Sarah bluntly. +</P> + +<P> +Richard and Warren and Jack and the circus agent sat on the top step +and below them were ranged Rosemary, Shirley and Sarah. Mr. Hildreth +had considerately gone into the kitchen to read. +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Mr. Robinson, "I didn't buy the place." +</P> + +<P> +Three faces fell. +</P> + +<P> +"But I've rented it," he went on, "and paid a quarter's rent in +advance." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that just as good?" inquired Rosemary respectfully. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Robinson laughed and Warren nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Alec was over at milking time and he was feeling as gay as his name," +said Warren. "I guess their troubles are over for a time." +</P> + +<P> +Then Mr. Robinson explained what he had done and why and never did a +speaker have a more attentive audience. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't bother you with the legal end of it," he said good-naturedly, +"but these children are under twenty-one and when their parents died a +guardian should have been appointed for them. If I tried to buy the +farm there would have to be a guardian appointed and even then I doubt +if he could give me a clear title. +</P> + +<P> +"So, for many reasons, it is much simpler to rent the farm from them +and better, I am firmly convinced, for the children. They are to stay +on in the house and this winter I and my wife will come out and make +our headquarters there. Alec can lend me a hand with the animals and +Mother will see that that plucky girl gets her schooling. I'll stable +most of the circus horses out here and as nearly as I can tell it's +just the kind of a place we need." +</P> + +<P> +He told them a great deal more about Alec's surprise and Louisa's +delight and something of the plans for the winter which should include +the attendance at school of the five Gays old enough to go. +</P> + +<P> +The boys walked back with Rosemary and Shirley and Sarah, and Warren +told them further details. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Robinson is a brick!" he declared heartily. "He's renting the +farm because he discovered in what desperate straits the Gays are; if +he tried to buy it, it would take months to get their affairs +untangled—there would be miles of red tape and court hearings and dear +knows what all. Instead he has paid them cash down for a quarter and I +understand from Alec he is paying a generous rental, besides offering +Alec employment this winter. He's put out because the town hasn't done +anything—and now, he says, he and his wife will look after them and +Bennington can save its legal snail tracks." +</P> + +<P> +"But Alec and Louisa didn't want the town to know anything about them," +protested Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they're too young to manage their own affairs," said Warren +curtly. "Somebody should have been responsible long before this." +</P> + +<P> +It was odd, but Jack, Warren and Richard separately, each took Sarah +aside and asked her if she had wanted to sell her pig. Each offered to +return the money to the circus agent for her and get Bony back. +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to sell him," said Sarah stolidly, three times. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning she kissed Bony good by and watched him drive away with +Richard and Mr. Robinson. Then she went out to the barn, refusing +Rosemary's invitation to go over to the Gays'. Shirley went in her +stead and they were greeted by a radiant Louisa who declared that her +troubles were at an end and that now she had hopes of being able to +keep the family together and even educate them. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we have to be careful," she said, smiling as though that +would be comparatively easy. "The quarter's rent Mr. Robinson paid +won't quite meet the interest, but Alec thinks he can scrape the rest +together somehow. And of course we will have to pay for the potato +fertilizer and the store bill is overdue; but we'll manage." +</P> + +<P> +It was on the tip of Rosemary's tongue to tell her about the money +Sarah had, but she stopped in time and sent Shirley a warning glance. +That pleasure belonged to Sarah and no one should take it from her. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you come upstairs a moment, Rosemary?" asked Louisa, "I want to +show you something. Let Shirley play with Kitty in the yard." +</P> + +<P> +The two girls went up the steep, straight stairs and Louisa took her +guest into one of the front rooms. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Robinson said his wife would be out to get acquainted with us +soon," Louisa explained, "and of course she'll have to stay all night. +And where, I ask you, Rosemary, is she to sleep?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why I don't know, dear," replied Rosemary, smiling. "What is the +matter with this room?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked about it as she spoke. It was a large, square room, very +clean and, it must be confessed, very bare. There was a bureau, one +leg missing and the lack supplied by a brick; one chair, the bed and a +little table (not large enough to be useful and not small enough to be +dainty) completed the furnishings. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks so awful," said poor Louisa. "And of course I can't buy +material for curtains; Mother used to say that curtains softened a room +and helped to furnish it. But I certainly am thankful for one thing." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" Rosemary asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That I've always saved one pair of Mother's good sheets and her best +light blankets and two pillow cases, real linen ones," said Louisa. +"When the linen began to wear out, I patched it and darned it as well +as I could, but our sheets last winter were made of flour sacks, +stitched together. They're white as snow for I bleached them, but I +wouldn't want to have Mr. Robinson's wife sleep on flour sack sheets." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my, of course not," said the sympathetic Rosemary. +</P> + +<P> +"She won't have to," declared Louisa with satisfaction. "Much as I +have wanted to use these sheets and the blankets, I've kept them put +away. They are linen Mother had when she was married and I never could +afford to buy any like it now." +</P> + +<P> +"That's fine," said Rosemary, a trifle absently. +</P> + +<P> +She was studying the windows, three placed close together on one side +of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Louisa," she said slowly, "I believe we could make +curtains for those windows—just straight side-drapes, you understand, +with a plain valance across the top." +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen pictures," Louisa admitted, "but I haven't any material." +</P> + +<P> +"I could get it," Rosemary began, but Louisa shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a silly idea, anyway," she declared resolutely. "I haven't any +business to be thinking about curtains when the whole house is as +shabby as my old winter coat. If Mrs. Robinson does come and see new +curtains she'd know right away that I'd spent money I couldn't afford +on them. She might even get the idea that I was trying to make an +impression." +</P> + +<P> +"You have a perfect right to try and make a pleasant impression!" +flared Rosemary hotly. "Of course you have. And I'll tell you how to +make new curtains and they won't cost a cent—except money you have +already paid. Use the blue and white gingham!" +</P> + +<P> +Louisa stared. She had bought, almost as soon as Alec had told her the +good news of the farm's rental, a dozen yards of neat blue and white +checked gingham to make Kitty and June some much-needed frocks and +herself an apron or two. +</P> + +<P> +"But I never heard of gingham curtains!" Louisa protested. +</P> + +<P> +"They're very fashionable for bedrooms," Rosemary assured her. "We +have some at Rainbow Hill—I can show you those. And Mother has a +magazine with heaps of pictures in that show checked casement curtains. +You'll love them when you see them made and hung, Louisa." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—the children can wait for the dresses, I suppose," said Louisa. +</P> + +<P> +And, with Rosemary's help, the curtains were made and hung before the +circus agent's wife paid her promised visit. They were a great success +and Louisa was inordinately proud of them. +</P> + +<P> +Now they went back to the kitchen to look again at the gingham. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish there was some way I could earn a little money," said Louisa +wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +The knitted face cloth on the back of the kitchen chair was responsible +for Rosemary's idea. +</P> + +<P> +"You could knit a bedspread, Louisa!" she said with enthusiasm. "I'll +show you how; Miss Clinton told me they sell for lots of money and +Warren has a cousin who is a domestic science teacher in a large city; +he said she was out here last summer and offered to get orders for Miss +Clinton, but she wouldn't agree to sell her spreads. She doesn't need +the money, but you do." +</P> + +<P> +Louisa was as excited as Rosemary and before an hour had passed the two +girls had, in imagination, knit four elaborate spreads and disposed of +them for eighty dollars apiece. +</P> + +<P> +Then Louisa came down to earth and spoke more practically. +</P> + +<P> +"It will take a long time to do a full-sized spread," she said, "but I +will have plenty of time to knit this winter. You show me how and Miss +Clinton will help me, if I get stuck in the middle of a pattern. You +are too lovely, Rosemary, to think of something I can do!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could earn some money for the Gays," sighed Shirley, trotting +home beside Rosemary when they had left the cheerful Louisa. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you're a pretty little girl to earn money, darling," Rosemary +told her, "but I'll try to think of something you can do. We'll ask +the boys; they know more about money than we do, Warren and Rich +especially." +</P> + +<P> +Her intuition proved to be right, for Warren, consulted, suggested that +Shirley might pick herbs, wild ones, and get the Gay children to help +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Old Fiddlestrings buys wild herbs and sells them, along with those he +raises in his garden, to city druggists," explained Warren. "I'll see +him to-night and find out what he wants right now. Then I'll help you +till you learn to know the different leaves and after that it will be +easy." +</P> + +<P> +Warren was as good as his word and in a few days Shirley and Jim, +Kenneth and Kitty Gay were earnestly hunting herbs. They made a few +mistakes at first, but soon learned and as it was wholesome work and +did not take them off the farm, they were encouraged to go herb picking +every day. Warren acted as selling agent and the little heap of +pennies and dimes and nickels in the pink china bank grew steadily. +</P> + +<P> +That, however, was after Sarah had presented her offering to Louisa. +For one anxious half day it seemed that there might be no presentation, +for Sarah disappeared completely after saying good by to Bony; and +diligent search on the part of her sisters failed to produce her. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah didn't come to lunch, and Mother is worried," announced +Rosemary, meeting the wagon as it returned from the cannery with Warren +driving and Jack sitting on the empty crates in the back. +</P> + +<P> +Warren reined in the horses and looked anxious. +</P> + +<P> +"She hasn't taken Belle again, has she?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I looked and Belle is in the pasture," replied Rosemary. "I've +looked everywhere and Winnie came and helped me and Shirley, too. And +Hugh telephoned he would be out for dinner—where can she have gone?" +</P> + +<P> +Jack spoke suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you what I think," he said. "I think she is crying +somewhere about Bony. You know Sarah—she would run a mile before she +would let anyone see her cry. And I'll bet seeing Bony go just about +broke her heart. She was crazy about that pig." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she was," agreed Rosemary. "Poor little Sarah! She was +determined to sell him and give the money to Alec and Louisa—and all +the time she must have cared so much!" +</P> + +<P> +"You go help Rosemary find her, Jack," said Warren. "Rich and I will +get up the next load. Think where she would be likely to run and hide +and then look for her there." +</P> + +<P> +Jack jumped down from the wagon and faced Rosemary anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Where shall we look?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"In the woods," answered Rosemary, after a moment's thought. "There's +a place there we call the cave—four rocks around in a ring. You can +climb over them and drop down on the moss and it feels as though you +really were in a cave. Let's go look there." +</P> + +<P> +The woods were some distance away and the sun was hot, but Rosemary and +Jack ran nearly all the way. Rosemary was almost crying, for the more +she thought about Sarah, the more plausible it seemed that she must be +heart-broken over the loss of her beloved pet. +</P> + +<P> +"You go look," whispered Jack, when they reached the four large rocks +Rosemary had described. "Peek over and see if she is there." +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously Rosemary crawled over the rocks—long afterwards she +remembered how cool and damp they felt to her fevered hands and +knees—and peered down into the green hollow they formed. A little +figure in a crumpled tan frock was huddled against one of the stones. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah!" called Rosemary softly. "Sarah dearest! You must be starved!" +</P> + +<P> +"Go away!" said Sarah crossly. +</P> + +<P> +That was all she would say, though Rosemary told her how worried they +had all been, urged that Doctor Hugh was coming to dinner and pleaded +with her to come home at once and have something to eat. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Sarah—that's a good girl," begged Rosemary. "Jack is here, +too, and he wants to get back to work." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him to go, then," muttered Sarah. Jack climbed over one of the +boulders and gazed down at the obdurate little person whose unhappy +brown face lacked its usual life and color. Sarah did not look like +herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Sarah," said Jack with directness, but not unkindly. "Your +mother is worried stiff about you and you're coming back with us and +coming now. If you don't want me to climb down there and pull you out, +you'd better scramble up this minute." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Sarah climbed up the rock furthest from Jack and dropped to +the ground. She refused to take Rosemary's hand and scuffed on before +them silently, like a small Indian in a very bad temper. +</P> + +<P> +"She does care," whispered Rosemary to Jack. "She always acts like +this when she wants to cry and is too proud." +</P> + +<P> +With Rosemary to the left of her and Jack on her right and no possible +avenue of escape open, Sarah mounted the porch steps. Someone all in +white, fragrant and dainty and sweet, gathered her, dirt-stained and +disheveled as she was, into loving arms. Sarah began to cry. +</P> + +<P> +"There, my precious," said Mrs. Willis softly, "tell Mother all about +it—she wants to hear." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary and Jack slipped away. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +UP TO MISCHIEF +</H3> + +<P> +Once more a flood of moonlight and a night or two when "Old +Fiddlestrings" wandered up and down the road playing the "Serenade" and +then the first of September was blazoned on the calendar and on the +fields of Rainbow Hill. The summer was virtually over. +</P> + +<P> +Jack went away hilariously for a brief fishing trip with his father +before the Eastshore schools should open; and to the delight of his +mother and sisters, Doctor Hugh came out to stay till they were ready +to go back with him, a matter of ten days or so, for school would be in +session by the middle of the month. +</P> + +<P> +Finding Sarah in a sad state from violent crying on his arrival the day +of Bony's departure, Doctor Hugh was soon in possession of the Gays' +story; and he not only succeeded in persuading Louisa and Alec to +accept the money Sarah's sacrifice had obtained, but he also managed to +give them a more wholesome outlook on the world in general. Although +Alec and Louisa were naturally reluctant to accept Sarah's money, when +they were finally persuaded, their relief was plain. Now they had +enough cash in hand to meet the dreaded interest payment. Alec +insisted that the money from Sarah was to be regarded as a loan and +Doctor Hugh agreed to this. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Sarah when this arrangement was explained to her, +"but I don't want to see Bony—not ever any more." +</P> + +<P> +Alec had told her that the pig would probably be brought to the farm to +spend the winter and had offered to drive to Eastshore some day and +bring her back to see her pet. Sarah's refusal was unmistakable; the +parting once made, she was not minded to harrow her feelings again. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary found Louisa a diligent pupil and the knitted spread was soon +under way. Louisa's pet ambition was to buy a good flock of hens and +raise chickens. The money earned from the spread, or spreads she might +make, she confided to Rosemary, was to be saved toward this venture. +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't had our picnic yet," said Doctor Hugh one morning at the +breakfast table. "We must have one before we go back to town. Let's +ask the Gays and the Hildreths and Warren and Richard—next week will +be a good time." +</P> + +<P> +And then for a few days a round of emergency calls kept him so busy he +forgot that such things as picnics were ever held. +</P> + +<P> +Bringing the car around a few mornings later, intending to take his +mother and Winnie in to look at the remodeled house, he found Sarah and +Shirley placidly seated behind the wheel when he came out from +breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't go this time—there isn't room," he informed them +pleasantly. "Hop out—here come Mother and Winnie." +</P> + +<P> +"You said we could go next time and this is next time," insisted Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +There were tears of disappointment in Shirley's eyes, but she climbed +out of the car in response to a second look from Doctor Hugh. Sarah, +however, clung to the wheel and had to be lifted out bodily. +</P> + +<P> +"You're too old to act like this," said her brother sternly. "It is +important that Mother and Winnie go with me this morning—they were +going yesterday and then I had to put them off to go in to the +hospital; suppose Mother scowled the way you do, Sarah, when things +didn't go to suit her." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary came out to see them off and Mrs. Willis and Winnie waved as +though nothing had happened. Doctor Hugh suddenly swooped down upon +Sarah, lifted her high in his arms and kissed her. With another swift +kiss for Shirley, he was back in the car before the angry Sarah could +recover from her astonishment. The car rolled down the road and left +her standing glaring after it. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was exceedingly put out and she did not attempt to disguise her +state of mind. Rosemary, finding it impossible to win her to a more +reasonable point of view, went indoors to finish the odds and ends of +work Winnie had had to leave undone. This left Shirley to Sarah, and +Sarah was like the disgruntled sailor who deliberately incites mutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to be <I>bad</I>!" she told Shirley passionately. "Let's think of +something awful and go do it!" +</P> + +<P> +Shirley could not think of anything, unfortunately, that is +unfortunately from Sarah's point of view. +</P> + +<P> +"I know!" cried that small sinner, after a moment's thought. "We can +go in the tool house." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah had remembered what Warren had said when they first came to the +farm—that the tool house was forbidden ground. He had also warned +them against going into the windmill. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Shirley," cried the naughty Sarah. "We'll look at the old +tools—we won't hurt 'em." +</P> + +<P> +She found she had reckoned without the canny Mr. Hildreth, when she +reached the tool house. It was securely locked and no amount of +tampering could make any impression on the stout padlock. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, we'll go up in the windmill," said Sarah, not to be balked. +</P> + +<P> +She would have found it hard to explain what satisfaction disobeying +Mr. Hildreth and Warren gave her, when her anger was really directed +toward her brother. However, she may have reasoned that doing +something she knew was wrong was one sure way to plague Doctor Hugh. +</P> + +<P> +Shirley obediently trotted after her sister to the graceful red +shingled tower that enclosed the iron framework of the windmill. Alas, +for once in his busy life, Mr. Hildreth had inspected the pump and left +the door unlocked. Sarah had merely to open it and fold it back and +the interior of the mill was revealed to her. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll play it's a robbers' cave, Shirley," suggested Sarah. "It's +nice and dark." +</P> + +<P> +She was minded to climb the enticing iron ladder, but fearful lest +Shirley develop an obstinate streak and refuse, she had decided to +begin with a milder amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be the robber chief, Shirley," she went on—Sarah had a fondness +for such plays and her brother often said that she would have had a +wonderful time as a boy. "I'll be the robber chief," she repeated, +"and you drag in the loot." +</P> + +<P> +"What's loot?" asked Shirley hopefully, having a vague idea that it was +something one ate. +</P> + +<P> +"Loot is what we steal from the noble lords and ladies," Sarah asserted +with a faint memory of old firelight stories. +</P> + +<P> +"But where do we get it?" the literal-minded Shirley demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we go out and hunt for it," said Sarah. "Don't let anybody see +you—remember we're robbers." +</P> + +<P> +And she opened the windmill door cautiously and peered out. +</P> + +<P> +There was no one in sight and the two little girls crept out and sped +to the nearest tree with a delicious sense of excitement. If they had +turned around and seen someone chasing them, they would not have been +surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Take a stone," said Sarah. "Take a stone for loot. A little one, +Shirley—that one by your foot." +</P> + +<P> +Shirley picked it up and dropped it immediately with a little cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you drop it on your foot?" asked Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Horrid, nasty little bugs under that," Shirley announced, pointing +with a dainty pink forefinger at the stone she had sent crashing back +to earth. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, a few bugs never hurt anyone," proclaimed Sarah. "I only hope +you haven't mashed any; when will you learn not to be afraid of bugs, +Shirley?" +</P> + +<P> +Shirley refused to look as Sarah carefully turned the stone over. +There were numerous little crawling creatures beneath it and several +white slugs. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you've murdered a hundred, but I can't see them," Sarah +reported. "If I had something to scrape them up with, I could save +some." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't play with bugs, Sarah," pleaded Shirley, who knew too well the +fatal attraction of all creeping and crawling things for her sister. +"I don't like bugs. Leave them alone." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I will," said Sarah with surprising amiability. "We'll go +back to the cave; I'll take this stone and you needn't take any." +</P> + +<P> +Back to the windmill they went and nothing would please Sarah but +closing the door again. She liked the dark, she said. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" cried Shirley, starting. "I heard a noise, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah had heard it, too. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the clanking chains," she declared with relish. +</P> + +<P> +"What clanking chains?" whispered Shirley fearfully. +</P> + +<P> +"The chains we put on our prisoners," said Sarah whose imagination was +stimulated by the dark pit in which she found herself. +</P> + +<P> +"What prisoners?" asked Shirley, fascinated in spite of herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Prisoners we robbed," said Sarah solemnly. "We put long chains on +them and they have to walk up and down and they can't get out." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—Oh—I don't like them to have on long chains," Shirley wailed. "I +want you to take them off, Sarah. Please, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Sarah considered. "Perhaps I will. We might as well let the +prisoners go, anyway. They make too much noise. Now the chains are +off, Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +Just as she said that, the noise sounded louder than before. +</P> + +<P> +"Clank! Clank! Clank!" +</P> + +<P> +"You said you took 'em off!" wept Shirley. "You said so, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I did," admitted Sarah. "Wait till I get the door open and +I'll see what made that last noise." +</P> + +<P> +She had latched the door of the windmill and in the darkness it took +her some time to find it. At last she got it open and the light +streamed in, showing Shirley's face streaked with tears. +</P> + +<P> +"I see what made the noise!" proclaimed Sarah triumphantly. "It's the +jigger-thing pumping up and down." +</P> + +<P> +The wings of the mill had turned lazily and the iron rods, jerked up +and down, had made the clanking noise. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to play that any more," said Shirley with more decision +than she usually showed. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll play we are firemen and climb the ladder," said Sarah, pointing +to the narrow iron ladder that led to the top of the mill. +</P> + +<P> +And she actually helped the confiding Shirley to start the long upward +climb and followed close behind her. +</P> + +<P> +Half way up, the inky darkness—for the narrow windows were few and far +between, frightened Shirley and she begged to go back. Sarah cajoled +and bullied her into continuing and the two children managed to make +the steep climb and reach the platform at the top of the mill. As they +stepped out on the boards a gust of wind caught the big fan-like sails +and the pump began to sound with a loud clanking noise. This and the +sensation of being high among the clouds terrified Shirley and she +clung to Sarah, screaming. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah would have liked to scream too. Her face was quite white under +the tan and she grasped the framework tightly. As she looked far +across the fields and felt the dizzy sensation of floating with the +clouds that seemed near enough for her hand to touch, one awful thought +came to her—"How are we to get back?" She was sure they could never +go down that narrow ladder—it had been hard enough to climb up and +going down would be impossible. +</P> + +<P> +She sat down, close to the frame, and Shirley hid her face on her +shoulder. And there Rosemary found them—having heard from Mrs. +Hildreth that they had been seen going down to the brook. The quickest +way to reach the brook was past the windmill. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary called as she came through the field and Sarah heard her. She +stood up and shouted and, because the wind had died down and it was +very quiet and still, Rosemary, too, heard. Kneeling down, Sarah could +see her sister through a knot hole in the platform. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary's first impulse was to run and get help—someone to bring the +girls down, but Sarah implored her "not to tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Everyone will scold and tell Hugh," said Sarah, shouting her plea. +"You come get us, Rosemary—please don't tell." +</P> + +<P> +Both she and Shirley were confident that Rosemary could rescue them +alone and unaided. As the older, Rosemary was accustomed to helping +Sarah out of tight places and, it must be confessed, shielding her from +the consequences of her own wrong-doing. She promised not to tell +"this time." +</P> + +<P> +Setting her teeth, Rosemary began the climb and accomplished it with +fair ease. Her nerves were steady and she was strong and vigorous. +But when it came to getting Shirley down, all her powers of endurance +were taxed to the utmost. +</P> + +<P> +Shirley was rigid with fright. She wanted to hang on to Rosemary and +it was necessary to force her to face the ladder and come down step by +step, Rosemary just below her steadying her with a light touch and +constant words of encouragement. Shirley cried piteously, she stopped +often and refused to take another step. Rosemary had to plead, to +scold, to stimulate, everything but pity—that would have been fatal. +Long before they reached the floor of the mill, Rosemary's face and +hands were dripping with cold perspiration. +</P> + +<P> +Shirley safe on the ground at last. Rosemary detached her clutching +little fingers and went back for Sarah. Gone was Sarah's bravado, lost +her courage completely. She hung back and cried and only started the +descent when Rosemary threatened to leave her. Twice Sarah lost her +footing and shrieked and Rosemary's heart raced madly. The climb +seemed interminable and all the time, down in the darkness below, they +could hear Shirley crying to herself. +</P> + +<P> +A great wave of thankfulness surged over Rosemary as she felt her foot +touch the ground and lifted Sarah from the ladder. They were safe! +</P> + +<P> +"Come away, quick!" said Rosemary, her voice sounding hoarse and +unnatural in her own ears. "Don't ever come here again!" +</P> + +<P> +They stumbled over the doorsill, the strong sunlight blinding their +eyes after the darkness of the windmill interior. So it happened that +none of them saw Warren till he was close to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary!" he cried in quick alarm. "Is anything the matter? You're +as white as a sheet!" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary tried to smile, but she swayed as she stood. He put an arm +around her and led her to an overturned tomato crate under a tree. +"Sit down," he said commandingly. "Do you feel faint?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not!" Indignation sent the color flying back to Rosemary's +cheeks. "I'm never faint." +</P> + +<P> +But to her disgust, she began to tremble uncontrollably. She shook +from head to foot and her lips were blue. +</P> + +<P> +"I was afraid!" she whispered. "So afraid—" and then she could have +bitten her tongue. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Shirley were dismayed—never had they seen Rosemary like +this. They crept close to her and she leaned her head against Sarah, +closing her eyes. All the horror of the dizzy climb and descent +pressed in upon her, tenfold stronger. +</P> + +<P> +Warren's quick eyes went from face to face. All three were white and +strained. Plainly something had happened. Sarah and Shirley had torn +their dresses and there were great dust and oil stains on Rosemary's +white skirt. +</P> + +<P> +Warren wheeled and looked back. The windmill door swung slowly in the +breeze. +</P> + +<P> +"Rosemary!" he spoke so sharply that she jumped. "Rosemary, have you +been in the windmill? Have you been hurt?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOMETHING TO REMEMBER +</H3> + +<P> +Warren stood a moment in indecision. Rosemary's pallor frightened him +and she was evidently concealing something. Sarah and Shirley glanced +at him hostilely as though, he thought resentfully, he was in some way +to blame. +</P> + +<P> +He turned on his heel and ran over to the mill, shutting the door with +a resounding slam. In a trice he had snapped the padlock and had come +back to the three girls huddled under the tree. +</P> + +<P> +And then a cheerful whistle sounded and down the lane came the one +person Rosemary least desired to see at that moment—Doctor Hugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Got through early!" he called, vaulting the fence and striding toward +them. "Why, Rosemary! What's wrong?" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary made a desperate effort to recover her self-control. She +managed a shaky smile, but she did not dare try to stand. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you can find out," said Warren grimly. "I found her like this +a few minutes ago and Shirley and Sarah looking as though they'd seen a +ghost; and not a word will any of 'em say." +</P> + +<P> +Very coolly, very quietly, very firmly, Doctor Hugh lifted Sarah aside +and took her place beside Rosemary on the crate. He rested the tips of +his fingers for a moment on the slender wrist nearest him. Then— +</P> + +<P> +"What frightened you. Rosemary?" he asked evenly. +</P> + +<P> +The touch of his skilled fingers seemed to slow down her hammering +pulse. Rosemary's troubled gaze swept the circle of faces surrounding +her, Sarah's and Shirley's expressive of their anxiety lest she be +"sick," Warren's baffled and worried, and came back to the steady, +understanding dark eyes behind the doctor's glasses. In that moment +Hugh became a tower of refuge to her and she suddenly knew what she +would do. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what made me act like this," she apologized, a little +tinge of color creeping into her white face. "I'm sorry, because I am +afraid I have made you think it is worse than it is." +</P> + +<P> +She stopped and looked at Sarah who stared at her in a puzzled way. +</P> + +<P> +"You won't want me to tell, Sarah dear," went on Rosemary, still +calmly, "but this time I think I'd better; because—well, because if +there should be a next time and you should hurt yourself, I should be +to blame. Besides, there is Shirley." +</P> + +<P> +Warren drew a deep breath and Doctor Hugh sent a look toward Sarah that +made that young person decidedly uncomfortable though she pretended to +be absorbed in the antics of a beetle and sat down, cross-legged, to +consider it. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it was the windmill?" asked Warren. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it was the windmill," nodded Rosemary, putting her arm around +Shirley who was beginning to feel that her adored older sister had for +once deserted her. +</P> + +<P> +And then she told them, graphically and in detail, how she had found +the two children on the platform and of the climbs she had made to +bring them down safely. +</P> + +<P> +"That part wasn't so bad, really it wasn't," she explained earnestly. +"Though when Sarah's foot slipped—" +</P> + +<P> +Warren looked at Doctor Hugh. +</P> + +<P> +"But I keep thinking of that awful platform!" cried Rosemary, hiding +her face against her brother's shoulder and tightening her arm about +Shirley. "Every time I close my eyes I can see them there—and it is +such a narrow space and they could have fallen off so easily—" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" said Doctor Hugh sternly. "Stop that at once, Rosemary. You +are letting your imagination run away with you. Closing your eyes and +thinking what might have happened, will not do at all. You'll get the +better of your nerves, if you try. Don't think what has happened and, +above all, don't talk about it. Tag around after Warren and Rich +to-day and keep so busy you haven't time to think—you'll find the +worst is over now that you have told us." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary lifted her head. She was quite herself, her blue eyes told +Warren. Under her arm, Shirley peeped uncertainly at her brother. +</P> + +<P> +"Come around here where I can see you, Shirley," he commanded. +</P> + +<P> +She obeyed disconsolately. +</P> + +<P> +"You were there when Warren said that you must not go in the windmill, +weren't you?" said Doctor Hugh. "And now you see what happens when you +disobey him. I understand that Sarah suggested this disobedience, but +that doesn't excuse you, Shirley; there have been plenty of times when +you have refused to do as Sarah asked you to. You didn't have to be +naughty because she was, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +Shirley shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I know you're sorry," her brother went on. "Then tell Warren so—and +next time, Shirley, have a mind and will of your own when you are asked +to do something you know is wrong." +</P> + +<P> +Warren accepted Shirley's apology gravely and then made a suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going over to the mill with the heavy wagon," he said, "and if you +want to come along, I'll take you. I'll harness up now and let the +team stand till after dinner." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah scrambled to her feet with the evident intention of including +herself in the invitation. +</P> + +<P> +"Run along, Rosemary," directed Doctor Hugh, "and take Shirley with +you. But I want to talk to you, Sarah." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary glanced back as she walked away with Warren. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Sarah!" she said. "I'm so sorry and I know Hugh is going to +scold. But oh, Warren, I think I did right." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," agreed Warren tersely. He had been more shaken by her recital +than he cared to admit. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't have given Sarah away like that, if it hadn't been for +Shirley," said Rosemary, her eyes now on the infinitely dear little +figure dancing ahead. "Sarah asked me not to tell and I said I +wouldn't—and I never have before. Once she lost Aunt Trudy's ring and +we all got in an awful mess, but we wouldn't tell. Hugh said then it +was wrong and not being truly kind to Sarah. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't see it that way—then," confessed Rosemary. "But +to-day—well, to-day, Sarah frightened me so! And I thought that if I +kept still and said nothing, next time she might hurt herself or +Shirley—when she makes up her mind, she can persuade Shirley to do +anything. And Sarah goes a little bit further every time, unless she +is stopped." +</P> + +<P> +"If you are fretting about whether you did the right thing or not, +forget it," Warren advised her seriously. "In the first place, your +brother would have had the truth from you in five minutes and in the +second place shielding Sarah when she is in a fair way to break her +neck unless someone interferes, isn't far from wicked, to my way of +thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"But she trusts me," urged Rosemary. "Suppose I have lost her +confidence?" +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't," said Warren with conviction. "More likely, you've +gained her respect." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was never to forget the talk with Doctor Hugh that morning. He +sat down beside her on the grass and gravely and kindly, without +raising his voice or threatening punishment, made her see what she had +done. +</P> + +<P> +"You were angry at me and you wanted to do something to 'get even,' +Sarah," he began. "And to satisfy that miserable little desire to get +even, you would have let serious injury, perhaps worse, come to Shirley +and Rosemary—Shirley who would follow you anywhere and Rosemary who +loves you so much she would dare anything for you." +</P> + +<P> +Ignoring her tears and protests, he spoke to her of the responsibility +of an older sister for a younger one and explained the far-reaching +consequences of temper and disobedience. +</P> + +<P> +"You have frightened Rosemary and you have disappointed me," he said +sadly. "We both thought that head-strong and willful and reckless as +you are, you would always take care of Shirley. How can we ever trust +her to you again?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't think she would get hurt," wept Sarah. "I do take care of +her." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear little sister—" Doctor Hugh took her in his arms and the +stolid Sarah clung to him crying as though her heart would break. "My +dear, dear little sister, it is because I want you to always think +first, before you do something wrong, that I am talking to you like +this. Shirley admires you—when you do the right thing, she will try +to imitate you even more readily than when you do wrong. You are +constantly setting her an example." +</P> + +<P> +He let her cry a little while and then supplied her with his clean +pocket handkerchief. With her flushed face pressed against his coat, +Sarah listened while he explained gently the old, old lessons and laws +that govern us all. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember this, Sarah," he concluded earnestly, "you may think, when +you do wrong, that you will take all the punishment yourself, but you +can not; no one can bear the consequences of a misdeed wholly alone. +Every time you do wrong you hurt someone else, two or three others, +perhaps, and usually those who love you most." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah was only nine years old, but she understood. Doctor Hugh had a +faculty for making people understand him. He slipped his hand under +Sarah's chin now and lifted the little brown face till the shamed dark +eyes met his. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I to trust you again, Sarah?" he asked gravely. +</P> + +<P> +The little brown face grew vivid, resolution and love contending for +possession of the dark eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I will be <I>just</I> as good!" promised Sarah. "Truly I will, Hugh." +</P> + +<P> +And they sealed the compact with a kiss. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SUMMER'S END +</H3> + +<P> +"Keep away from that coffee pot!" said Warren for the sixth time in as +many minutes. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary laughed and pulled Shirley back from the fire. +</P> + +<P> +After twice fixing a day for the picnic, only to have Doctor Hugh +summoned by telephone and obliged to remain away till early evening, +the suggestion of a picnic supper had been suggested and accepted. +</P> + +<P> +"A good idea, I call it," Winnie had approved. "We won't have to start +till around four o'clock and by that time Hughie ought to have a couple +of hours off, anyway. I'm not crazy about eating outdoors, but if a +body can have something hot, it isn't so bad as it might be." +</P> + +<P> +Warren and Richard had promised to build the fire and make the +coffee—they assured Winnie that even she would praise their brew—and +Doctor Hugh had insisted on the "hot dogs" without which no properly +conducted supper—so he said—could be arranged. He was sharpening a +stick to serve Sarah as a toaster now. +</P> + +<P> +Winnie's hospitable soul rejoiced in the groups gathered about the +glowing fire, built on an improvised stone hearth between two tree +stumps. Winnie had put her best efforts into the food and she liked to +be assured that the quantity, as well as the quality, would be +appreciated. +</P> + +<P> +They were all there—the six from the Willis household, Mr. and Mrs. +Hildreth, Richard and Warren; and the six Gays with roly-poly little +Mrs. Robinson and her husband who had come up to introduce his wife to +the farm and leave her there while he finished "the season" on the +road. Mrs. Willis had been delighted to have this opportunity to meet +the people who were to live with the Gay children and who would, she +reasoned, have more or less influence over them. Mrs. Robinson had +been three days at the farm and already she had won the friendship of +Louisa and Alec, not an easy matter to bring about. The younger +children were devoted to her and it was apparent that the motherless +household unconsciously welcomed her wealth of tact and wisdom and +sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"They need you so," said Mrs. Willis when she had a chance to speak +confidentially to the wife of the circus agent. +</P> + +<P> +"Not more than I need them," responded Mrs. Robinson. "They have no +mother and I have no children." +</P> + +<P> +And if the payment of the quarter's rent in advance had "turned the +luck," as Alec insisted, it was the coming of Mrs. Robinson that turned +the Gays back to normal, happy living. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary had stipulated that the "grown-ups" were to visit and leave +the preparation of the supper to the children. Most of the preparation +was confined to setting the table—on a flat rock—and to boiling the +coffee and toasting the meat. Richard and Warren were in charge of the +fire and Louisa and Rosemary undertook to set out the eatables, while +Alec carried fresh water from the spring, fished out ants from the milk +pitcher and endeavored to keep the younger fry from tasting everything +left unguarded. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah's insistence on toasting her own "hot dog" led to a general +clamor for sticks and Doctor Hugh obligingly whittled a dozen wands. +taking care to make them long as a precaution against a too eager +approach to the fire. +</P> + +<P> +The table looked very pretty when Rosemary summoned them, for a bouquet +was in the center and tiny wreaths of flowers circled the paper dishes. +Warren's coffee was pronounced delicious and Winnie received so many +compliments on her stuffed eggs and the potato salad that she told Mrs. +Hildreth it would serve her right if the cake should turn out to be +soggy. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," declared Mrs. Hildreth neatly, "I should know it was no cake of +your baking!" +</P> + +<P> +But one distressing incident interrupted the serene progress of that +wonderful supper—when the paper cup of ants and bugs and beetles and +flies that Sarah had captured before sitting down, upset directly into +her saucer of home-made ice cream. Even that catastrophe could not mar +the general enjoyment, though Sarah retired to fish out the bugs +carefully by hand with the forlorn hope of "drying them off and saving +them." +</P> + +<P> +When the supper was over and everything cleared away, Warren built up +the fire again and they gathered around it. The day had been warm but +a slight chill was in the air—the early touch of fall. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't seem as though we were going home to-morrow," remarked +Rosemary pensively. "And school opens next week." +</P> + +<P> +"The summer has gone so swiftly," said Mrs. Willis. "I can scarcely +realize that this is September. The Hammonds have started—Hugh had a +letter yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's been a long summer," declared Sarah, trying to hide a +yawn. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm glad it's over," said Louisa bluntly. +</P> + +<P> +Then the baby June was discovered asleep in Alec's lap and Mrs. +Robinson offered to take her back to the house and put her to bed. +Louisa decreed that bed-time had arrived for the other Gays and they +all turned homeward, promising to say good by to the Willises in the +morning. +</P> + +<P> +"And remember you've promised to bring Rosemary out to see us this +winter, Doctor Willis," Louisa reminded him. +</P> + +<P> +"You come along, Sarah, and see the new tricks I've taught your pig," +said Mr. Robinson with the kindest intention in the world. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah made no reply. She had never voluntarily mentioned Bony since +the morning she had watched him driven off the farm and gradually her +mother and sisters had forgotten him. Not so Sarah. She never forgot +but nothing ever induced her to go and see the pig though she had +plenty of opportunities later, had she so desired. +</P> + +<P> +The twilight shut down and Warren added more fuel to the fire. Shirley +pressed close to her mother, hoping to hide the fact that she, too, was +getting sleepy. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think it was a long summer," she chirped, "I would like more +summer to get herbs in; Mr. Fiddlestrings likes us to get them for him." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't call him that, do you?" asked Rosemary, shocked. +</P> + +<P> +"Everyone does," retorted Shirley. "Only they say 'Old Fiddlestrings' +and we don't—do we, Sarah?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has a stuffed snake," said Sarah who seldom troubled herself to +answer questions that failed to directly interest her. "Rich, you said +you'd show me how to stuff a snake and you never did." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I never got around to it," Richard apologized. "I'm one who +found the summer too short." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hildreth grunted. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you don't need a stuffed snake, Sarah," he said humorously. "A +stuffed chicken seemed to be too much for your family." +</P> + +<P> +Sarah looked disgusted, while the others laughed at the recollection of +that chicken. Sarah, a few weeks before, had found a dead chicken +under the carriage house and had decided it to be a Heaven-sent +opportunity to practise her theories of taxidermy. She had stuffed the +carcass with a variety of available materials—grass and hay and +pebbles, mixed with small sticks and cakes of mud—and, her task +completed, had hidden the treasure in a cupboard in the pantry. For +some reason she deemed the sympathy of her family doubtful and she made +no mention of the experiment to anyone. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before Winnie complained of an unpleasant odor in her +always thoroughly aired pantry. She stood it for one day, grumbling. +The second day she began to talk about "country plumbing" and the third +morning she started in to scrub and scour and disinfect vigorously. +Her activities led her to the dark corner where Sarah had stowed her +chicken and the subsequent interview was brief and to the point. Sarah +buried the unfortunate fowl, using the cake turner which she was later +to bury also on command of Winnie, and this, to date, had been her sole +experience with "stuffing" anything. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary leaned forward, smiling at the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you thinking of, Rosemary?" asked her brother, dexterously +shifting Sarah's position so that she could not kick the fire with her +shoes—a feat she was anxious to accomplish. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, ever so many things," said Rosemary. "About Louisa and Alec and +the circus. And the poor farm, too." +</P> + +<P> +Warren was watching the fire closely, too. +</P> + +<P> +"I drove past the poor farm the other day," he said slowly, "and the +lawns have all been ploughed up and seeded. There's no place now for +the folks to sit, except on the back porch. Not till the new grass has +a good start." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why Sarah is always planning a farm for animals," Rosemary +declared a little passionately. "If I ever have a farm it is going to +be a home for people who haven't any other home. People like the Gays +and old men and women who have no one to take care of them." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have a poor farm, too," cried Sarah, wide awake in an instant. +"I never thought of that. I'll have a place for sick animals, too, but +I'll have a real poor farm for old horses and cows and pigs and +things—when they're too old to work, like old Belle." +</P> + +<P> +Warren and Richard laughed and Doctor Hugh patted his small sister's +energetic dark head. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you and Rosemary could do all you plan," he said with a half +sigh. "There's room enough for that help and more." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Hildreth, her busy hands for once idle, stared at the blazing +fire. She had told her husband earlier in the day that she hardly knew +how to behave at a picnic, it had been so long since she had allowed +herself such a frivolous pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +She sat now, between Winnie and Mrs. Willis, tense and upright, unable +to relax, but resting nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +"It's been a nice summer," she said slowly. "I don't know when I've +had time go so fast. Young people in the house and outside do brighten +things up amazingly. And Warren and Rich have made me so little +trouble—I never knew two boys who needed less waiting on; yes, I've +had a nice summer. I can say that." +</P> + +<P> +Warren's tanned face flushed a little and Richard stirred uneasily. +Both recalled moments of impatience, fortunately suppressed, and +remembered small kindnesses they might have easily performed. Poor +Mrs. Hildreth, so utterly unable to take life easily, was something of +a taskmaster like her husband. She prided herself on asking no more of +anyone than she was willing to do herself and the result was nerves +strung up to concert pitch and a volume of work turned out that was the +wonder of a neighborhood famed for its industry. Warren and Richard +felt guiltily that they might have made more positive contributions to +her "nice summer," but they were thankful for the little they had done +to lighten the good woman's labors. +</P> + +<P> +"How about you, Mother?" said Doctor Hugh mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +"I? Oh, I have learned to love Rainbow Hill," was Mrs. Willis' +response. "I could ask no more of any summer than these weeks have +given me—love and happiness and health. And to-morrow we're going +home!" +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary smiled across the fire at her mother. She, too, liked to +think of going home. +</P> + +<P> +"I only hope the smell of the paint will be out of the house," remarked +Winnie who could never, under any circumstances, be accused of being +sentimentally inclined. +</P> + +<P> +"And the gas stove," went on Winnie dreamily. "If that Greggs has been +mixing messes on it and dropping his glue on the enamel, I'll give him +a piece of my mind. I left that kitchen like wax and it's my hope to +find it like that, but I have my doubts." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh laughed and put back a brand that slipped from the glowing +embers. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Winnie, you know you can hardly wait to get to the straightening +up part," he accused her. "You're already turning the rooms inside out +in your mind's eye for a grand cleaning. I had thought of getting +someone to come in and have it all in order for you and then I was +afraid you might not like it so I changed my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Hughie, if a strange person lays hand on a thing in that house," began +Winnie solemnly and then she stopped as she saw the smiling face. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself to be teasing me," she scolded. +</P> + +<P> +"Shirley's asleep and so is Winnie," said Doctor Hugh suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not!" protested Shirley indignantly as usual. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Winnie jerked her eyes open with a start. "For mercy's sake, do +we have to stay out here all night?" she demanded crossly. "I can +stand a picnic supper, if I have to, but it's no picnic for me to have +to sleep out on damp grass." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Hugh laughingly declared that after that gentle hint there was +nothing to do but go in. He helped the boys cover the fire and stamp +out every vestige of an ember and then led the way to the house, +carrying Shirley and leading Sarah who pretended to be very wide-awake +but whose feet lagged unaccountably. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare, I can't get used to having no dinner dishes to wash," said +Winnie when they had reached the porch. "I'm going in now and see if I +left the kitchen in good order." +</P> + +<P> +She disappeared and Mrs. Willis took Shirley and Sarah up to bed, while +Doctor Hugh snapped on the reading light. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to look over the paper," he said comfortably. "Don't go, +Warren—it's early yet, Rich." +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary found her favorite low rocker and the boys chose the swing. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll miss this," said Warren slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, we haven't any swing at Ag State," declared Richard with a grin. +</P> + +<P> +"You know what I mean, well enough," retorted Warren. "Confabs, +music—being inside a home." +</P> + +<P> +Richard was silent. He knew. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother says she asked you to write to her," broke in Rosemary. "She +says we'll never forget this dear little house at Rainbow Hill and the +friends we've made this summer." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you found your pot of gold, Rosemary?" asked Richard, watching +the light which threw the outline of the girl's pretty head into relief. +</P> + +<P> +Rosemary laughed a little. Early in the summer Mrs. Hildreth had +explained that the name "Rainbow Hill" had been given the farm by Mrs. +Hammond because the first time she had seen the house its roof had been +spanned by a beautiful rainbow. The Willis girls had waited hopefully +two months for a glimpse of a rainbow, but none had been vouchsafed +them. Sarah, for one, believed the rainbow to be as mythical as the +pot of gold Mrs. Hildreth had told her was always to be found at its +end. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe I've found any pot of gold," said Rosemary wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, you have," contradicted Warren. "Look at the Gays—you +helped them find their pot of gold; look at Miss Clinton—you gave her +many happy hours; look at Mrs. Hildreth—she says she never knew a +summer to go so quickly and it's all because she has had someone +cheerful to talk to her. Look at Rich and me—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Warren!" Rosemary protested. "Sarah did more for the Gays than +ever I did. And Mother and Winnie talked to Mrs. Hildreth. I haven't +done anything." +</P> + +<P> +"It's your pure joyousness, I think," went on Warren as though he had +not heard her. "I don't believe enough people are simply happy in this +world. That's your pot of gold, Rosemary—happiness. And you share it +with everyone you meet. It makes a fellow feel—well, as though he +were standing on a mountain top in the morning, just to look at you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Rosemary softly, astonished at quiet Warren and yet oddly +pleased, too. "Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're even glad to go back to school, aren't you, Rosemary?" asked +Richard with a half unconscious sigh. Going back to school for him, +and for Warren, meant much hard work and more anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +The dreamy light went out of the girl's eyes. Her lovely, vivid face +glowed with characteristic enthusiasm. It might be said of Rosemary +that no future was ever else than rosy to her ardent gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'll be glad!" she answered eagerly. "It will be my last +year in grammar school, you know. And it's sure to be exciting—in +spots. Besides I just love going ahead!" +</P> + +<P> +Across his lowered paper, Doctor Hugh smiled at the two boys in the +swing. +</P> + +<P> +"And that," he said whimsically, "explains why Rosemary is Rosemary." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rainbow Hill, by Josephine Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAINBOW HILL *** + +***** This file should be named 26533-h.htm or 26533-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/5/3/26533/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + diff --git a/26533-h/images/img-front.jpg b/26533-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bc993a --- /dev/null +++ b/26533-h/images/img-front.jpg diff --git a/26533.txt b/26533.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb4167f --- /dev/null +++ b/26533.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rainbow Hill, by Josephine Lawrence + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rainbow Hill + +Author: Josephine Lawrence + +Illustrator: Thelma Gooch + +Release Date: September 4, 2008 [EBook #26533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAINBOW HILL *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + + [Transcriber's note: Extensive research found no evidence + that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE BEEN ON A FARM?" HE ASKED.] + + + + + +RAINBOW HILL + + +_By_ + +_Josephine Lawrence_ + + + +_Author of_ + +_ROSEMARY_ + + +_Illustrated by_ + +_Thelma Gooch_ + + + + +NEW YORK + +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY + +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY + +_Rainbow Hill_ + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I PLANS + II LOOKING FORWARD + III RAINBOW HILL + IV FIRST IMPRESSIONS + V DAYS OF DELIGHT + VI WINNIE IS NERVOUS + VII AN ADVENTURE FOR SARAH + VIII STORM SIGNALS + IX ONE WISH COMES TRUE + X AN EVENTFUL DAY + XI ALL SERENE AGAIN + XII NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + XIII THE GAY FAMILY + XIV THE GAY FINANCES + XV THE POOR FARM + XVI SARAH'S SURPRISE + XVII WILLING AND OBLIGING + XVIII A NEW FRIEND + XIX JACK--HIRED MAN + XX A LITTLE GIRL LOST + XXI DOWN LINDEN ROAD + XXII SARAH HAS AN IDEA + XXIII BONY JOINS THE CIRCUS + XXIV TRULY A SACRIFICE + XXV UP TO MISCHIEF + XXVI SOMETHING TO REMEMBER + XXVII SUMMER'S END + + + + +RAINBOW HILL + + +CHAPTER I + +PLANS + +Doctor Hugh leaned back in his swivel chair and looked anxiously at his +mother. + +"I don't believe you realize how incessant the noise will be," he +urged. "Every morning hammering and sawing and the inevitable shouting +and argument that seem to attend all building operations, especially +when the job is one of alteration, like this." + +"I shall not mind the noise, dear," said Mrs. Willis tranquilly. "Let +me see the plans again." + +She held out her hand for the blue prints and four interested heads +immediately bent above them, Rosemary being tall enough to look over +her mother's shoulder and Sarah and Shirley pressing close to her side. + +"I don't see how anyone can tell a thing from that," Rosemary +complained. "There's nothing but white lines." + +The doctor smiled, but his glance was on the frail, almost transparent +hands which held the roll of paper flat on the desk. + +"I suppose you thought that carpenters worked from photographs of +completed interiors, or illustrations in interior-decoration +catalogues," he suggested good-naturedly. "You see before you, +Rosemary, a most practical conception of two offices and a reception +room. Mr. Greggs will rip out one side of the house and add them on as +a wing and when the joining is painted over you'll think those rooms +were built when the original house was." + +"Well--all right," conceded Rosemary, "I suppose Mr. Greggs knows. +Anyway, it will be fun to have something going on. Vacation certainly +isn't very exciting." + +"I want to see them rip the house," announced Sarah with intense +satisfaction. + +"I think I owe it to Mr. Greggs almost as much as to Mother, to have +you at a safe distance before the ripping begins," said Doctor Hugh a +little grimly. "Somehow I have the feeling, Sarah, that the best-laid +plans of architects may go awry when you're about." + +"Huh!" retorted Sarah, abandoning blue prints for her favorite goatskin +rug on which she flopped in an attitude more comfortable than graceful. + +Shirley, too, wearying of the unfamiliar, turned to the delights of the +iron wastebasket into which she tried to wedge her plump self with +indifferent success and a great crackling of paper. + +Doctor Hugh began to sharpen a pencil with meticulous care, his dark +eyes behind their glasses apparently intent on the task in hand. But +the more discerning of his patients, and every nurse who had served on +his cases, could have told you that Doctor Willis always saw most when +he appeared to be quite absorbed. + +Even an outsider would have been interested in the group gathered in +the young doctor's office that summer afternoon. The little mother +(she was no taller than her oldest daughter and came only to her tall +son's shoulder) sat at one side of the flat-topped desk, leaning her +head on one hand as she studied the plans for the addition to the +house. She was very lovely and very appealing, from her wavy dark hair +faintly streaked with gray to her little buckled slippers, and there +was nothing of the invalid about her. It would have been difficult to +say, off-hand, just why she should inspire the conviction, immediate +and swift, that those who loved her must be constantly on guard to +protect her against physical exhaustion and weakness. Difficult, that +is, only until one saw her patient, shining eyes and then one knew, +what had never been hidden from Doctor Hugh, that in her body dwelt an +unquenchable spirit that would always outrun her strength. + +In Rosemary, leaning above her mother and studying the blue prints so +intently that a little frown gathered between her arched brows, the +spirit and strength were united. The effect of Rosemary on the most +casual beholder, was always one of radiance. The mass of her waving +hair was bronze, said her friends; it was red, it was gold, it was all +of these. Her eyes were like her mother's, a violet blue, but dancing, +drenched in tears or black with storm--seldom patient eyes. She lived +intensely, did Rosemary, and sometimes she hurt herself and sometimes +she hurt others. She could be obstinate--wanting her own way with the +insistence of a driving force; that was the Willis will working in her, +Winnie said. All the Willis children had that trait, Winnie said also. +Rosemary could be sorry and make frank confession. That, Sarah always +thought, was the hardest thing in the world to do. + +The dark and stolid Sarah lying on her stomach on the white goatskin +rug, was "the queer one" of the family. Sarah's nature was as +uncompromising as her own square-toed sandals and about as blunt. +Demonstrations of affection bored her. She tended strictly to her +interests and felt small concern in the affairs of her sisters. You +could reach Sarah--after you had learned the way--and the depths in her +were worth reaching. But her one passionate devotion was for +animals--she would do anything for her pets, dare anything for them. +Sometimes Doctor Hugh wondered if she would not sacrifice anyone to +their needs. + +If one desired a contrast to Sarah, there was Shirley. Shirley who sat +in the wastebasket and beamed upon an approving world. Six year old +Shirley was a born sunbeam and her brief fits of temper only seemed to +intensify the normal sunshine of her disposition. She smiled and she +coaxed answering smiles from the severest mortal; she dimpled and +laughter bubbled up to meet her chuckling mirth. It was impossible to +remain cross or ill-tempered when Shirley danced into a room and it is +to be feared that her gifts of cajolery bought her off from often +needed reproofs. It was never easy to scold Shirley. + +Doctor Hugh Willis, sharpening his pencil so painstakingly, knew all +this and more. To his natural endowment of keen-eyed penetration had +been recently added the illuminating experience of a year as sole head +of the household--a year in which the little mother had been absent in +a sanitarium recovering her shattered health and he had been +responsible for the welfare of his sisters. + +Not the least interesting figure of that group--Doctor Hugh. +Dark-haired, dark-eyed and tall, his keen, intelligent face could be as +expressive as Rosemary's. His chin was firm and his mouth could be +grim and smiling, by turns. His speaking voice was rather remarkable +in the range of its modulations and his manner was incisive as one used +to commanding obedience. His patients said "Doctor" had a way with him. + +"Shall I cut the cake, or put it on whole?" inquired someone blandly on +the other side of the closed door. + +"There's Winnie," said Mrs. Willis, lifting her head and smiling. +"Open the door, Shirley." + +Five pairs of eyes turned affectionately to the tall, thin woman who +stepped into the room as Shirley obeyed. This was Winnie without whom +the Willis household would have been lost indeed since for twenty-eight +years she had solved every domestic difficulty for them, shrewdly and +capably. Loyalty and service were beautiful, concrete things in her +faithful loving eyes. Dear Winnie! + +"About the cake," she said now, smoothing her immaculate apron and +glancing sharply at the circle of rather serious faces. + +"Bother the cake," answered Doctor Hugh, secure in the knowledge that +whatever he said would receive Winnie's unqualified approval. "Have +you seen the plans for the new office, Winnie?" + +"That I have not," she replied eagerly and Rosemary yielded her place +while Winnie stared over Mrs. Willis' shoulder at the mysterious white +lines and dots. + +"You must be expecting a lot of sick folks, Hughie," she commented +after a moment's study. + +"I'll give up the other office," the doctor explained, "and have all my +office hours here." + +"When can Mr. Greggs start work, Hugh?" asked his mother, rescuing the +elastic bands from Shirley and moving the ink well back from the small, +exploring fingers. + +"Next week, he hopes," Doctor Hugh answered. "There won't be any +digging to be done, because we are not going to extend the cellar; but +there will be mason work for the foundation and they want to open out +the side of the hall as soon as they start." + +"It will be messy," said Winnie, with unmistakable disapproval of +anything "messy." + +"It will be messy," agreed the doctor. "Worse than that, it will be +noisy. I want Mother and you to take the girls and go away till it is +over. I don't think anyone should be asked to endure the sound of +constant hammering in the hot weather; I'll be out of the house so much +that I don't count and of course I'll keep the other office till things +are in shape here." + +He spoke evenly, but his eyes met Winnie's across Mrs. Willis' shapely +drooping head. + +"I think we ought to get out of Mr. Greggs' way," declared Winnie +briskly. "Carpenters have small patience with women and their +housekeeping habits. They think we're interfering when we only want to +keep 'em from driving nails in the mahogany tables. And if they're +going to ruin the hall rug with their bricks and mortar I, for one, +don't want to be here to see it." + +"Oh, Winnie, you fraud!" Mrs. Willis spoke merrily. "You are not +worrying about the hall rug--I know you too well. You're siding with +Hugh and you are both conspiring to wreck the household budget a second +time. I had all the luxury one woman is entitled to last year in the +sanitarium--from now on I intend to consider expenses and a summer away +from home isn't to be thought of." + +"Your health is worth more than dollars and cents," said Winnie sagely. + +"I'm not going to take music lessons this vacation," offered Rosemary. +"That ought to help, Mother." + +"If I can arrange it so you can leave the house while the alterations +are being put through and yet keep the living expenses down to your +stipulated level--will you go, Mother?" said Doctor Hugh artfully. + +"Can you come, too?" countered his mother. + +"Well--part of the time at least," he temporized. + +A sudden picture of her orderly quiet home in the hands of the +loud-talking, aggressively cheerful town carpenter and his helpers, the +gash in the hall letting in dirt and flies, with the attendant bustle +and confusion that go with artisan work, flashed across Mrs. Willis' +vision. Sarah and Shirley must be constantly admonished to keep out of +mischief and danger, Winnie placated when her domain should be +encroached upon. And the noise of hammers and saws and files! + +"I have only two objections to going away, Hugh," said Mrs. Willis +quietly. "One is leaving you and the other is the expense." + +"Then it is as good as settled," declared Doctor Hugh, rolling up the +blue prints and snapping an elastic around them as though he snapped +his ideas into place with the same deft movement. + +Rosemary's eyes began to shine. + +"Oh, Hugh, tell us!" she begged. "I know you have some perfectly +lovely plan--tell us what it is." + +But the doctor's smile was enigmatic and the two words he vouchsafed a +conundrum to them all. + +"Rainbow Hill," was the answer he made to every question. + +Winnie, always an ally of the doctor's, appealed to, could give no +help. "If you studied geography more and cats less, Sarah," she +informed that small girl who insisted on repeated questioning, "you +might be able to tell me. I've told you before that I know nothing at +all about this Rainbow Hill." + +And Rosemary, waylaying her brother with carefully planned nonchalance, +fared no more successfully. + +"You can't wheedle any news out of me, my dear," announced Doctor Hugh, +his eyes twinkling. "All in good time--and after Mother, you'll be the +first to be told. Patience is a virtue, Rosemary." + +And then he ducked to escape the porch cushion she sent whirling toward +him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LOOKING FORWARD + +"I don't believe you've heard a word I've been saying, Jack Welles!" + +The boy on his knees before the tangled fishing tackle spread out on +the lowest porch step, looked up alertly. + +"Sure I heard," he protested. "Something or other is 'perfectly +adorable.'" + +Rosemary laughed. She had been sitting in the porch swing and now she +came and camped on the middle step, chin in hand, regardless of the hot +sunshine that turned her bronze hair to red gold. + +"I suppose I did say that," she admitted. "But it really is, Jack. I +don't believe Mother would call it an exaggeration." + +Jack Welles frowned at a tangle of line. "I heard you," he said again, +"but I didn't get where this place is--I saw you and your mother going +off with Hugh in the car this morning," he added. + +"I'll untangle that for you," offered Rosemary, holding out her hand +for the line. "We went to see Rainbow Hill and now Mother is crazy to +go there for the summer. Hugh is as pleased as pleased can be, for he +wants her to go somewhere before Mr. Greggs starts the work here." + +"Where's Rainbow Hill?" asked Jack, watching the slim fingers as they +worked at the waxed silk thread so woefully knotted. + +"That's the best part of the whole plan," Rosemary assured him, taking +his knowledge of a plan for granted. "It's only about eight or nine +miles from here and twelve from Bennington. Hugh can easily come out +in the car. You must have seen the house, Jack--it is right on the +tip-top of that hill to the right, the little white clapboarded house +you see as soon as you pass the cross-roads." + +"I've seen it," said Jack. + +"Well, you may have seen it, but you can't tell how lovely it is until +you go through it," declared Rosemary, winding a free length of line +about her slender wrist for safe-keeping. "There's no front porch--you +step into the living-room right from the lawn. But there is a side +porch with awnings and screens that Mother will just love." + +"Where are the folks who live there?" demanded the practical Jack. + +"They're going to California, to visit their married daughter," +Rosemary explained. "They're patients of Hugh's--Mr. and Mrs. Hammond. +And they wanted to rent the house because they didn't like the idea of +closing it for almost three months with all their nice furniture and a +piano and everything in it. So--wasn't it lucky--they happened to ask +Hugh if he knew of anyone who would rent the place furnished and he saw +right away it would be just the thing for us." + +"Whereupon they insisted that he take it as a gift, with a maid and two +butlers thrown in," recited Jack, who knew in what affection Doctor +Hugh's patients held him. + +"Not exactly," dimpled Rosemary, "but they did say that if Mother would +live there during the summer they would consider it a favor and +wouldn't dream of charging rent. Mrs. Hammond said she knew she +wouldn't have to worry about her things if Doctor Hugh's mother would +be there to look after them. But, of course, Hugh wouldn't listen to +that--he said business was business and as soon as he and Mr. Hammond +had the rent fixed, Hugh took Mother and me to see Rainbow Hill. And +it's too lovely for words." + +"Any butlers?" suggested Jack. + +"Not a butler," answered Rosemary firmly. "Winnie beats all the +butlers I ever saw--or read about," she emended, remembering that her +actual experience with butlers was limited. + +"Winnie won't take kindly to pumping water from the well every +morning," said Jack, sorting fish hooks with a practised hand. + +"There's no water to pump," was the prompt and cheerful response. +"It's an old-fashioned house, but the plumbing is new--Hugh found that +out before he even mentioned Rainbow Hill to Mother. It will be such +fun to show the place to Sarah and Shirley--I can hardly wait." + +Jack looked up at the vivid, glowing face above him. + +"I can imagine Sarah let loose on a farm," he said drily. "They'd +better tie up the pigs and nail down the cows--I wouldn't trust that +girl within ten feet of a live animal." + +"You think you're smart, Jack Welles!" broke in the wrathful voice of +Sarah as that young person hurled herself around the side of the house +and confronted them indignantly. "You think you're smart, don't you?" + +"'Scuse me, Sarah, I didn't know you were within hearing distance," +apologized Jack with proper contriteness. "Don't be mad at me, Sally, +for here you are going away--when are you going?" + +"Monday," said Sarah sullenly. + +"You're going away Monday," went on Jack, "and you may not see me till +September; can't we part friends, Sarah?" + +Sarah regarded him suspiciously, but he surveyed her over his fish +hooks and was apparently quite serious. + +"I'll be glad to leave some people in this neighborhood," stated Sarah +with peculiar distinctness. "I'm going to do just as I please at +Rainbow Hill." + +"Then I take it that Hugh won't be there?" said Jack, but Rosemary +hastened to act as peacemaker. + +"Don't fuss," she advised them wisely. "Jack, I may learn how to fish +this summer myself--Mr. Hammond told Hugh that Mr. Hildreth is a great +fisherman." + +Jack asked who Mr. Hildreth was and Sarah answered that he was the +tenant farmer. + +"And his wife is the tenant farmeress," said Sarah importantly. "They +live in another house and plant things--Hugh told me." + +"Yes'm, I don't doubt it," agreed Jack, when he had assimilated this +remarkable information, "but how come a farmer and a farmeress have +time to give lessons in fishing?" + +Rosemary began on the last knot in the line. "Don't be silly, Jack," +she begged. "There'll be two boys there--Mrs. Hildreth says her +husband gets two students from the State Agricultural College to help +him every summer. They'll want to go fishing and Sarah and I can go +along." + +"When you farm, you farm," said Jack sententiously. "You don't hoe the +potatoes one day and then go fishing for a week. But I may be wrong at +that and if you find Mr. Hildreth needs an extra hired man, Rosemary, +one to go fishing, I mean, ask him to send for me. I'll come right up +and fish and look after the garden in my odd moments." + +"Hugh's coming to spend two weeks in August," announced Sarah. "And +he'll come out as many week-ends as he can; will you really come, Jack?" + +"I always did yearn to be a hired man," Jack answered earnestly, "and +they tell us there is no time like the present to put one's ambition in +training. I'm awfully afraid I'll have to earn my living after I leave +school and a nice trade, like that of hired man, might be useful in my +later life. I'll think it over and let you know, Sarah; but don't let +Mr. Hildreth build on my coming--I can't face his grief and +disappointment in case I fail to turn up." + +"You think you're smart!" was Sarah's retort and Rosemary said to +herself that it was impossible to tell when Jack was in earnest. + +Winnie came out and told them that lunch was ready just then, and Jack +took his fishing tackle and retreated to his own home which was next +door, first thanking Rosemary fervently for the unknotted line she +handed him. + +There were times during the days of preparation for the eventful Monday +when Mrs. Willis wondered whether they were really wise to go to so +much trouble, times when she thought wearily that her own home, noisy +as it might be, would be far preferable to the effort required to adapt +her family to a new environment. + +Rosemary put the feeling into words one noon when the doctor came home +to lunch and found her sitting on the floor beside a trunk with a +lapful of rusty keys. + +"Nothing fits," complained Rosemary. "All the keys to everything are +lost. And I don't see what good a restful summer will do Mother if she +has nervous prostration before she gets off." + +Doctor Hugh settled several difficulties in as many minutes--he had a +gift for that--by dispatching Sarah to the locksmith with soft-soap +impressions of the keyless locks and orders to get keys to fit them and +insisting that his mother must stay quietly in her room the remainder +of the day and be served with luncheon and supper there. + +"You girls try to talk all at once," he told his three sisters when +they sat down at last to Winnie's rice waffles, "and that is enough to +tire anyone. + +"Can't I take the cat, Hugh?" urged Sarah anxiously. "You can take it +in the car for me and I know fresh country air will be good for poor +Esther." + +"Esther wouldn't appreciate Rainbow Hill," said Doctor Hugh with +conviction. "Cats don't like to change their homes, Sarah. Besides, +you'll have all the animals you want once you are on the farm. And +that reminds me I want to say one thing to you." + +"I suppose," remarked Sarah plaintively, "you're going to scold." + +"Not exactly," said her brother, smiling in spite of himself. "But +while I want you to have a happy summer, Sarah, and 'collect' snakes +and bugs and insects to your heart's content, I want you to understand +clearly that the menagerie is to be kept outside of the house. Mother +and Winnie mustn't be expected to get used to finding snakes in boxes +and spiders in bottles, and the place to study a colony of ants is +outside, not in the front hall. If I find you can't remember this one +rule, you'll have to come back to Eastshore and stay with me during the +week." + +Sarah, with an unhappy recollection of the furore she had created the +week before when she had bodily transplanted a thriving colony of ants +to the hall rug, promised to remember. + +"Jack Welles said he might come up for a couple of weeks and be a hired +man," announced Rosemary, smiling. + +"I hope he does," approved the doctor promptly. "He'll find it an +endurance test and a particularly valuable one. Yes, Winnie?" + +"I wish you'd step out and look at the canna bed," said Winnie grimly. +"Every single plant pulled out and left dying in the sun." + +"Why, I did that," declared Shirley in her clear little voice that +always reminded Winnie of a robin's chirp. "I thought Mother would +want to take the cannas to Rainbow Hill with us--we can plant them +around the porch there." + +Doctor Hugh pushed back his chair, his mouth twitching. + +"Whatever happens this summer, Winnie," he said gravely, "something +tells me that you won't be bored." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RAINBOW HILL + +A white clapboarded house with moss-green shutters and a dark oak +"Dutch" door, the upper half of which swung hospitably open--this was +Rainbow Hill in the light of the late June afternoon sun. A little +jewel of a house set in the center of a close-cropped emerald-green +lawn and circled by sturdy old trees, elms and maples that had marked +the site of the old homestead and now guarded the "new house" as it had +been called ever since it had been built six years before to replace +the farmhouse destroyed by fire. + +"Welcome to Rainbow Hill," said Mrs. Joseph Hildreth, coming out on the +red tiled walk as a car swept up to the door and stopped. + +Mrs. Hildreth, the wife of the tenant farmer, was a young woman with +wide-awake blue eyes and an air of capability that struck terror to the +souls of the lazy. She was known far and wide as "a hustler" and she +had been known to do a large washing and baking in the morning and +drive the hay rake in the field in the afternoon on occasions when her +husband was short of help. It was a pity her voice was so loud and +rasping, but then not everyone is sensitive to voices. + +"I guess you'll find everything about ready for your supper," said Mrs. +Hildreth when Doctor Hugh had introduced Sarah and Shirley and Winnie, +the three members of the party she had not met previously. "I brought +up a pail of strawberries--they'll be better next week. Mrs. Hammond +said you were to have half the garden, same as they did. The butter +may be a little soft, but Joe will get you a piece of ice in the +morning at the creamery. We weren't sure you'd get here to-day, so I +didn't order it." + +With a few more confidences, directed mainly to Winnie, she went back +to her own house--an attractive story and a half bungalow just visible +from the side porch, and the Willis family were free to take possession +of Rainbow Hill. + +"Isn't it darling!" Rosemary kept exclaiming. "Aren't the rugs +pretty--and the white curtains! Wait till you see the rooms upstairs." + +In spite of Winnie's warning that supper would be ready in fifteen +minutes and Doctor Hugh's declaration that he must go back to Eastshore +as soon as the meal was over, it was impossible to refrain from running +upstairs for a peep at the second story. There was a large and airy +bedroom for the mother, a connecting room which was allotted to +Rosemary and across the hall a smaller room with twin beds which would, +it was instantly decided, "fit" Sarah and Shirley. Next to this was +the guest room which Doctor Hugh would occupy during his visits, and at +the other end of the hall, next to the shining blue and white tiled +bathroom, a square room with two windows and a narrow balcony that +delighted Winnie. + +"There's no nicer place to dry your hair," she explained seriously to +Mrs. Willis. "I can sit out there and darn stockings while my hair is +drying." + +The trunks and one or two boxes, packed with necessary possessions +mostly of a personal nature, had been sent on ahead in the morning and +were already in the halls. The house was tastefully furnished +throughout and Mrs. Willis assured her son that as soon as she had +rearranged a few trifles and had unpacked her treasures she was sure +she would feel contented and at home. + +"I want to go everywhere!" declared Sarah, subsiding into a chair at +the dining-room table with visible reluctance. "I want to see the +horses and the cows and the pigs. Say, Hugh, do you think we could +keep pigs when we go home? There's room in the yard." + +"You want to go to bed early and save your exploring until to-morrow," +advised the doctor. "I have to be back at the house by eight and +that's bed-time for one little girl I know. Shirley looks sleepy now." + +"I'm not," said Shirley automatically, her invariable remark whenever +the subject was mentioned. + +Although the doctor had an appointment waiting him, he seemed to find +it hard to tear himself away from the pleasant picture the mother and +her three daughters made on the spacious side porch after supper that +night. Winnie had insisted on displaying her convenient kitchen and +though there was no gas range she declared that the oil stove would +fulfill all her requirements except for her weekly baking when she +would build a fire in the range. There Were electric lights throughout +the house; and the outbuildings, as they learned later, as well as the +tenant house, were also wired. + +"Here comes somebody!" said Sarah in a loud whisper. "It's the +farmeress." + +"No it isn't, it's two of them," asserted Shirley, pressing her small +nose against the wire screen and acquiring a plaid pattern on the tip. + +"Hush--they'll hear you," said Mrs. Willis, rising and opening the +screen door as two young men came across the lawn. + +"Mrs. Willis?" said the taller. "Mr. Hildreth sent us up to see if you +wanted any help, unpacking. This is Richard Gilbert," he introduced +his companion, "and I am Warren Baker. We're working for Mr. Hildreth +this summer." + +Doctor Hugh came forward at once and while they were being introduced +the three girls studied the newcomers with interest. They were both +apparently about eighteen years old, both deeply tanned, both slim and +muscular and wholesome-looking. Richard Gilbert was slightly shorter +and heavier than Warren, who was really thin. The latter had dark hair +and gray eyes, while Richard's hair and eyes were brown. Both boys +were neatly, if not smartly, dressed and gave a pleasant impression of +cleanliness, coolness and comfort, though they had done a heavy day's +work and their day had started at five that morning. Rosemary +instantly decided that she liked them both. + +So did the rest of the Willis family, and Doctor Hugh delayed his +departure till he declared that one more moment would mean he must +break the speed laws to get back to town. It had been arranged that he +was to take his breakfast and dinner with the hospitable Welles, a most +convenient plan since their house was the nearest. He was seldom home +for lunch and his telephone calls would be taken care of at the "Jordan +office" as Eastshore still called the rooms which had been occupied by +the old and popular physician whose practise had been taken over by +Doctor Hugh. + +Mrs. Willis watched him drive away, satisfied that his comfort was +provided for; and then, as she had decreed that no unpacking was to be +done that night, Richard and Warren took their leave, after promising +to show the girls the whole farm the next morning. + +"If they know what they're about, they'll tie a rope to Sarah," said +Winnie, going about locking doors and windows as though she expected a +siege. + +She had managed to "get a good look," as she said, at the visitors and +had approved of them whole-heartedly. + +"Nice, ordinary boys," she said to Mrs. Willis at the first +opportunity. "Not a bit stiff or shy. did you notice, and yet not any +of these smart Alecs that can't stop talking long enough to listen to +what a body has to say." + +"What are you locking up all the windows for, Winnie?" Sarah questioned +her, sitting down on the rug to take off her sandals as a preparation +for the trip upstairs. "You'll have to open them all in the morning +again." + +"Well, maybe I will," admitted Winnie, turning the key in the front +door and sliding both bolts with emphasis, "but I won't come downstairs +and find the parlor full of skunks and owls and bats--we'll be saved +that." + +"They couldn't get through the screens," protested Sarah, whose natural +tendency to argue was intensified by weariness. + +"You never can tell," was Winnie's answer to this. "I'm not taking any +chances in the country." + +She thought Sarah had gone up to bed and was startled a few minutes +later, when busy in the kitchen, to hear the door open behind her. + +"What are you doing, Winnie?" demanded Sarah, her dark eyes instantly +coming to rest on the table where, spread out in imposing array, were +three mousetraps and the cheese with which Winnie intended to bait them. + +"If you must know," said Winnie, exasperated, "I'm setting mousetraps." + +"Oh!" Sarah gulped. "Oh, Winnie--the poor little mice!" + +"Now, Sarah, don't begin all that," Winnie pleaded. "I'm dead tired +and I haven't the heart to start a debate with you. I'll say one thing +and then I'm through; I don't intend and nothing shall induce me, to +have a lot of nasty little mice tramping over my pantry shelves." + +"How do you know they will?" asked Sarah. + +"Because," said Winnie with terrible finality. + +Sarah and Shirley were asleep two minutes after their heads touched the +pillow; and the house was in darkness soon after, for they were all +tired from the events of the day. + +In her room, though, Rosemary did not find that sleep came immediately. +After lying quietly in bed, staring into the soft darkness, she felt +more wide-awake than ever. She slipped softly to the floor, felt for +and found her pretty white dressing gown and slippers--Rosemary was +very fond of white--which were close at hand and, wrapping herself up +comfortably, pattered over to the open window. + +It was a moonlight night, warm and sweet, and Rosemary knelt down with +a little gasp at the loveliness spread before her. She rested her +elbows on the low window sill and leaned forward, drinking in the scent +of new hay and roses and dewy grass. The shrill, insistent chorus of +insects was music, and when the mournful cry of a distant hoot owl came +out of the woods that rose shadowy and dark across the white ribbon of +road, why that was music, too. Country nights are no more absolutely +silent than nights in the town or city, but some enchantment weaves the +noises of the countryside into graceful harmony. The cry of a bird, +the soft stirring of the animals in the barns, the far barking of a +watchful dog--all these Rosemary heard; and the insects filled in the +pauses. + +She did not know how long she had been at the window when, +faintly--miles away, she would have said--she heard the notes of a +violin. + +"Rosemary!" whispered someone from the doorway. "Are you awake, +darling?" + +Mrs. Willis came across the room and knelt beside her daughter. + +"Did you hear it, Mother? It couldn't be a violin--yes, it is! But at +this time of night and way out in the country!" + +"Listen!" said Mrs. Willis softly. + +Rosemary had inherited her passionate love for music from her, and her +delight and wonder were no greater than her mother's as the music came +nearer. Someone was playing Schubert's "Serenade" in the moonlight. + +"I see him!" whispered Rosemary. "Look, Mother--an old man!" + +Sure enough, as they watched, a halting figure came down the road which +the moonlight had changed to a silver ribbon. They knew he was old for +he was stooped and walked with the shuffling gait that comes from +feebleness. His head was bent over his violin, and as he walked those +unearthly sweet strains melted into the moonlight and became a part of +the silver mist. Just as he reached a point opposite the house he must +have stopped. A tree hid him from the two watching. Probably he sat +down on the large rock at the side of the road to rest--to rest and +play. For, hidden from the enthralled listeners, he played the +"Serenade" through twice, lovingly, delicately, with a haunting +yearning that held a touch of genius. Then, still playing, he shuffled +on. They caught a glimpse of him as he came out from behind the tree, +saw the light flash on his bow and he was gone. They listened until +his music had died away in the distance--always the "Serenade," over +and over. + +"Oh--Mother!" Rosemary raised her blue eyes, swimming in tears. + +"Yes, dearest--" there was a little catch in Mrs. Willis' tender voice. +"It was very beautiful and very wonderful--but you must go to bed now. +It is late." + +Rosemary, turning drowsily to pillow her cheek on her hand after her +mother's kiss, was conscious of a hope that the old violin player might +not lack a comfortable bed and the peace and security of a +home--somewhere. + +"It is so nice at Rainbow Hill," murmured Rosemary, drifting off into +delicious slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FIRST IMPRESSIONS + +"Aren't you ever going to get up?" demanded Sarah. + +Rosemary sat up and regarded her sister sleepily. + +"Did you hear the violin?" she asked. + +"What violin?" Sarah's surprise was an answer in itself. + +While she dressed, hurried by the impatient younger girls, for Shirley +soon joined Sarah, Rosemary told of the music she had heard the night +before. + +"Mother heard it, too; we both saw the old man," she asserted when they +were inclined to be skeptical and scoffed that she had been dreaming. + +Winnie had evidently risen "with the larks" as she was fond of +declaring (though when pressed by Sarah, intent on the habits and +traits of larks, she had been forced to admit that she had never seen +one) for the windows on the first floor were unlocked and open to the +fresh morning air and the upper half of the Dutch door folded back to +let in a flood of sunshine. + +"Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes," Winnie greeted the girls. +"Ten minutes, no more, no less; and you're not to set foot out of the +house until you've eaten, because I don't intend to spend my time +fishing Sarah out of the well and pulling Shirley from under a hay +stack while the muffins are getting cold." + +Mrs. Willis, coming downstairs, cool and sweet in a blue linen gown, +laughed at this arraignment but she, too, insisted that the farm should +be seen after breakfast. + +"And do be careful about hindering Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth," she +cautioned them as they sat down at the table. "They are very busy +folk, I know, and you mustn't expect them to answer too many questions. +Richard and Warren will have their work laid out for them and can't be +distracted--you will have weeks to explore Rainbow Hill and I don't +want you to feel that you must be shown everything in one day." + +"I'll help you, Mother," promised Rosemary. "Sarah and Shirley can go +out and play, but I'll help you and Winnie unpack." + +However, when Sarah and Shirley dashed out of the house a few minutes +later, Rosemary was with them. Mrs. Willis had explained that her +eldest daughter could help her more by "looking after" the impetuous +Shirley and that unknown quantity, Sarah, than by remaining in the +house to open the trunks and boxes. + +"I am going to do just as much as I can and then stop," the mother +said, smilingly. "I promised Hugh and Winnie to be temperate and not +tire myself needlessly. Hugh will probably call up this morning and I +want to be here when he does. You run along with Sarah and Shirley, +Rosemary--Mother feels safe about them when she knows you are with +them." + +Rosemary flushed with pleasure and resolved to be worthy of the +confidence. She would be more patient than she had ever been before. + +"It's just like Rosemary, to offer to stay in and help," said Winnie, +watching the three girls cut across the lawn in the direction of the +barns, "you could see plain she was crazy to go out and look around, +but she never grabs what she wants--that child was born unselfish." + +Rainbow Hill was what, in the farming parlance, is known as "an all +around" place. That meant the owner, Mr. Hammond, believed in general +farming as distinguished from the specialized type such as truck +farming or dairying. Some oats and wheat were grown at Rainbow Hill, +several acres of tomatoes raised yearly for the cannery, a good crop of +hay harvested; there would be one "field crop" raised for marketing, +generally potatoes or cabbage. The milk from a small herd of cows was +sold at the local creamery and all food for the animals on the place +was grown on the farm. How much hard work was bound up in the tilling +of the well-ordered fields, the cultivation of the thrifty orchard and +the healthy aspect presented by the live stock was something the three +Willis girls could not be expected to grasp at once. Everything was +beautifully neat, from the freshly swept barn floor to the white-washed +chicken houses; not a weed showed its head in the large vegetable +garden and a town-bred girl might easily make the mistake of thinking +that this state of affairs was always to be found on every +farm--something to be taken for granted, like fresh eggs or new milk. + +It was in the vegetable garden that they found Warren Baker. He was +dressed in a clean blue shirt and dark blue overalls and he was on his +knees beside a long row of thin green spikes. + +"Good morning," he greeted the visitors politely. "Out seeing the +sights? But didn't you forget your hats?" + +Warren wore an immense straw hat that shaded the back of his neck as +effectively as his face. + +"Oh, we don't want to bother with hats," said Rosemary carelessly. +"Aren't those onions you're weeding?" + +"They're onions," answered Warren, "but I'm not weeding them; I'm +thinning them. If you stayed in one place in the sun as long as I do, +a hat would feel pretty good." + +Sarah asked why he was "thinning" the onions and he explained that he +pulled out some to give those left more room to grow. + +"This the first time you've been on a farm?" he asked her. + +"The first time I ever stayed on a farm," said Sarah with precision. +"I've been to different farms with Hugh--that's my brother; but we only +stayed a little while. I think, when I grow up, I'll have a farm and +be an animal doctor." + +"Sarah loves animals," Rosemary explained. "We've seen the horses in +the barn and the chickens and the pigs; but we didn't see a cow yet." + +"Rich turns them into the lane as soon as he finishes milking," said +Warren, rising from the onion row. "I'll go down and let them into the +pasture now and you can come and see them, if you like." + +"Well--you're sure it won't be a trouble?" hesitated Rosemary. + +"Mother says we mustn't bother you," added Shirley primly, speaking for +the first time. + +"You can't bother me," said the boy so heartily that he reminded +Rosemary of Jack Welles. + +"Then don't you have to work, only when you want to?" suggested Sarah +who unconsciously then and there outlined her ideals of labor. + +Warren, leading the way out of the vegetable garden, laughed. + +"Sure I have to work," he said good-naturedly. "If you knew Mr. +Hildreth, you wouldn't ask a question like that; he does two men's work +every day of his life and encourages everyone else to follow his +example. But you see, I can talk and work, too; it's all right to +talk, if you don't stop work to do it." + +"Is it?" queried Sarah doubtfully. + +"Not a question about it," declared Warren, taking down two bars for +the girls to go through into a green lane fenced in on either side with +a heavy wire fence. "Talk and work, mixed, are all right, but all talk +and no work makes Jack a poor hired man--haven't you ever heard that +proverb?" + +Sarah puzzled over this until they came up with the cows and then she +forgot it promptly. There were ten of the sleek, cream-colored +bossies, gentle, affectionate creatures who pressed their deep noses +trustingly into Warren's hands and begged him to open the wide gate +that kept them from the shady pasture. + +He swung the gate back and they moved slowly forward, beginning to crop +the grass before they were half way through. + +"There's a brook," cried Shirley, catching sight of the water. "I want +to go wading--come on!" + +"Not now," said Rosemary, catching Shirley by her frock as though she +feared that small girl might plunge into the stream head-first, "after +lunch, dear, if Mother is willing." + +"We want to do a lot of other things first," Sarah reminded her. "We +haven't been up to the top of the windmill yet." + +Warren turned and looked at her, a twinkle in his eyes. + +"You wouldn't like it if you got up there and your sash caught on the +wheel," he told her. "Think how you would look going round and round +like a pinwheel. Folks would come to look at you instead of the +circus." + +"I wouldn't catch my sash," said Sarah positively. "There's a little +platform up there and I could stand on that. And I saw the little iron +stairs that go up inside like a lighthouse." + +The twinkle went out of Warren Baker's eyes and his pleasant voice was +serious when he spoke. + +"There are just two places on this farm from which you are barred," he +said, his glance including the attentive three before him. "One is the +windmill; the door is usually locked and I don't know how it came to be +left open this morning. But locked or not, keep out of it--it is no +place for anyone unless a mechanic wants to oil or repair the machinery. + +"The other place is the tool house. Mr. Hildreth has a bunch of fine +tools and they're the apple of his eye--apples, would be more accurate, +perhaps. The tool house is usually locked, too, and there are only +three keys; but if you do find it unlocked some fine morning, take my +advice and stay outside. Or, if you must go in, don't touch a tool. +The rest of the farm is open to you and the four winds--with reasonable +restrictions, I ought to add." + +Three pairs of eyes stared at him so solemnly, that he felt +uncomfortable. + +"I'm not laying down the law in my own name," he said earnestly. "Mr. +Hildreth is mighty particular about how things are run at Rainbow Hill +and I thought I could save you future trouble by warning you. Of +course I only work for him--'hired man' is my title--and very much at +your service." + +There was so much boyish honesty in the speech, so much genuine good +will and an utter absence of attempt to strike a pose, not unmixed with +worth-while pride and a desire that his position should be clear to +them from the start, that even Sarah, who was quick to resent real or +fancied efforts to "boss" her, answered his smile with her own +characteristic grin. + +"Of course we won't go where we shouldn't," said Rosemary warmly. "At +least not now, when there is no excuse for not knowing." + +But Warren, noting that Sarah became absorbed in the antics of a beetle +crossing her shoe, registered a resolve to see that the windmill door +was kept locked. + +"There's your brother," said Shirley, pointing to a figure coming down +the lane. + +"Rich isn't my brother--he's my pal," replied Warren. "And Mr. +Hildreth is with him, so you'll have a chance to meet a real farmer and +a good one." + +"Then I can ask him about the insides of cats," was Sarah's rather +disconcerting response. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DAYS OF DELIGHT + +"You're the doctor's sisters," declared Mr. Hildreth when he was within +earshot. Then, to Warren, "That row of onions isn't done." + +Mr. Hildreth, the girls were to learn speedily, made statements. He +did not ask questions. And usually his declarations stood unchallenged. + +He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a rather grim, weather-beaten +face and shrewd blue eyes. A hard worker, his neighbors said, and +accustomed to demanding, and receiving, the best from his helpers. He +was intolerant of laziness--"shiftlessness" the country phrase ran--but +he had the reputation of being a just taskmaster and he could be very +kind. + +"I'm going back and finish the onions now," said Warren. "I came down +to let the cows out." + +"Rich was late this morning," asserted Rich's employer, "because he +wasted time at the creamery. We're going to fix the line fence." + +Rosemary looked at Richard Gilbert who carried a box of tools. He did +not seem to mind the accusation brought against him--though, as a +matter of fact, he had waited to get a piece of ice for Winnie and this +had delayed him at the creamery--but then Richard was not easily +offended. He was inclined to be easy going and was much less apt to +"fire up" than Warren. + +"I'm going with Warren," announced Sarah, who liked her new friend very +much and saw no reason for leaving him in doubt of her feelings. + +Mr. Hildreth stalked toward the brook, followed by Richard and Warren, +and Sarah started up the lane. Rosemary, picking a buttercup for +Shirley, was surprised to hear a sudden shout. + +"Mr. Hildreth!" yelled Sarah--there is no other word for it--"Mr. +Hildreth! Can you make violin strings from a cat's insides?" + +The farmer, knee-deep in the brook, looked up, startled. Rosemary +stared and Shirley looked interested. As for Richard and Warren, they +laughed immoderately. + +"A girl in school said you could," went on Sarah, still shouting. +"Violin strings, she said--can you?" + +"Sure--haven't you heard cats sing at night?" called back Mr. Hildreth, +having recovered his breath. "Any cat that's a good singer, will make +good violin strings. Miss--er--what's her name?" he questioned Richard +who was holding up one end of the sagging wire. + +"That's Sarah," said Richard. + +"You ask Warren, Sarah," called the farmer. "He'll tell you." + +And as Warren walked on, Sarah, tagging after him, began an exhaustive +and relentless study of cats and violin strings. + +Richard held the wire carefully, but his dancing brown eyes suggested +that he was not too busy to talk. + +"There was an old man playing the violin last night," said Rosemary. +"Did you hear him?" + +Richard nodded. + +"Old Fiddlestrings," he answered. "You'll probably hear him every +moonlight night. Winter and summer he goes up and down the road +playing his one tune." + +"It was the 'Serenade,'" said Rosemary. "Does he always play that? +Where does he live? Is he poor?" + +"Not so poor as he is crazy," declared Richard sententiously. "He has +enough money so he never has to work. He lives in a crazy little cabin +on the other side of the hill and has a garden where he raises herbs +and sells them--they say he does a big business with the city +drugstores." + +"Guess you'd call it work, digging in that yard of his," observed Mr. +Hildreth drily. + +"Well--what I mean is, he doesn't have to go out and work by the week," +explained Richard. + +"And his music?" asked Rosemary, pulling Shirley back as the +investigating toe of her sandal threatened to dip into the water. + +"He only plays when there is a moon," said Richard, his merry face +sobering. "Seems like he can't rest on a moonlight night. Sometimes +he walks up and down the road for hours and sometimes he sits out in +his yard and plays; but they say he never goes to bed and he never lays +his violin down till morning." + +"He's a good fiddler," said Mr. Hildreth. + +"His music was wonderful," glowed Rosemary. "Mother and I couldn't go +to bed as long as he played. I'd give anything if I could play like +that!" + +"You play the piano just as nice!" chirped Shirley loyally. + +"Say, there is a piano in the house, isn't there!" Richard almost +dropped the wire. "Can you play?" + +"Not as well as my mother," said Rosemary, "but I've studied several +years." + +"Can you play 'Old Black Joe'?" demanded Richard. "That's a song I +always liked." + +The contrast between his cheerful, open face and his melancholy taste +in music was so great that Rosemary could not help laughing. But she +said she could play "Old Black Joe" and promised to play it for him at +the first opportunity. + +Those early days at Rainbow Hill were not long enough. That was the +general complaint. Mrs. Willis and Winnie, busy in the house, said +evening came before the delightful tasks were half started or the more +prosaic duties completed. There was the garden to be visited, the +flower vases to be filled, the porch made cool and clean and +comfortable, every morning; Winnie reveled in her kitchen, hung over +the great pans of milk in the speckless pantry and gloated as she +skimmed the heavy cream. Sarah said she saved all the cream till Hugh +was expected and then served it up to him, whipped stiff in the largest +bowl she could find, with fresh, hot gingerbread, the doctor's favorite +dessert. + +The girls roamed the place from one end to the other and knew every +inch of the farm as well as the Hildreths did, in a week's time. They +came in only to sleep, Winnie declared, but Mrs. Willis insisted, with +a gentle firmness that was effective even with the determined Sarah, +that the most strenuous day should end at five o'clock. Then, freshly +bathed and dressed, they rested quietly till dinner and spent the short +evening on the porch or in the pleasant living-room. + +That living-room proved a magnet to Richard and Warren. As soon as the +lamp was lighted and Rosemary or her mother sat down at the piano, the +boys seemed irresistibly drawn to the little white house. Their +evenings with the Hildreths had been dreary in the extreme--both the +farmer and his hard-working wife practised and preached that "early to +bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise"--and +they either sat silently in the twilight until nine o'clock when they +went to bed and set the alarm clock for five, or lit a single lamp in +the kitchen and read agricultural papers by its uncertain rays. + +"I hope I can be as good a farmer as Joe Hildreth," Warren once +confided to Mrs. Willis, "but I think I'll have one less cultivator on +my farm and a couple more lights in my farmhouse." + +No wonder that the shaded lights of that other living-room, which cast +a soft and rosy glow over the simple wicker furniture and cretonne +cushions, the books and magazines and the always open piano, spelled +comfort and cheer to the lonely young fellows miles distant from +relatives and old friends. Richard Gilbert said it was the books that +drew him, while Warren thought the music lured him. In reality, it was +the gracious, lovely presence of the mother, gentle Mrs. Willis who +never raised her voice above its soft, even level, who moved +noiselessly about the house and whose step was so light on the stair +that one might easily not hear her cross the hall and enter a room. +But she could not leave it that her absence was not noted and her low +laughter missed. + +No wonder that twenty times a day the cry, "Where's Mother?" sounded +through the house. No wonder that Doctor Hugh called up every morning +and "ran in" as often as his busy schedule would allow, or bore her off +with him to inspect the progress of the building at the Eastshore +house. No wonder the nervous, driving energy of Mrs. Hildreth's nature +was turned into channels that flowed back to the little lady in the +white house bearing gifts of the garden and dairy. And no wonder at +all that two boys, who had never known their own mothers, found no +words with which to tell her what her interest and friendship meant to +them. + +In time there came to exist a tacit agreement between Richard and +Warren that Mrs. Willis was not to be "worried" and in the effort to +spare her they assumed, unconsciously, a brotherly guardianship over +the three girls for which their mother was silently grateful. It was +obvious that she could not tramp the fields with them and equally +apparent that they would go wherever their healthy young active +curiosity might lead. Richard and Warren took upon themselves the +duties of friendly counselors--and had their hands full from the start. + +"Country life may be healthy," said Winnie one Saturday when Doctor +Hugh was spending the week-end at Rainbow Hill, "but I don't know as +I'd call it exactly beautifying. Rosemary has a crop of freckles on +her nose that will probably last all winter and Sarah is about as black +as the automobile curtains. As for Shirley, between the briar +scratches and the bruises on her hands and arms, she looks more like a +strawberry plant, than a natural, human child." + +Winnie was genuinely grieved at the girls' indifference to their looks, +especially Rosemary of whom she was very proud, but Doctor Hugh +declared that he liked to see folk look as though they lived outdoors. + +"They live outdoors all right," Winnie informed him, a trifle tartly, +"in fact I don't see why you didn't lug up a couple of tents and turn +'em loose inside. Rosemary is going to be blown out of the window some +fine night and, to my way of thinking, it's better to start sleeping on +the ground than to land there sudden like, right in a sound sleep." + +Rosemary laughed. She was sitting on the arm of her brother's chair +and, despite the freckles across her nose, presented a charming picture +of a pretty girl in a dull rose frock. + +"Fresh air is good for you, isn't it, Hugh?" she demanded. "Winnie is +always saying I ought to sleep in the 'Cave of the Winds.'" + +"I wouldn't say a word, if you'd be reasonable," said Winnie, setting +the table as she talked. "But it can rain or blow great guns and you +never as much rise up to put the window down; you might think it was +nailed up. Last night the rain poured in and soaked through to the +hall ceiling and what Mrs. Hammond is going to say when she sees that, +I don't know." + +"We must have it repapered for her," said the doctor lazily. "Shirley +lamb, there seems to be something wrong with your dress--what is that +oozing out of your pocket?" + +Winnie glanced at the discomfited Shirley. + +"It's an egg--a fresh egg," she said resignedly. "I sent her out to +get me one for the French toast and I suppose she forgot to give it to +me. Never mind, Shirley, it's nothing to sit on an egg, dearie; the +mother hen does it every day. For goodness' sake, what are you +laughing at, Hughie?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WINNIE IS NERVOUS + +When Doctor Hugh went back to the Eastshore house Sunday night, in +order to be ready for an early Monday morning appointment, he took his +mother with him. There were several things which their brief residence +at Rainbow Hill had demonstrated would be immediately required, +noticeably more frocks for Sarah. That small girl tore and wore out +and soiled an amazing number of dresses within a day. Winnie, too, had +a list of necessities and Mrs. Willis had proposed that she go in with +Hugh and gather frocks and utensils; then Hugh would bring them back in +the car and her, too. + +"You'll be alone only one night," Mrs. Willis said to Winnie. "And if +you are the least bit nervous, I'm sure one of the boys will come up +and sleep in the house." + +"Now don't you worry about us," was Winnie's reply. "I guess I can +take care of things all right. There's nothing to be afraid of--and +anyway I don't see that two women in a house makes it any safer than +one." + +Winnie, though she would have been the last to admit it, had been +slightly timid at first about the sleeping arrangements. She had never +lived in the country in her life and she privately thought the farm a +lonely place, especially at night when, to quote her own words, "there +was nothing nearer than the moon." As a matter of fact Rainbow Hill +was not an isolated place at all, there were telephone connections to +the outside world and a private system of communication with the tenant +house. No one ever locked the house doors in that section and +gradually Winnie's unexpressed fears wore away. + +Mrs. Willis, in her wholesome nature, was seldom frightened and to her +the country meant peace and seclusion. All the girls had been trained +from babyhood to regard the dark as "kind to tired people" and each had +been taught to go to bed alone as a matter of course. They had never +been terrified by foolish stories and silly myths and so were not +afraid. Rosemary could lock up a house as competently as the doctor +and thought nothing of going downstairs after the lights were out for +the night to see if a window catch had been fastened. + +When bed-time came the night following the morning of Mrs. Willis' +departure, Winnie was too proud to ask Warren or Richard to spend the +night in the house. It is quite probable that either or both might +have offered to stay, but they had returned late from a trip to +Bennington and, driving into the barn at nine o'clock, had decided to +go to bed early. + +"Are you going to lock the doors?" asked Rosemary, turning on the piano +bench in surprise as Winnie shut the front door with a bang and slid +the heavy bolt and chain. + +"I am that," said Winnie with emphasis. "I'm responsible for the +rented stuff in this house and I don't aim to have any of Mrs. +Hammond's furniture being carried off." + +"Why Winnie, no one will take anything," remonstrated Rosemary. +"Warren says doors are never locked in any of the farmhouses around +here. There hasn't been a tramp seen this summer." + +"And I don't intend to have the record broken--not by me," said Winnie, +shutting the living-room windows with a bang and turning the catches. +"I'm going out in the kitchen now and bolt that door." + +Sarah and Shirley had been in bed for an hour and there was only +Rosemary to accompany the determined Winnie on her rounds. They made a +thorough job of the locking up--Winnie by preference, Rosemary by +compulsion--and then snapped off the lights and went upstairs together. + +"I'll leave my door open to-night, Winnie," said Rosemary. "Then if +you should want anything, you could call me." + +"It's going to rain," replied Winnie absently. "The wind is rising, +too. Don't let the ceiling get soaked again." + +Rosemary kissed her good night--Winnie's arms had been the first to +hold Rosemary when she was born--and went into her own pretty room. + +She did not hurry over undressing and even attempted to read as she +brushed her hair. Of course neither pleasure nor task went forward +very smoothly, but Rosemary enjoyed the sensation of dawdling. She was +not sleepy and it was pleasant to play that she was a lady of leisure. +Then, before she was ready for bed, she must needs try her hair a new +way and turn on all the lights in the room to get the effect. + +"It will be so exciting," said Rosemary, staring with naive +satisfaction at the pink-cheeked girl in the white kimono who stared +back at her from the glass, "it will be so exciting to go to dances and +parties. If I ever get to high school, I'll be thankful, for then +there is always something happening. I hope there's a dancing school +that's some good in Eastshore this winter." + +At last Rosemary was ready for bed. She pattered over and felt of the +floor under the two screened windows--quite dry, so the rain, if there +had been rain, had not beat in. + +"But it isn't raining," said Rosemary to herself, snapping off the +lights and trying to see out into the darkness. "When it rains we can +hear it on the tin roof of the porch; it is only cloudy and windy." + +Mindful of her promise to Winnie, she opened her door--though as a rule +the Willis family slept with individual bedroom doors closed--and +listened for a moment, peering into the shadowy hall. There was not a +sound and no light shone under Winnie's door--it must be open and she +was asleep. + +"How the wind does blow!" said Rosemary, safe in bed, wondering if she +ought to get up and pin the muslin curtains back for they fluttered +madly. + +Before she could act on this thought, she was asleep. How long she +slept she did not know, but she woke to find Winnie standing beside the +bed. + +"Rosemary!" she whispered. "Rosemary! There's the most awful racket +you ever heard!" + +Rosemary sat up in bed and drew the blanket around her. + +"What--what's the matter?" she stammered. + +"Hush--don't wake up Shirley and start her crying," warned Winnie who +looked taller than ever in the scant gray dressing gown she had pulled +tightly about her. "Sarah wouldn't wake if the house caved in--there, +do you hear that?" + +Rosemary listened intently. She shook her head. + +"I don't hear anything," she said. + +"Then come out in the hall and you will," advised Winnie, stalking +toward the door. + +Rosemary followed sleepily. She didn't want to listen to noises and +she couldn't help wishing that Winnie had been a little harder of +hearing. + +"There--hear that?" Winnie's tone was almost triumphant. + +Through the whole house sounded a wail that rose as they listened and +mounted to a shriek. In spite of her desire to remain cool and calm, +Rosemary shivered. + +"It woke me up," whispered Winnie fearfully. "I never, in all my born +days, heard anything like it." + +"What--what makes it?" said Rosemary. + +"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," declared Winnie. "I'm not +afraid of anything, once I know what it is; but when I don't know the +cause, I can be scared as well as the next one." + +Winnie was perfectly sincere in this statement. She might have added +that no matter how badly frightened she was, she could not be kept from +making her investigations. Now she prepared to go downstairs by +pressing the button that lighted both halls. + +"Don't go down, Winnie," begged Rosemary. "I don't believe it's +anything but the wind." + +"We had a high wind one night when your mother was home and nothing +made this kind of racket," was Winnie's retort. "You sit at the top of +the stairs, Rosemary, and you can see me all the time and you won't +feel alone; there's no use in you prowling around just because I do." + +"Hark--it's raining!" Rosemary had heard the sound of drops on the tin +roof of the porch "I'm coming down with you, Winnie--wouldn't it be +nice if only Hugh were here!" + +The wail sounded again, low and hesitating, then it began to rise. As +Winnie and Rosemary reached the level of the first floor hall the peak +of the shriek sounded in their ears. + +"Oh, don't go out in the kitchen!" Rosemary's voice shook with +nervousness. "Winnie, don't go fussing around; come back in my room +and sleep with me. We can't hear anything there." + +"I aim to find out what--" began Winnie, then stopped suddenly. + +Someone was coming up the narrow flagged walk, someone who was +whistling softly. + +"Hello!" came a low-voiced hail. "Hello--don't be frightened--this is +Warren and Rich. Anything the matter?" + +Rosemary promptly turned and fled and then, the second floor gained, +turned and hung over the railing to watch Winnie unchain and unbolt and +unlock the front door and then admit two dripping, but cheerful +figures, in yellow oilskins. + +"Raining and blowing great guns," said Warren's voice. "We got up to +close one of the windows and saw your house lighted--thought maybe +someone was sick." + +"You're the best boys who ever breathed," the grateful Winnie informed +them. "Nothing's the matter except I'm trying to find out what +makes--that! Listen!" + +"You've left the upstair doors open," said Richard promptly. "There's +something about the way this house is constructed that does it. +Whenever there's a wind of any account, all the second story doors have +to be closed; it's the one drawback. I suppose Mrs. Hildreth didn't +think to tell you." + +"We left our doors open to-night, because we're lonely without Mrs. +Willis," was Winnie's simple explanation. "Rosemary was down with me, +but she left when she heard you--I daresay she's listening up in the +hall now." + +"Of course I am," said Rosemary. "Ask Warren and Richard to stay, +Winnie; there is the guest room all ready." + +"You go up and go to bed this minute," commanded Winnie, whose +invitations, like the queen's, usually brooked no refusal. "Now I know +the wind makes that howl, I'm not the least bit nervous, but I'd rather +have someone around to ask in case something else turns up." + +Nothing more of a disturbing nature "turned up" that night and the +household settled down and slept peacefully, secure in the knowledge +that very real protection, in the persons of the two husky lads, was +close at hand. Winnie summoned them at five o'clock the next +morning--knowing that Mr. Hildreth would not easily forgive a delayed +morning start--and actually had coffee and her famous waffles ready for +them at that hour. + +"Send for us any time," grinned Warren when he saw the table set. + +"Any time you need aid, Winnie--or plan to serve waffles." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AN ADVENTURE FOR SARAH + +"Do you have to work all the time?" asked Sarah plaintively. + +She sat on the top of a fence rail and, her feet hooked around the next +bar, was placidly, if precariously, watching Richard Gilbert tinkering +with a cultivator that had developed a sudden "kink." + +"Well, summer is the time to work, on a farm," Richard answered +good-naturedly. "You have to cultivate the corn when there is corn to +cultivate, Sarah." + +Sarah nodded, her eyes on the horse which stood patiently waiting. + +"He's shivering," she said. "Look--see him shiver, Rich. And it is +just as hot!" + +"That isn't shivering," replied Richard, glancing up from the wheel in +his hand. "Solomon is twitching to shake a fly off--that's all." + +"Did he shake it off?" demanded Sarah with interest. + +"I suppose so," answered Richard absently, searching for a screw he had +dropped in the dirt. + +"I could get the fly batter and swat flies for Solomon," suggested +Sarah. "He'd like that, wouldn't he? I could ride on his back and hit +all the flies, Rich." + +"Yes, that sounds like a good scheme," admitted Richard cautiously, +"but something tells me it wouldn't work. If you didn't frighten +Solomon into fits, or start him galloping, or fall off and break your +neck, you'd be sure to distract me from the work in hand and then Mr. +Hildreth would want to know why I hadn't finished the corn. I'm +afraid, Sarah, Sol will have to worry along in the same old way. The +flies aren't bad to-day, anyway." + +"Yes they are, he's twitching again," said Sarah. "He ought to wear a +window screen--or something." + +She was secretly relieved that her swatter plan had not been accepted, +for she had a marked aversion to killing flies. Indeed many a royal +battle had she waged with Winnie over the matter of killing flies that +found their way into the house; Sarah, left alone, would slowly and +painfully have captured each fly alive and unharmed and given him his +freedom via the front door. + +"Horses sometimes wear nets--or they used to when they were used for +driving," explained Richard, beginning to pound the wheel in place. +"As a horse ran or trotted, the net hobbled up and down and was +supposed to keep the flies off; that wouldn't be any use when a horse +is walking slowly around a field. A blanket would keep them away from +Solomon, of course, but he'd die with the heat." + +"I'll invent something for him," said Sarah comfortably. + +"Where are the other girls?" asked Richard hastily. + +A few weeks' acquaintance with Sarah had already taught him the +expediency of keeping her in action. Sarah on the move might do some +very startling things but a contemplative Sarah presented possibilities +that were limitless. + +"Hugh came and took Rosemary and Shirley with him," answered the small +girl balancing on the fence. "I didn't want to go. I don't like +automobiles much. When I grow up, I'm going to have a hundred horses +and pigs and cows and everything." + +"That'll be fine," Richard approved. "There now, I think that will +work. Have to be moving on, Sarah; you going to wait for me to come +round again?" + +"No, that isn't any fun," said Sarah with more frankness than +politeness. "Guess I'll go out to the orchard." + +"Don't go through the upper field," commanded Richard, gathering up the +lines. + +Sarah scrambled down from the fence and reached for Solomon's glossy +black tail. + +"Why not?" she asked suspiciously. + +"Because Mr. Hildreth turned the old ram out to pasture there this +morning, that's why," said Richard. "Here, what are you trying to do?" + +Sarah had grasped a handful of the horse's tail and was pulling on it +wildly. Old Solomon turned his head around and stared at her +reproachfully. + +"I want to get enough hairs to make a ring," explained Sarah. "The +washwoman is going to show me how next time she comes, but she said I +had to get the hair." + +"How many do you think you need?" said Richard, laughing as he released +the tail from the covetous clutch of the small fingers. "You won't +want more than half a dozen as long as these; Solomon thought you meant +to pull his tail out by the roots, didn't you, Boy?" + +"I didn't mean to hurt him," apologized the somewhat abashed Sarah. +"What's a ram?" + +"His other name is Mr. Sheep," said Richard, handing her half a dozen +long black wiry hairs. "And he's old and cross and has been known to +butt people. I don't think he'd hurt you, but he might frighten you." + +"I wouldn't be afraid," boasted Sarah, stuffing her horse hairs +carefully into the pocket of her middy blouse. "Shirley might, but I +wouldn't. Shall I bring you a sweet apple, Rich?" + +"If you find any," he said, swinging the cultivator back into place and +clucking to Solomon to go ahead. "I can't eat green rocks, you know, +and you shouldn't." + +Sarah, in spite of warnings and orders, insisted on trying to eat +everything in the shape of an apple that tumbled to the ground under +the orchard trees. No fruit was too green for her palate, no round, +bullet-like sphere too hard for her small white teeth. + +She crawled through the fence now, waved a farewell to Richard, who was +well on his way to the corner of the cornfield, and trotted off to +search the orchard for spoils. + +Sarah amused herself without much trouble--"though as much can't be +said for the rest of us," Winnie had once remarked when Sarah's efforts +to entertain herself had involved the entire family in explanations +with nervous neighbors who objected to tame white mice--and the life at +Rainbow Hill suited her exactly. She not only visited the horses and +cows and pigs regularly, made friends with the flock of sheep and +claimed to know every fowl in the poultry yard by name and sight, but +she had a tender word for every bug, spider and grasshopper she met. +Little water snakes were Sarah's delight and not even the ants and +worms were beneath her notice and affection. Truly, as Doctor Hugh +said, Sarah was certainly intended to live in the country. + +"I'd like to see a ram," she said to herself as she scrambled up the +bank to the orchard. "I never saw one. It wouldn't do any harm to go +around the upper pasture and look in." + +But she had a number of things to do in the orchard first. Sarah was +noted for her thoroughness in whatever she undertook and now her heart +was set on finding an apple soft enough for Richard Gilbert to eat--and +just a plain apple for Miss Sarah Willis. Alas, Mrs. Hildreth had been +out earlier in the day and had carefully picked up every windfall. She +and Winnie were adepts at making delicious apple sauce and the first +summer apples were scarce enough to be carefully hunted for. + +So, though Sarah went the rounds of every tree and even shook one or +two cautiously (Mr. Hildreth had intimated that he would "shake" anyone +detected trying to knock down green apples or pears and Sarah had a +wholesome respect for his mandates, so far) but she was forced to go +appleless. + +"I think I'd better go look at my apple seed I planted," said Sarah +aloud. + +She had borrowed the coal shovel from Winnie a few days previous and +with much effort and earnestness, had planted a plump seed from an +apple in a sunny, open space in the orchard. The apple was exceedingly +green, but aside from doubtful fertility, the seed was doomed never to +sprout because of the overwhelming curiosity of its small planter. +Sarah had "looked" at that seed each day since planting it. + +"If all these trees didn't grow any faster than my seed," mourned +Sarah, scratching around in the soil with an oyster shell, the shovel +having been confiscated by Winnie, "I don't see how people get any +apples to eat." + +Then a large--a very large--black ant hurrying up the trunk of a young +pear tree, caught her eye and she stopped to study him. She thought +for a moment of writing her name and address on a piece of paper and +tying it to him so that at some distant date, say a hundred years +ahead, another little girl might find the ant and read that Sarah had +also known him. + +"If a turtle lives sixty years, why can't an ant live a hundred?" Sarah +asked the black crow who sat on a branch and stared at her. "Only, I +haven't any paper or pencil or thread to tie it on with--so I'll wait." + +With this sensible conclusion she turned her attention to the swing +Warren had put up for her and Shirley on a conveniently low limb of an +apple tree. Sarah did not swing sedately--she must do that as she did +everything else, fast and furiously. She took out the notched board +that served as a seat and stood up in the loop, jerking herself forward +and backward until she attained the desired speed. Swooping down in +one of these mad rushes, she caught sight of something moving in the +next field. + +"There's the ram!" she thought. "I'll go see what he looks like"; and +jumping out of the swing she ran over to the wire fence that enclosed +the orchard on three sides. + +"He doesn't look cross--you're not, are you?" said Sarah, addressing +the Roman-nosed wooly creature that stood gravely regarding her. + +The flock of sheep were up at the other end of the field and the ram +stood alone. Perhaps he had glimpsed the flashing of Sarah's frock +through the trees as she swung and had come down to see what made the +fluttering. Sarah was quite enchanted with him and thought he looked +lonely. + +She dropped to her knees and crawled through the fence, holding back +the heavy wire strands with difficulty, and sat down on the grass to +pull up her socks, brush her hair out of her eyes and tuck in a handful +of gathers at her waistline where her skirt had torn loose from the +band. + +Having made herself neat for the introduction, Sarah advanced +fearlessly to greet the ram. To her surprise he came toward her with +lowered head, and something in his wicked little eyes made her uneasy. +The next thing she knew, she felt a terrific impact against her legs +and down she went with a thud. She had presence enough of mind to roll +over and she kept rolling, in a frantic instinct to get out of the way +of that powerful head. Dizzy and shaken--for she had fallen +heavily--she scrambled to her feet and began to run, the ram coming +after her valiantly. + +"Rosemary! Mother! Rich--Rich! Warren!" screamed poor Sarah, running +as she had never run before, "Rich! Rich!" + +It was Warren who heard her and reached her first. He had been working +in the tomato field which was near the orchard and he had no horse to +consider--Richard could not abandon Solomon in the middle of the +cornfield. Warren ran in the direction of the cries and, leaping the +dividing fence, came to the rescue. The ram stopped short as soon as +he saw him and Sarah fled straight into Warren's protecting arms. + +"There, there, you're all right--you couldn't run like that if you were +hurt," he soothed her. "Don't cry, Sarah--see, here comes your Mother; +you've frightened her. And Winnie, too! Look up and smile and wave +your hand--don't let your mother be frightened, Sarah." + +Mrs. Willis had heard Sarah's shrieks and now she was running across +the field, Winnie imploring her to walk at every step. + +"She isn't hurt!" called Warren, trying to relieve the mother's anxiety +at once. "She's all right, Mrs. Willis." + +And then Sarah gained her vocal powers of which, till this minute, she +had been deprived. Fright and running had taken her breath and she +almost choked with the effort to articulate. Lifted high in Warren's +arms, the tears running down her face, Sarah managed to put her chief +sorrow into words that reached her mother and Winnie half way across +the pasture and Richard just breathlessly rounding the orchard. + +"I lost my horse hairs!" screamed Sarah. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +STORM SIGNALS + +Rosemary, seated on the lowest porch step, was outwardly "cool and calm +and collected," to borrow one of Winnie's favorite phrases. She was +dressed all in white and Doctor Hugh, coming from the shed where he had +put his car, noted appreciatively what a lovely dash of color the blue +wool she was knitting made in the picture. It just matched her eyes, +he thought. + +"Hello, sweetheart!" he greeted her, and then, as she raised her face +to kiss him, "why, what's the matter?" + +For the blue eyes were mutinous and stormy and it was easy to see that +Rosemary was unhappy. + +"Oh, Hugh! Don't go in right away--I never get a chance to talk to +you," she said, moving over to give him room to sit on the step. +"Everyone will have a thousand things to tell you--it was that way last +Sunday. I suppose if we see you only once a week, or every other week, +it's natural, but I wish I could ever talk to you without Shirley or +Sarah asking you questions at the same time." + +Doctor Hugh laughed as he took off his hat and dropped down beside his +sister. + +"Seems to me you have a good deal of energy for such a warm day," he +commented, running his fingers through his thick dark hair. "Doesn't +that breeze feel good, though! Eastshore has been becalmed this week +and the dust from the plastering has settled on everything in the +house--I'm glad Mother can't see it. And where is Mother, Rosemary?" + +"Lying down," answered Rosemary, beginning to purl. "She didn't expect +you for an hour. Sarah and Shirley went to town with Warren--he had to +go over and get a bolt or something, so Mother let them go. How far +has Mr. Greggs got with the building, Hugh?" + +"Well, you know he isn't naturally swift," said the doctor cautiously, +"and he and his helper have more labor troubles than any union I ever +heard of--they differ continuously. But I will say that the lawn is +piled high with lumber and bricks and I never come home at night that I +don't have to chase a dozen boys away--kids who think I'm a grouch +because I won't have them breaking their necks at my front door. Jack +Welles says I ought to take patients wherever I find them and not be +too particular." + +"Tell me about Jack," Rosemary said, smiling. + +"Jack is the same old Jack," declared the doctor. "He works in the +garden, when his father makes him, and he goes fishing as often as the +law allows. I believe he and half a dozen of the high school boys are +going camping next week and Jack is counting on coming up here in +August when I take my two weeks off. He's determined to work--asked me +to speak to Mr. Hildreth about a job while I am here." + +"Warren and Richard will be glad, if he does come," asserted Rosemary. +"They think Mr. Hildreth ought to have another man all the time--Warren +was grumbling because he had to go after the bolt this afternoon; he +said it would put him back two hours." + +The doctor watched the busy needles clicking placidly for several +minutes. Then-- + +"And now, as we feel a little more serene," he said quietly, "suppose +you tell me what was the trouble when I came." + +"The trouble?" fenced Rosemary. "What trouble?" + +"She thinks she can fool me," said Doctor Hugh, apparently addressing +his remark to the solitary white hen that wandered around a bush on the +lawn at that moment. "She thinks I don't know the signals--those +famous storm signals. She thinks I didn't know the moment I looked at +her that she wanted something she couldn't have." + +"I had--an argument," admitted Rosemary with hot cheeks. "It was all +Winnie's fault." + +"Yes?" said her brother politely. + +"It was, Hugh, honestly it was. Winnie is as good as gold, but I do +wish she wouldn't try to look after me, as she calls it. I can look +after myself. Mother would let me do lots of things, if it wasn't for +Winnie." + +"Here, here, you'll have to take out all that knitting, if you're not +careful," warned the doctor, for the blue eyes were stormy again and +Rosemary was knitting furiously. "What was this particular argument +about?" + +"I want to sleep outdoors," explained Rosemary. "I could take out a +quilt and spread it on the grass and a blanket to cover me--I've never +done it and it would be such fun. And Winnie says if I must be crazy +can't I wait till I get back to Eastshore? As if anyone ever slept out +on the grass in town where everyone can see you!" + +"No, that wouldn't be exactly the thing to do," agreed Doctor Hugh, his +lips twitching. "Well, Rosemary?" + +"First Mother said I could, and then, after Winnie had talked to her, +she said she thought it wouldn't be best," reported Rosemary. "Winnie +told her a cow might step on me--and all the cows are in the barnyard +or the pasture at six o'clock and never get out!--or, she said, someone +might come and carry me off! And where would I be, while they were +carrying me?" demanded Rosemary with intense scorn. "I'd like to see +anyone carry me off!" + +"I hope this 'argument' didn't degenerate into a clash," said the +doctor seriously. "You know how it tires Mother to have to hear these +quarrels, Rosemary, and to be constantly called upon to act as +arbitrator." + +"I banged the door," confessed Rosemary. "I can't help it, Hugh, I +always lose my temper when I argue. And Winnie kept saying the same +thing a hundred times--I don't see why I shouldn't sleep outdoors, do +you?" + +"If mother has said 'no,' there's one hard and fast reason," pronounced +her brother. "But I believe in the value of experience as a teacher, +especially for strong-willed little girls who are slow to learn that +their own way isn't the best in the world. Good gracious, that isn't +Sarah, is it?" + +He broke off abruptly as an energetic figure advanced toward him, +waving two small hands black with grease, in welcome. It was Sarah, a +Sarah whose socks were down to her ankles and whose dress was torn and +spotted with the same black grease that liberally anointed her face as +well as her hands. Her dark, straight hair straggled into her eyes and +there was a large bump on her forehead that evidently gave her little +concern. + +Behind her trotted Shirley, a little less disheveled, a little less +dirty and quite as radiantly content. + +"You look nice," said Rosemary severely. "I should have thought Warren +would have been ashamed to ride home with you--where is he? I didn't +see the wagon drive past." + +"Mr. Hildreth made him turn into the field, without going to the barn," +explained Sarah, standing at a safe distance from Doctor Hugh who +would, she was sure, see the bump even under a layer of dirt. "We had +lots of fun, Rosemary; the wheel came off and I helped Warren put it on +again." + +"And I had a chocolate ice cream cone," said Shirley, standing on +tip-toe to kiss her brother and leaving small finger marks on his +collar as visible marks of her affection. + +"I'd better go and get washed up," announced Sarah blandly, though to +her hearers' knowledge this was the first time on record she had made +such a suggestion voluntarily. + +"Come here, Sarah," said Doctor Hugh quietly, "I want to look at that +bruise on your forehead." + +"That isn't anything," Sarah assured him, backing off. + +"Come here and let me see it," the doctor repeated and, as Sarah +reluctantly approached him, "how did you get it?" + +"I was under the wagon," said Sarah, wincing slightly as Doctor Hugh +felt of the bruise with firm, practised fingers, "and I heard Warren +coming and I jumped up and hit my head." + +She did not think it necessary to add that Warren had requested her to +stay in the road and not crawl under the broken wagon. + +"All right, the skin isn't broken," announced the doctor. "But it +aches a little doesn't it, dear?" + +"A little," nodded Sarah, winking to keep back the tears. + +He put an arm around her, heedless of the dirt and grease. + +"That won't last long," he promised, "and if you and Shirley will go in +and get washed and dressed without dawdling, I'll take you for a little +drive before dinner." + +"Rosemary, too?" asked Shirley, balancing like a butterfly on the top +step. + +"Rosemary, too." + +Forgetting her aching bump, Sarah followed Shirley into the house with +a shout, and the sound of their feet clattering up the open stairway +proclaimed their intentions of not wasting a minute. + +"Here comes Mrs. Hildreth," said Rosemary in a low voice. "I wish I +could fix her just once--she doesn't know how to be pretty." + +Rosemary, with uncanny penetration, had hit upon the truth. Mrs. +Hildreth did not know how to be pretty. She would have said she had +not the time to "fuss with her looks," but it would have taken little +extra time to have done her really abundant hair in a becoming style +instead of the tight knot into which she invariably twisted it. And +surely, if she could don that clean, starched dark calico dress in five +minutes, it would have taken no longer to put on a pretty light-colored +frock. + +"I thought your brother would be out to spend Sunday," said Mrs. +Hildreth capably, in her high-pitched, nervous voice, "so I brought up +two extra bunches of asparagus. Winnie told me the doctor liked it." + +"Winnie has my likes and dislikes down pat," declared Doctor Hugh, +rising and shaking hands. "Will you come in, Mrs. Hildreth? My mother +will be down in a minute." + +Rosemary took the asparagus and seconded the invitation. + +"No, thanks, I can't stay," said Mrs. Hildreth, rather regretfully. "I +have to tend to the chickens and get the milk pans and strainers ready +and do a lot of little chores before I get supper. You use your porch +a lot, don't you?" + +"Yes," said Rosemary who, she had once told her mother, always felt as +though Mrs. Hildreth's sharp eyes condemned her as lazy. "We all love +to be out of doors." + +"I'm outdoors most of the time," said Mrs. Hildreth, "but I don't have +time to sit on the porch, unless it is Sunday afternoons." + +She went back to her work and Rosemary, returning from delivering the +asparagus to Winnie, found her mother and an immaculate Sarah and +Shirley entertaining Doctor Hugh. He brought the car around presently +and they went for the promised drive to Bennington, the pretty county +seat, and back. + +After dinner that evening Rosemary, quite restored to good humor, was +surprised to have a question put to her. + +"How would you like to try sleeping outdoors to-night, Rosemary?" asked +Doctor Hugh placidly. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ONE WISH COMES TRUE + +Rosemary answered her brother's question characteristically. + +"Oh, Hugh! I'd love to." + +"Well, don't tell Sarah or Shirley," he cautioned, "because I don't +want a riot--wait till they have gone to bed and then at nine o'clock, +if you really want to try the experiment, you may." + +"Won't Mother care?" asked Rosemary doubtfully. + +"I've talked it over with Mother, and she is willing to let you try the +plan while I am here," said the doctor. "It is a clear warm night and +too early in the season for heavy dews, so there could not be a better +time. You'd find it harder to go to sleep if there were a moon, so +that's in your favor, too." + +"I wouldn't want to sleep outdoors on a moonlight night," declared +Rosemary decidedly. "Old Fiddlestrings--Warren says everyone calls him +that--would be walking up and down the road, playing the 'Serenade.' +I'd rather sleep outdoors in the dark--as soon as you are used to it, +it isn't dark at all and I love to see the stars." + +It seemed to Rosemary that Sarah and Shirley must have turned back the +hands of the clock to delay their bed hour. They monopolized their +brother, seated on either side of him in the porch swing while the +summer dusk slowly deepened and Mrs. Willis rested in the big chair +which had an arm strong and broad enough to hold Rosemary who knitted +with outward calm and inward fever. Were those children never going to +bed? + +Winnie had gone over to the bungalow with Mrs. Hildreth, who was +delighted to have someone with whom to exchange household lore, and +Warren and Richard had tactfully betaken themselves to Bennington, +knowing instinctively that Doctor Hugh would like to have his family to +himself for one brief evening, after a week's separation. + +"Too dark to knit, Rosemary," he said at last. "And don't turn on the +light, dear; can't you be content to do nothing for a little while?" + +"Time for bed, Shirley," announced Mrs. Willis. "Run along and see how +nearly undressed you can be before Mother comes up." + +Shirley obediently clambered down and looked at them wistfully. Her +bed hour was half-past seven and Sarah had the privilege of staying up +till eight o'clock. She clung jealously to this prerogative and as a +rule nothing would induce her to go to bed when Shirley did. She might +fall asleep on sofa or rug, but she would protest vigorously, if sent +upstairs before the eight strokes of the clock were heard. Thirty +minutes at bed-time marked the difference to Sarah between six and nine +years old. + +"I'll come up with you to-night, honey," said Doctor Hugh. "I don't +believe I've forgotten how to put you to bed. Sit still, Mother." + +"Are you going to tell a story, Hugh?" asked Sarah anxiously. "Are +you, Hugh?" + +"Will you, Hugh?" begged Shirley. "Tell about the little boy in the +hospital who wouldn't eat his supper? Will you, Hugh?" + +"All right, I will," promised the doctor, "if you'll march upstairs +this minute." + +"I'm coming, too," announced Sarah. "I was up early this morning, +wasn't I, Mother?" + +"Yes indeed you were," agreed her mother, catching her as she scrambled +past and holding her tightly--Sarah usually had to be caught or pursued +if one wanted to kiss her. "Kiss Mother good night, dearest." + +Mrs. Willis understood perfectly that Sarah was saving her pride when +she spoke of being up early that morning--some excuse had to be made to +explain her willingness to go to bed when Shirley did. + +"If Sarah had known I'm going to sleep outdoors to-night, she would +have been wild to come, too," said Rosemary, when she and her mother +were left alone. + +"Are you sure you want to try it, dear?" asked Mrs. Willis. + +"Why Mother, I've always wanted to sleep outdoors!" cried Rosemary +earnestly. "I'm so tired of ordinary beds and houses--and--and things. +It will be perfectly lovely to lie under a tree and see the stars over +my head and pretend I am out on the desert. I'd like to sleep outdoors +every night." + +When Doctor Hugh came down to report that both little girls were +asleep, he found his mother and sister knitting under the shaded porch +light. + +"I don't approve of night work for women," he informed them gravely. +"Especially for those who have had as active a day as you have had. +You don't want to knit, do you, Mother?" + +She put down her work at once and smiled. + +"I'll play for you," she said quickly and went in to the piano. + +Doctor Hugh sat down in the swing and patted the pillows invitingly. +Rosemary, fastening her needles securely in place, put down her work a +little reluctantly and crossed over to the swing. But when he put his +arm about her and she leaned back against the cushions, her head on his +comfortable shoulder, she gave a little tired sigh of relief. A big +brother was nice! + +And as the music drifted out to them--all the sweet old melodies the +doctor loved best, played as only Mrs. Willis could play them--Rosemary +felt her impatience and hurry slipping away. She who had been so eager +to have nine o'clock come, so anxious to get the evening over so that +she might be free to put her wish into practise, began to wish that she +could stay up later than usual. + +"Ten minutes after nine," said Doctor Hugh, all too soon. "I must help +you get your sleeping outfit together." + +"Oh, I'll just take a quilt and spread it out and then roll myself up +in it," planned Rosemary. + +But Doctor Hugh insisted on a rubber sheet, to go under the heavy quilt +and insure positive protection from dampness; and blankets, he +declared, would be indispensable. He arranged the quilt under a maple +tree--the tree most distant from the house--which was Rosemary's +choice, carried out a pair of light blankets and parried Winnie's +volley of questions good-naturedly when she came in from visiting Mrs. +Hildreth and discovered what he was doing. + +"Well, Rosemary, I see you're going to have your own way and I only +hope you don't regret it," was Winnie's greeting when Rosemary danced +out, a dark kimono over her gown and moccasins on her feet. + +"I won't," Rosemary replied confidently. + +"Of course I won't," she said to herself stoutly, when she was curled +up on a quilt, under the blankets. "This is heaps of fun!" + +She could see the light from the porch lamp which made a golden shaft +through the wire netting into the darkness of the night. Over her head +the stars twinkled and the leafy branches of the maple spread out like +a network. + +Pouf!--Rosemary scrambled to her feet, brushing at her face frantically. + +"Something fell on me!" she gasped. "A bug--I'm almost sure it was a +bug!" + +But after feeling around on the quilt and finding nothing that felt +like a bug, she decided that after all it might have been a leaf. She +didn't mind the thought of a leaf tumbling down on her nose, so she +carefully smoothed out the tumbled quilt, shook the blanket and laid +them straight and went to bed again. + +Usually she fell asleep readily, but to-night she did not feel sleepy. + +"I wonder what time it is?" she meditated, turning sideways so that if +another leaf--or bug--should drop it would not fall on her face. "I +wish I'd brought my little clock." + +Presently she heard the sound of horse's hoofs on the road, soon saw +the winking white light turn into the drive that led to the barn. She +watched it moving slowly forward, saw it stop and knew that Richard and +Warren were harnessing outside the barn. In another moment the light +flickered out as Warren backed the runabout into the shed and Richard +led the horse to a stall. The hollow echo of the barn door as Richard +slammed and bolted it, came next. She thought she could see the dim +outline of two figures walking toward the bungalow but that might have +been imagination. + +Rosemary sighed and twisted about uneasily to face the other way. The +porch light was out! That meant her mother and Hugh had gone to bed +and she was utterly alone on the lawn. She felt inexplicably +abandoned--Hugh might have whistled to her, to see if she were asleep, +before he turned off the light. That, thought Rosemary, would not have +been much to do. + +She decided to lie flat on her back for a while. In that position she +might begin to feel sleepy. It was not a pitch-black night, indeed the +darkness seemed half luminous--the kind of light in which, after the +eyes have grown accustomed to it, it is possible to make out the +outlines of objects quite plainly. Rosemary knew she could not be +mistaken when she saw a shadowy form on the other side of the lawn. + +She sat up with a jerk, staring. Yes, something was certainly moving. +Frantically she recalled her arguments that all animals slept at night. +How foolish she had been to advance a statement of that sort. Vividly +now she remembered stories heard and read of night marauders--foxes, +weasels--skunks! These prowled about at night and she wouldn't care to +come in contact with any of them. + +"Snakes!" whispered Rosemary with a sudden prickling of her scalp. "Do +they go around at night, I wonder? Sarah would know." + +But Sarah, the naturalist, was safely asleep in her own bed. Rosemary +suddenly envied both her sisters. She remembered that Mrs. Hildreth +had spoken of the warfare she waged against rats which tried to carry +off the young poultry at night--Rosemary, in imagination, could picture +a procession of rats running over her as she slept, on their way to the +hen houses. + +She got gingerly to her feet, straining her eyes to see the moving +object. What could it be? Something brushed past her, close to her +face. Instantly Winnie's horror of bats came to the girl's nervous +mind. + +"If the screen door is unlocked, I'm going in," whispered Rosemary, +gathering her kimono tightly about her. "Sarah may like animals but I +don't." + +She started as the mournful cry of a hoot owl sounded in the +distance--and then something cold and wet touched her hand! With one +bound Rosemary cleared the quilt and ran like a deer across the grass. +The shadowy object she had seen came toward her, moving slowly. +Rosemary dodged, tripped on her kimono and fell. + +She was up again in a moment and running again, her breath coming in +little sobbing gasps. Jack Welles had once said that she did not +"happen to be the screaming kind of girl" and though terrified now she +made no outcry. She gained the porch step, tugged frantically at the +screen door and felt it open in her grasp. She pitched forward, +striking her knee against a chair and felt herself caught in a strong, +firm clasp. For a moment she struggled furiously and silently and then +realization came to her. + +"Oh, Hugh!" she cried. "Hugh! There's something out there!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AN EVENTFUL DAY + +Doctor Hugh snapped on the porch lamp, carefully turning the shade to +shield Rosemary's eyes from the sudden light. He was fully dressed and +had evidently been dozing in the swing. + +"Hush--don't wake Mother!" he said warningly. "What frightened you, +dear?" + +Rosemary's face was quite white and her wide, startled eyes gave +eloquent testimony that she had been alarmed. + +"Something wet touched me--wet and cold," she whispered. "And there +was something else moving around, too. I ran as fast as I could." + +"Some of the farm animals out for a stroll," said Doctor Hugh with a +quiet assurance that his sister found most comforting. "What do you +say to going to bed now, dear, and investigating in the morning?" + +"Oh, yes," agreed Rosemary. "Is it nearly morning, Hugh?" + +The doctor consulted his watch. + +"It is just eleven o'clock," he said quietly. "Try not to make a noise +as you go upstairs for I hope Mother is asleep. I'll turn the lamp so +that it will light you as far as the landing." + +So she had been out there only two hours, thought Rosemary as she +tumbled into her own bed. Two hours! + +"It seemed like two years!" she murmured, drifting off into a peaceful +sleep almost instantly. + +She woke in the morning to find the others downstairs, breakfast over +and all traces of her couch under the maple tree removed. + +"I know Hugh did that," she said to herself gratefully as she dressed. +Her first act had been to run to the window to see if the quilt was +spread out on the grass. "He'll never give me away, either. And I +know, too, he would have stayed out on the porch all night, if I hadn't +come in, just so he would be on hand to help me when I needed him. +Hugh is so dear to me!" + +She said something of this to him late that afternoon, following him +out to the barn when he went to get the car, preparatory to making the +trip back to Eastshore. Sarah and Shirley had remained in ignorance of +the brief experiment and Winnie had proved extremely tactful, asking no +questions at all. Rosemary had learned, from the conversation of +Warren and Richard, that a cow had strayed from the pasture and a blind +old sheep had cropped the grass all night. It had been the wet nose of +the cow that touched her hand and she had clumsily dodged the sheep. + +"You're so good, Hugh," said Rosemary, pretending to polish the +foredoor handle. "But I won't want to sleep outdoors ever again--did +you know I wouldn't?" + +Doctor Hugh smiled a little. + +"We'll all go camping some day and you'll 'love' sleeping outdoors, as +you say," he declared. "My dear little sister, I would be the last +person to try to discourage you in that effort. But Mother knew and +Winnie knew and I knew that, for a number of reasons, it isn't +practical for you to try to sleep outdoors here; neither practical nor +necessary. It wasn't a matter of sleeping outdoors, Rosemary--it was +just the same old question, 'Why can't I have my own way?' Now wasn't +it?" + +Rosemary blushed, but her eyes met his honestly. + +"Yes, I guess it was," she admitted. "But I'm sorry I was so +obstinate--truly I am, Hugh." + +Doctor Hugh leaned forward from behind the wheel and kissed her. + +"You'll make the Willis will an aid and not a hindrance yet," he +declared. "All I want to do, dear, is to save you from learning these +lessons the most painful way. Hop in and I'll drive you around to the +house," he added cheerfully. + +The next morning was naturally a most busy one at Rainbow Hill. Monday +morning is apt to be a busy time anywhere, but Mrs. Hildreth, who would +sooner have dreamed of starting the day without breakfast than starting +the week without washing, saw to it that not one idle moment was +unaccounted for as far as her jurisdiction extended. She rose at four, +instead of the customary five, and Warren and Richard, alternating, +helped her with filling and emptying the tubs and lifting the heavy +boiler. Mrs. Hildreth scorned the modern washing machine and did her +clothes in the old-fashioned laborious way. + +Winnie had a woman to help her wash--a Mrs. Pritchard who cheerfully +walked two miles each way--but the temptation to bleach the household +linens on the lawn in the hot sunshine appealed powerfully to the +housewifely instincts of Winnie, and Mrs. Willis declared that she +washed everything she came to, regardless of its state of cleanliness. +Certainly one would have thought that her normal wash of light summer +dresses for three girls and two women would have contented Winnie, but +the combination of soft water, soap, floods of sunshine and the washing +machine left by Mrs. Hammond proved well nigh irresistible to Winnie. +She may have been said to fairly revel in wash. + +"Let's go wading, Rosemary," coaxed Shirley this Monday morning, soon +after breakfast. + +"I can't--not now," said Rosemary. "I want to help Mother first and +then I must practise. Ask Sarah." + +"Sarah's cross," complained Shirley. "She brought the cat in from the +barn and put her to sleep in the clothes basket and Winnie tipped her +out." + +"Yes, that would make Sarah cross," agreed Rosemary. "Where is she +now?" + +"I don't know," said Shirley and her tone indicated that she didn't +particularly care. "Come on and let's go wading, Rosemary." + +"Rosemary is going to make the beds for Mother," interposed Mrs. +Willis. "Winnie is so busy this morning she hasn't time. Don't you +want to pick up the papers on the porch, Shirley and put the cushions +straight in the swing and bring in some fresh flowers for the glass +jar? Then, when you have it all in order, I'll come out there and sit +and make a new dress for your doll." + +"Oh, yes, that will be nice!" beamed Shirley, trotting off busily. + +In all that hive of industry, represented by the farm, Sarah was the +one idle figure. She sat on the fence commanding a view of the pig +pen--not the pleasantest prospect Rainbow Hill afforded, it must be +confessed--and dangled her feet moodily. She was still resentful at +the summary ejection of the barn cat from the clothes basket and, in +addition, had been worsted in an argument with Warren whose turn it was +to cultivate the corn. Sarah had wished to ride on the cultivator, +preferably in the driver's seat or, failing that, on the horse's back. +Warren had endeavored to dissuade her as tactfully as possible but +finding that tact made small impression on Sarah, had been obliged to +come out with a flat refusal. + +"What a funny chicken!" said Sarah aloud, turning her attention from +the grunting pigs before her to a solitary chicken behind her, a feat +which nearly cost her her balance. + +"I do b'lieve it's sick!" she declared, jumping down and walking over +to the limp-looking fowl which stared at her coldly from a glassy eye. + +Sarah, in the few weeks she had spent on the farm, had really learned a +good deal about the care of the stock. To her natural love for animals +and aptitude for handling them, she had added a store of knowledge +gleaned by asking questions of the boys and Mr. Hildreth and observing +them as they went about the barns. She had faithfully tagged Mrs. +Hildreth, who took care of the poultry too, and had often seen her pick +up a chicken and examine it. + +So now she picked up the apathetic bird and felt of his crop with +exploring little brown fingers. + +"You're hungry, I'll bet," she informed him. "You probably didn't feel +well this morning and the other hens knocked you away from the corn. +Don't you care, I'll get you some breakfast, all for yourself." + +Sarah knew where the grain bins were in the barn and she went in and +opened them all. Using her dress as an apron she selected a handful of +wheat, another of cracked corn, some buckwheat, a generous scoop of +"middlings" and a double handful of the meat scraps bought especially +for the ducks. Then out she dashed and spread the feast before the hen +who really did brighten up and eat a good deal of the grain. No one +hen could have eaten it all--and survived--and of course the other +chickens spied the feast in time, but not before the invalid had been +revived somewhat. + +"Now I'll put you in a coop till you feel better," said Sarah, "so +nothing can pick on you." + +She stuffed her patient into one of the feeding coops in the poultry +yard, gave her a pan of water and then, feeling more cheerful herself, +decided to go wading. + +She glanced toward the house, reflected that if she went back to get +Shirley her mother might object to the wading plan or, worse yet, +Winnie set her at some useful task, and made up her mind to amuse +herself alone. + +"Going wading?" called Warren cheerfully, as she skirted the cornfield +where he sat on the swaying cultivator pulled by the plodding Solomon, +both horse and boy protected from the blazing sun by straw hats. + +Sarah refused to reply. She had no intention of resuming friendly +intercourse so soon after the painful episode of the morning. + +"He needn't think he can boss me," she scolded, sitting down by the +brook to take off her shoes and stockings. "Ow, the water's cold!" + +Like a great many older people, Sarah preferred to think a long time +before she committed herself to an icy flood. She tucked her feet +under her comfortably and gave herself up to thought. + +In the grass beside her a hundred busy little ants ran to and fro and +Sarah's speculations led her to wonder whether they had ever made a +trip by water. + +"I'll build them a little boat," she planned, "and give them a little +ride." + +Actuated by the kindest of motives, she fashioned a rude sort of ferry +boat from a leaf and then spent twenty minutes catching passengers for +it. In her energy and haste she squashed several of the little +creatures and alas, when she finally sent a dizzy half dozen on their +voyage the leaf capsized and the passengers were drowned. This +effectually discouraged Sarah and she turned again to the prospect of +wading. + +The water was so cold that the soft green grass seemed more inviting +and Sarah began to walk along the brook's edge, wincing a little now +and then as her foot struck a sharp stone. Then, without warning, she +stepped into a hole and sharp, darting tongues of fire attacked her +ankles. + +"Yellow jackets! Wasps! Bees!" shrieked the unfortunate child, +flinging her shoes into the brook and her stockings clear on the other +side as she started to run. "Get away--leave me alone!" + +She had stepped into a nest of yellow jackets and stirred up great +wrath. Her feet and ankles suffered the most stings, though one +furious insect lighted on her elbow and another on her wrist while a +third punctured her cheek. Running madly and crying with pain, Sarah +finally succeeded in distancing the yellow jackets, but her shoes and +stockings, as far as she was concerned, were a total loss. Nothing, +she was positive, would induce her to go back and get them. + +She limped sadly to the orchard and climbed her favorite wide-branching +apple tree, to take count of her injuries. Angry, white puffy +swellings showed where each sting had exacted toll. + +"There must be a million," said the suffering Sarah. + +But it was cold comfort, counting the wounds, and she longed for +sympathy. Glancing through her leafy screen she saw Richard skirting +the orchard fence on his way to the barn. She turned to scramble down +and in the descent struck her elbow on the bark, the poor elbow already +tender from a vicious sting. Sarah cried out in pain, let go hastily +and tumbled to the ground. + +Richard had heard her cry and he came running to pick her up. + +"Good grief, you are a wreck!" he ejaculated when he saw her. "There, +there, Sarah! You haven't broken any bones--I'll brush you off and +you'll be as good as new. Don't cry like that--please don't!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ALL SERENE AGAIN + +"I think," said Richard, judiciously, "I'll carry you up to the barn +and wash you off; your mother might think you were permanently +disfigured if she saw you now." + +Sarah was truly a forlorn-looking object, but he tucked her under his +arm and set off for the barn, trying in vain to soothe her as they +went. Sarah wept continuously and only stopped when she was put down +on the barn floor. She stopped then because someone was making more +noise than she could possibly make. + +"I don't want to hear another word," Mr. Hildreth was saying in a cold, +loud voice. "Not another word. You left those grain bins open and the +least you can do is to admit it like a man." + +"I did not leave them open!" Warren's voice was as passionate and +shaken as the other's was cold. "I tell you I did not! I haven't been +in the barn this morning, except once to get the oil can. I wasn't +near the bins." + +Richard was pumping water into a basin and Sarah was glad he was not +looking at her; She had forgotten to put the lids of the grain bins +down! The door of the small washroom was jerked violently open and +Warren strode in. Mr. Hildreth had evidently terminated the argument +by leaving the barn. + +"Hello, you look about as amiable as a thunder storm," Richard greeted +his chum. "Got a clean handkerchief handy?" + +Warren grimly extended a clean square. + +"What's the matter with Sarah?" he asked curiously. + +"Oh, she's had a hard morning--thought I'd wash off some of the worst +of it before she scared everyone at the house into fits," explained +Richard, beginning gently on Sarah's face, with the clean handkerchief +dipped in water. "What was the row?" + +Warren's face darkened. He bit his lip. + +"Mr. Hildreth found the whole flock of hens having a Thanksgiving +dinner out of the grain bins this morning," he said in a tone which he +strived to make light and even. "He insists I left the lids up and I +am just as sure I didn't. In a moment of madness I might leave one up, +but I never had all the bins open at the same time since I've worked +here." + +"If Mr. Hildreth had a grain of sense," pronounced Richard, looking +dubiously at Sarah who still presented a sad appearance notwithstanding +his ministrations, "he'd know better than to accuse you. Of course +some of these children have been fooling around the bins." + +Sarah jumped at this uncanny penetration. She wanted nothing in the +world so much as to get out of that washroom, away from Richard's +straightforward gaze. + +She edged carefully toward the door--but there was to be no escape. + +"Sarah, were you in the barn this morning?" asked Richard. + +Her answer was a look that Doctor Hugh would have been able to +instantly interpret--it meant that Sarah had retreated into one of her +obstinate, sulky silences and had made up her mind not to be forced +into speech. + +Richard turned and shot the bolt across the door. + +"Were you in the barn this morning?" he repeated. "Answer me--but I +know you were; and you must have left the grain bins open." + +Sarah remained silent. Richard took a step toward the obdurate little +figure, but Warren's voice halted him. + +"Quit it, Rich," he said quietly. "Open that door. Run along, Sarah, +and next time you climb an apple tree, have a pillow on the ground +ready to catch you." + +Sarah stepped over the sill, turned around, seemed about to speak and +then went silently out of the barn. She heard Richard say something +and Warren's reply: + +"Oh, what difference does it make, if she did?" + +Mrs. Willis knew what to do for the yellow jacket stings and she knew +how to cure scratched hands and arms and soothe aching little heads. +She knew, too, the signs of a hurt heart--when it was Sarah's. Shirley +thought her sister was merely "cranky" when she pushed her out of the +swing and Rosemary decided to let Sarah severely alone when that small +girl hurled her music from the piano rack and began a violent +performance of "chop sticks." But Mrs. Willis waited patiently. + +It can not be denied that Sarah made the remainder of the day a +veritable "blue Monday" for her family. Secure in the privileges +accorded her as an invalid, she quarreled with Shirley and Rosemary, +drove Winnie to distraction with repeated requests for cookies and +lemonade and answered Mrs. Hildreth snappishly when that good woman +stopped in for a moment's chat and generally behaved, as Winnie put it +"like all possessed." + +And yet, when Rosemary announced at supper that Richard and Warren were +going to walk to the "Center" to see a man at the creamery and that +they would be back before dark and had said the girls might go with +them, Sarah's refusal to go immediately convinced her sisters that she +must be really ill. + +They set off as soon as the meal was over, Rosemary and Shirley and the +two boys, and Sarah curled herself, a disconsolate little heap, in the +porch swing. And there her mother found her and in less than two +minutes had the whole story, from the pathetic beginning. "The hen was +awfully sick, Mother," down to the "queer feelings" Sarah had +experienced when Richard, always so good-natured and kind, had turned +into an entirely different person. + +"And I'm afraid of Mr. Hildreth," wailed Sarah, the tears flowing again +as she ended her recital. "He'll yell at me, if I tell him, the way he +did at Warren." + +"Why no," said Mrs. Willis, in the most matter-of-fact tone. "Why no, +he won't, Sarah. Certainly not. And you're not one bit afraid of him. +He'll he sitting out on the porch now, smoking his pipe and quite ready +to listen to whatever you have to tell him. You don't want Mother to +go with you, do you?" + +"Of course not," said Sarah, almost as matter-of-factly. "I'll go now, +before the boys get back, Mother." + +And away she marched to the bungalow, confidently, if not cheerfully. +She had meant to ask her mother whether it would be necessary to +confess that she had been the one who left the bins open, but Mrs. +Willis had so evidently taken for granted that Sarah meant to do this +at once, that the question had never been asked. Well, if Mr. Hildreth +wasn't going to yell at her and if she wasn't afraid of him--and her +mother had said he wouldn't and she wasn't--there was no earthly reason +why she should not admit that she had been careless. + +It all happened exactly as Mrs. Willis had said. Mr. Hildreth was +sitting on his porch, smoking comfortably and resting after a hard day. +He was surprised to see Sarah, but he did not yell at her. Instead he +listened silently while she stammered out that she had been to blame +for the hens feasting in the bins. She told him about the sick hen and +she outlined her eventful day, culminating in the tumble from the apple +tree and Richard's attempt to render first aid in the washroom. + +"Well," Mr. Hildreth spoke for the first time, when she had finished. +"Well, I'm glad you came to me and told me--though that's the natural +thing to do. Own up when you're wrong--isn't it?" + +"Is it?" asked Sarah doubtfully. + +"Only square thing to do," the farmer assured her. "I'll tell Warren +before I turn in to-night, then we'll be above board all around. You +like animals, don't you?" he added suddenly. + +"When I grow up," she announced, "I'm not going to do a thing but take +care of animals. I'm going to have a farm, like yours, Mr. Hildreth, +and I'm going to have seven automobiles with men to drive 'em. They'll +go through all the cities and take the poor sick horses and dogs and +cats and--and birds and things and bring 'em back to my farm. Then +I'll doctor them up and cure them." + +"So you think you'll be a doctor, hey?" said the farmer lazily. + +"An animal doctor," Sarah affirmed. "I won't take care of sick folks, +'cause they're cross; Shirley is going to be that kind of a doctor +maybe. Animals are never cross, no matter how sick they are. Did you +know that, Mr. Hildreth?" + +"Come to think of it, I do," Mr. Hildreth admitted, enjoying the +conversation immensely. "But where'll you get money to run this farm, +Sarah? Don't you think you ought to raise some crops?" + +Sarah pondered. + +"Rich and Warren can do that," she decided easily. "They'll be through +agricultural college by then and perhaps they'll like to run my farm. +But Warren will have to buy a tractor, because I won't let my horses +plow. None of the animals are going to work, when I take care of them." + +Mr. Hildreth glanced at her queerly. + +"You're just like the rest," he said grimly. "You think of work as +something to side-step, don't you? Let me tell you, Sarah, that unless +you give these animal friends of yours something to do and train them +to do it regularly, you will have to spend all your days dosing them." + +"You mean they'll be sick?" asked Sarah, worried at once. + +"Of course they'll be sick," declared Mr. Hildreth. "Animals and +people need work to keep them well. Ask your brother." + +"Then I'll let my animals work just enough," said Sarah thoughtfully. +"Not too much, but just enough. And maybe I'll let Warren plow with +the horses." + +"I would, if I were you," agreed Mr. Hildreth. "You work pretty hard +yourself, don't you, Sarah?" + +Sarah stared at him suspiciously. Apparently he was serious. + +"Of course," continued Mr. Hildreth, "you call it play. But when I see +you flying over this farm and trying to be in two places at once and +cram half a hundred experiences into one short day, I think you work as +hard as I do. Maybe harder. Don't you ever get tired, Sarah?" + +"When I go to bed," responded that active person. "But I'm not tired +when I first go," she added hastily. "Mother or Hugh or Winnie are +always making me go to bed before I'm sleepy. I want to study the +insects on the lawn, but how can I when I have to go to bed?" + +"You're not the first person who has wanted to turn night into day," +said Mr. Hildreth calmly. "It's lucky for some of us that you're not +successful. If we had to keep an eye on you all night, Sarah, as well +as during the waking hours, think how little else we'd get done." + +Sarah had a shrewd suspicion that he was laughing at her. She turned +to go. + +"Wait a minute--wouldn't you like a pet?" said the farmer quickly. + +"Oh, yes!" replied Sarah. + +"I was thinking you might like a baby pig," Mr. Hildreth informed her. +"There's one in the last litter that isn't getting a fair chance. He's +a runt and crowded out. If you want to take him and bring him up on a +bottle, you can have him for your own." + +"I'll take him," said Sarah quickly. "I can learn how to feed him, +can't I? And he can sleep with me--or at least in my room--I knew a +girl who had a little puppy and he slept in her doll's bed. Thank you +ever so much, Mr. Hildreth." + +So it was arranged that Sarah was to have her pig in the morning and +she and Mr. Hildreth parted excellent friends. + +She did not go back to the house but, instead, started off down the +road over which, she knew, Warren and Richard, Rosemary and Shirley, +must come. She had walked perhaps half a mile, when she saw them. + +Sarah became unaccountably shy. She walked more and more slowly and, +reaching Rosemary, who was ahead, she found she had nothing to say. + +"Hello, dear," Rosemary greeted her, wondering why Sarah had changed +her mind and come to meet them. "Do you feel better?" + +"Come back and walk with me, Sarah," said Warren pleasantly, for he had +determined to put Sarah at her ease about the grain bins. + +"A fuss like that is nothing to worry about," he had told Richard, "and +I don't like to see a kid unhappy over such trifles." + +Sarah waited till the other three were a little ahead and then she +slipped a confiding hand into Warren's. + +"I told Mr. Hildreth," she whispered, "and he wasn't cross one bit; and +I'm going to have a baby pig for my own and bring it up on a bottle." + +Warren's face was as bright as the one she lifted to his. + +"Why Sarah Willis!" he said joyfully. "Why Sarah! You went to Mr. +Hildreth about those silly grain bins? You needn't have done that--I +meant to tell you not to worry. But, of course, I'm glad you did tell +him." + +"What are you talking about?" demanded Shirley, looking back. "Did +Sarah tell Mr. Hildreth something?" + +Richard's glance rested sharply on Sarah. He smiled, grasping what had +happened with his usual quickness. + +"You're a brick, Sarah!" he complimented her. "A brick--that's what +you are." + +But Sarah was eager to tell about her pig and Warren wished to change +the topic so no more was said then. Instead Richard addressed himself +to the three Willis girls collectively. + +"I think you've about explored Rainbow Hill," he announced, "at least +Sarah has. She's exhausted its possibilities, if I'm a fair judge. I +think you need some new interests." + +"Yes," agreed Shirley with perfect gravity and not the slightest idea +of his meaning, "yes we do, Richard." + +They all laughed, but Richard was not to side-tracked. + +"There's the Gay family," he said. "You don't know them, but some of +the children must be about your own age." + +Rosemary thought "Gay" a pretty name and said so while Sarah reproved +her. "Gay isn't a name, silly; it means they always have a good time. +Doesn't it, Richard?" + +"Well no, not in this case," replied Richard, "but I'm going over there +to-morrow morning and, if you like, you may come along and get +acquainted." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + +The entire household was startled to be awakened at three o'clock the +next morning by the mad ringing of an alarm clock. Shirley wept, Mrs. +Willis and Rosemary were sure it was the telephone and Winnie scolded +vigorously and, still scolding, traced the noise to Sarah's bed. + +Sure enough, the clock was there and Sarah admitted that she had set it. + +"I wanted to be sure and get up early," she explained. "I have to get +my pig and go and see the Gay family." + +But she further conceded that she had not meant to rise at the witching +hour of three A. M. Her intention had been to set the alarm for +half-past five and her mistake was due to the fact that she had not set +an alarm clock before. + +"And never will again," commented Winnie, bearing the offending clock +away with her for safe-keeping. "Not if I have anything to say, will +you ever touch an alarm clock." + +Breakfast was half an hour later than usual, in consequence of this +performance, and Sarah was in a fever of impatience to reach the pig +pens. When finally excused from the table, she shot through the door +and was back before her mother and sisters had left the dining-room. + +Loud sounds of altercation in the kitchen proclaimed her return. + +"You can't bring that in here--go away, Sarah Willis!" came Winnie's +voice. "Where did you get that dirty beast?" + +"He's mine--he's a pig," countered Sarah, who always assumed that +Winnie was intensely ignorant in matters of natural history. "Mr. +Hildreth gave him to me." + +There was the noise of a scuffle, the slam of a door and then Sarah's +wail: + +"Oh, you've hurt him! And he's sick--you're the most cruel woman I +ever knew and I'll tell Mother so!" + +Mrs. Willis opened the swinging door into the kitchen and Rosemary and +Shirley pressed close behind her. Sarah stood on the back porch, a +young pig in her arms, and Winnie occupied the center of the kitchen +floor. + +"We don't keep our pigs in the parlor--not in this house," said Winnie +firmly. "Nor yet in the kitchen--as long as I'm in it." + +Rosemary thought then, as she had often thought before, how easily her +mother settled differences and with how few words. It took scarcely +five minutes for Mrs. Willis to examine the pig and praise his +possibilities to Sarah; to suggest a comfortable box in the woodshed as +his logical home--where he might have fresh air in abundance and yet be +close to Sarah if he needed her attention; and to enlist the sympathies +of Winnie--whose bark was always loud and whose bite had never +materialized yet--to the extent that she provided a piece of soft +flannel to line the box and warm milk to comfort the interior of the +little pig. + +His pigship was a runt, as Mr. Hildreth had said, and deprived of his +fair share of nourishment was bony and far from prepossessing. +Rosemary had no desire to touch him, but Shirley was fascinated and she +and Sarah put him to bed in the box and covered him up with all the +care and devotion they had hitherto showered on dolls. As Richard +observed, when he came to tell them he was starting for the Gay farm, +even a pig could be killed by kindness. + +"Mother said she'd get me a bottle for him," babbled Sarah as she +emerged clean and damp from Winnie's polishing and joined Richard on +the step. "Hugh is going to take her to Bennington this morning and +she'll buy it then. And I can bring him up by hand and teach him +tricks. His name is--what is a good name for him, Richard?" + +"Napoleon Bonaparte," supplied Richard with mischievous promptness. +"You can call him 'Bony' for short, you know." + +The practicality of this suggestion charmed Sarah beyond words, and the +pig was immediately christened. "Bony" he became in that hour and +"Bony" he remained, with the use of his full name on state occasions, +long after he was as plump as any of his more fortunate brothers and +sisters. + +"Where do the Gays live?" asked Rosemary, when she and Shirley had +joined the two sponsors and they were all walking over the field that +led to the back road. + +"Their land joins Rainbow Hill," returned Richard, "and if I had my +way, we'd be better neighbors. The Gays are hard up and proud and the +Hildreths are busy and like to keep to themselves. I don't know now +whether Louisa and Alec will be glad to see me bringing three strangers +to meet 'em, but my honest opinion is they need someone to say 'Hello' +and be friendly without prying." + +Rosemary looked at him speculatively. + +"Perhaps Mother had better go to see Mrs. Gay first," she suggested, +with a little touch of her mother's own generalship. + +"There isn't any Mrs. Gay," said Richard soberly. "They're +orphans--all six of 'em. And Warren and I have it figured out that +grown people frighten them--Louisa and Alec shut up like clams when +they meet anyone in town. They won't think you and Sarah and Shirley +mean to boss their affairs. Maybe they'll be friends with you." + +The three girls drew closer to Richard as they approached a +tumbled-down fence. Six year old Shirley expressed, in a measure, +their feelings when she stopped Richard as he attempted to lift her +over, with the observation that she had never seen an orphan. + +"An orphan hasn't any mother or father, you know, Shirley," said +Richard, smiling. "You'll find Kitty Gay a little girl very much like +yourself. Show her how lovely a little girl named Shirley Willis can +be." + +"We'll know eight orphans then, in a minute," declared Sarah, her +statistical mind functioning even as she helped to replace the fence +bars. "The Gays are six and you and Warren are two; so you did see an +orphan before, Shirley." + +"For mercy's sake, forget the orphan part of it," begged poor Richard. +"Don't say 'orphan' once--I didn't bring you up here to look at the +Gays. They're no side show." + +Rosemary laughed, then sobered instantly as a turn in the lane brought +them face to face with a tow-headed lad, carrying two pails of water. +He was about the age of Jack Welles, she decided, but infinitely +thinner and lacking Jack's solid build. + +"'Lo, Dick!" he said cordially. "Want me?" + +Richard introduced the three girls with more ease than Rosemary had +expected. Alec Gay was undeniably shy, but he asked them to come to +the house and meet his sister, Louisa. Richard took one pail and Alec +the other, and they went on. + +"Louisa!" shouted Alec as they came in sight of a weather-beaten house +set in a fenced enclosure of rank grass where a cow grazed peacefully. + +A girl appeared in the doorway, a tow-headed girl with blue eyes like +her brother's, and thin shoulders, like his, too. She wore a faded +blue dress and a black apron and looked clean and neat. + +This was Louisa Gay and noting that she glanced uncertainly into the +doorway, after Richard had introduced them, Rosemary tactfully +suggested that they sit on the stoop. + +"We can't stay long and it is too nice to go indoors," she said +sincerely. + +"The house doesn't look very nice this morning," apologized Louisa, "to +tell the truth, everything is in a mess; but if we stay out here, the +children will come hunting for me and they're a mess, too. There isn't +much choice, either way." + +She sat down beside Rosemary who kept fast hold of Shirley lest she +start an exploring tour of her own. + +"Where's the Kitty girl?" asked Shirley frankly. + +As she spoke a stream of children poured out of the house--or it seemed +like a stream, though when they were counted they were but four. Each +and every one of them had light hair and blue eyes like Alec and +Louisa, all were tanned and freckled and all were shouting madly. The +youngest was a baby, the oldest a year or so older than Sarah. Two +were boys and two girls. + +"Jim, Ken, Kitty and June," said Alec glibly. "For goodness' sake, do +keep still," he admonished the children. "Can't you see we have +company?" + +Richard, who evidently felt at home, had gone on into the kitchen with +the pail of water and came out in time to hear Alec's remark. + +"We're not company," he said quickly. "We're neighbors." + +Shirley, after staring a few seconds at Kitty, began to talk to her as +though she were an old friend. Sarah went over to look at the cow and +Jim and Ken followed her. The baby, June, climbed into Rosemary's lap +and sat quietly there. + +"She never goes to strangers," marveled Louisa, leaning over to +straighten out the crumpled little skirts. "Look Alec, she likes her." + +Alec was looking and so was Richard. Rosemary made a pretty picture +there in the sunlight, her lovely vivid face turned to Louisa, her arms +about the tousled little figure on her knees. + +"It's so nice to have a girl of my own age to talk to," Louisa said +appreciatively. "I never have time to go down to town any more and I +don't see the girls I used to know." + +"But in the winter?" suggested Rosemary, "You go to school, winters, +don't you?" + +Louisa's lips tightened. + +"I didn't last winter and I don't intend to this," she announced with +curious defiance. "There's no one to take care of the children except +Alec and me. We tried taking turns staying home, but neither one of us +could learn much that way so we gave it up." + +Richard had come over, so he said, to borrow a file and presently he +declared he must get back to work. June was handed back to Louisa, +Sarah summoned from her lecture on pigs--to which the boys were giving +rapt attention, and Shirley, with difficulty, detached from Kitty and a +dilapidated rope swing. + +"You'll come over and see us, won't you?" said Rosemary eagerly. + +"No," interposed Alec, standing straight and tall beside his sister. + +The monosyllable sounded ungracious but Rosemary, looking at Alec, saw +that he did not mean to be discourteous. He looked a little unhappy, a +little shy, a bit afraid, even. And Louisa's blue eyes were wistful. + +"Then we'll come see you," promised Rosemary gravely. + +"I'm glad you said that," approved Richard, leading the way down the +road. "Alec never goes anywhere that he doesn't have to and Louisa is +getting to be just like him. First thing those kids know, they'll be +queer." + +"Am I queer?" asked Sarah in sudden alarm. + +"Not yet, but you want to be mighty careful," Richard warned her. +"Lots of people get queer, thinking too much about pigs, I've heard." + +"I won't talk about any pig but my darling Bony," declared Sarah. "I +won't get queer talking about him." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE GAY FAMILY + +As Richard had foreseen, the Willis girls formed the habit of wandering +over to the Gay farm nearly every day. Rosemary liked Louisa and the +taciturn Alec, and the younger children were companionable in age and +tastes for Sarah and Shirley. + +It was Warren who explained something of the conditions under which the +Gay children worked and lived, one evening when the girls were in bed +and Winnie was busy setting bread in the kitchen. Warren treasured +these rare half hours on the porch with Mrs. Willis and he had once +declared to Richard that ten minutes' uninterrupted conversation with +"Rosemary's mother" could make him forget the hardest and longest day. + +"The way I figure it out," said Warren, his lean, brown face showing +earnest lines even in the shaded light from the porch lamp, "the way I +figure it, Mrs. Willis, the Gays will help Rosemary and Sarah and +Shirley and they will certainly help them. Alec is fifteen and Louisa +is just Rosemary's age--and yet they have the burden of supporting and +bringing up four younger children." + +"And my girls have such a happy, sheltered life," struck in Mrs. +Willis. "Yes, Warren, I can see what you mean; it won't hurt them to +learn of the existence of poverty and hard work. But what happened to +the parents of these children?" + +"They died a couple of years ago--within three months of each other, I +believe," said Warren. "All they left was these few acres--sixty, I +think Alec told me. There's a mortgage and most of the stock has been +sold off--Alec does wonders for his age, but he can't get the work done +alone. I helped him some last year and I'd help him more, but he is +too proud to take much." + +"But they can't go on like this," Mrs. Willis protested. "It is +unthinkable--to allow six children to struggle alone for a living on a +barren little farm. Doesn't anyone take an interest in them--the +Hildreths or any of the people who live near and who knew their father +and mother?" + +Warren settled deeper into his comfortable chair. + +"If the house burned down, I suppose they'd be taken in by some of the +neighbors," he said a trifle bitterly. "Or if they all came down with +the plague, someone might drop in to offer advice. But either of these +calamities would have to happen in winter at that, to attract +attention; the farmers of this community can't be disturbed in summer +when they're up to their elbows in work." + +"You don't mean that, Warren," the little lady opposite him smiled +confidently. + +"I mean at least half of it," asserted Warren doggedly. "Of course +when Mr. and Mrs. Gay died, everyone pitched in and helped the +children; I suppose they did, though I wasn't here to see. But I do +know that now when they need advice and practical help, they're +apparently forgotten. Their attendance at school last winter was a +farce and yet the authorities let an investigation slide; Mr. Hildreth +promises vaguely to 'look after them' in the fall--and there they are, +six fine American children left to bring themselves up." + +"Someone must be responsible," said Mrs. Willis firmly. "I'll speak to +Hugh--he will know what to do." + +Warren shook his head. + +"I wouldn't--that is not yet," he declared. "It is rather difficult to +explain and--well, I suppose I haven't been quite fair in my +statements, either. Alec and Louisa do not invite friendship--they are +extremely proud and shy and so reserved as to be almost repellant to +strangers. I think every allowance should be made, under the +circumstances, for them, but the neighbors who tried to do for them at +first were miffed, I suppose, and take the attitude that if they want +to keep to themselves, they may. + +"Alec is close-mouthed, too, and I fancy he has resented attempts to +publicly discuss their financial affairs. There is a mortgage on the +farm, of course--what would a farm be without a mortgage?" Warren +digressed for a moment but was instantly serious--"and I suppose the +interest keeps Alec awake nights figuring. Both he and Louisa have +given up going anywhere--they send one of the children to the Center +for the few things they have to buy. It's simmered right down to +this--they're avoiding everyone and if they don't look out they'll be +as queer as--as the dickens!" + +"Like some of those mountaineers I saw when Hugh took me over the back +road to that little settlement at the foot of the hills," said Mrs. +Willis. "The women peep out of the windows furtively and the children +run if they see a stranger--all because they have lost the habit of +meeting folk." + +"That's it," agreed Warren eagerly. "That's what I mean. And I think +it is a shame, for the Gays are nice kids--clean and honest and +wholesome. You know I would never have taken the girls over there if +there was the slightest possibility of the Gays setting them a bad +example in any way. I have a cousin who is a teacher and she is always +preaching that children pick up the bad traits they see in others +quicker than they do the good ones." + +"I'm not so sure of that," smiled Mrs. Willis. "But I am glad you are +so thoughtful, Warren. They are very precious to me--my three +daughters." + +"If I had three sisters like them--" Warren's voice faltered. + +He began again, hurriedly. + +"What the Gays need," he said earnestly, "is human contacts--I think +that's the phrase I want. They need to know normal, happy children +their own age. It isn't the poverty that will hurt them--Rich and I +have been as poor as church mice and are still; but we have battled our +way through school and mixed with fellows and met people. In some ways +Louisa and Alec are ten years beyond their time--they run the farm and +train and punish those four youngsters and figure out expenses like a +couple of old stagers. Give 'em one more year and they'll forget how +to laugh and be hopelessly mixed on the true values." + +"I think I know what you are trying to bring about," observed Mrs. +Willis sagely. "You think they'll trust the girls and make friends +with them and, later, an older person will be able to gain their +confidence. An older head will be needed soon, if that farm is the +only source of income. Well, Warren, I believe you are right and it +will work out nicely in the end. I'm glad to have the girls see +something of lives that are different from theirs and I know they will +all three learn a great deal that will be helpful to them. I did plan +to go over and see the Gays but now I'll wait, for a time at least." + +"She's a wonder!" said Warren to himself, walking back to the bungalow +a few minutes later. "She can see just what is in a fellow's mind and +sort it out for him. Funny how Rich and I puzzled over what made those +three girls so different from any girls we ever knew--they do just as +many crazy things and Winnie says they have tempers and wills of their +own, but they have something that sets them apart--Rich said it was +ideals and I called it fine standards and, in a measure, I suppose +we're both right. But just two words will explain everything--their +mother!" + +It must be confessed that Bony, the pig, claimed a large share of +Sarah's time and attention. She let Rosemary and Shirley go over to +see the Gays very often without her. There were the pig's meals to be +served, his toilet to be made and his manners and training carefully +considered. + +"My conscience, Sarah Willis, you're not going to wash that pig, are +you?" demanded Winnie the first morning Sarah made known her ideas on +the question of cleanliness in connection with Bony. + +"I certainly am," announced Sarah with appalling firmness. "Hugh says +you can't be well, 'less you are clean. I don't suppose I can wash +Bony in the bathtub?" + +"Now Sarah, if I didn't love you, you would have driven me crazy years +ago," said Winnie, who was a famous general when she minded to be. +"You know washing a pig in the bathtub is out of the question. I +wouldn't wash him in the laundry tubs, either; we have to be nice to +Mrs. Pritchard for if she deserts us like as not there'll be no more +clean clothes this summer; you can't pick and choose your washwoman in +the country." + +"Where'll I wash him then?" asked Sarah. + +"Take him out to the barns--there must be tubs there," directed Winnie. +"I'll give you a piece of soap and an old towel. Don't bring the towel +back, either." + +"I'll hang it on a bush to dry," promised Sarah amiably. "But I have +to have some hot water, Winnie; Bony is delicate and I can't give him a +cold bath." + +"Then he'll have to wait till to-morrow for his bath," said the wily +Winnie. "The tea kettle is empty and I can't be lighting the stove to +heat water just now." + +"Well, I'll try the cold water," Sarah decided reluctantly, "but if +Bony catches cold, you'll be sorry--that's all." + +The pig under one arm and the towel and soap under the other, Sarah +made for the barn and reached the big tub where the horses were +watered, when Warren saw her. + +"What are you going to do with that pig, Sarah?" he asked suspiciously. + +"Wash him," said Sarah, beginning to weary of being questioned. + +"Not in that horse tub," declared Warren. "I've just filled it for the +team. That's a drinking trough, not a bathtub." + +Brief experience had already taught Sarah, as it had Rosemary and +Shirley, that while Richard might be cajoled or persuaded, Warren was +firmness itself. If he said that pigs could not be washed in the +watering tub, that settled the matter. + +"The brook is the best place to wash a pig, anyway, Sarah," suggested +Warren helpfully. "You take this stiff brush and put Bony in the +middle of the brook and scrub his back and he'll be the happiest little +pig you ever saw. But if that is a good dress you have on, take my +advice and stay away from water," he added. + +"I won't get wet," said Sarah indifferently. "Well, I guess I'll have +to wash Bony in the brook. I never saw such a fussy bunch of people." + +She scrubbed the pig thoroughly, soaking herself to the skin in the +process, and dried him neatly with the towel. Then she took him back +to his box, fed him a nursing bottle of warm milk--he had readily +learned to take the bottle--covered him up and hung the soiled wet +towel on the rose bush by the front door. Leaving the scrubbing brush +in the porch swing and the jellied remains of the soap on a gingham +pillow, Sarah retired to put on a dry frock, feeling that she had +accomplished one task successfully. + +"That pig," said Winnie, when she came upon the soapy trail of his +bath, "that pig will drive us crazy yet. You mark my words!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GAY FINANCES + +Sarah continued to bathe her pig every day. In fact she omitted no +slightest detail that could contribute to his health and comfort; and +the amount of care and affection she lavished on "that porker," as Mr. +Hildreth referred to Bony, would have amazed anyone unacquainted with +Sarah's trait of exceeding thoroughness. Whatever she found to +do--providing it was to her liking--this small girl did with all her +might. + +But naturally the most interesting of pigs could not occupy all her +time. Bony was young and he craved sleep. It was during his rest +periods that Sarah would consent to accompany her sisters to the Gay +farm. Once there, she was like the boy who, led protestingly to the +party, had to be dragged home. + +"Oh, dear, I'm sorry you have to find the house in such a mess," Louisa +Gay apologized one morning, across the table filled with dirty dishes +and pots and pans piled high in confusion. "I was helping Alec in the +field all day yesterday and just let the dishes pile up. This morning +I meant to wash everything in sight--I was too tired to touch a plate +last night." + +"We'll help," said Rosemary sympathetically. She knew that the four +younger Gays were forbidden to light a fire in Louisa's absence--she +and Alec were most strict about this--and that, for this reason, they +could not heat water and wash the dishes for their sister. + +"We'll help," repeated Rosemary cheerfully. "I have washed tons of +dishes in cooking class; and Sarah will dry them for us." + +"I will, if Kitty will," qualified Sarah, hastily, having no mind to be +tied down to domestic duties while someone else played. + +"Kitty is in bed," said Louisa severely. "I told her to make the beds +yesterday and she never touched one. She said she forgot. So now she +has to stay in bed till dinner time to make her remember." + +"I'm going to get up now, Louisa!" shrilled the wrathful voice of Kitty +from the upstairs hall. + +"You go back to bed and stay there, till I tell you you can get up," +directed Louisa. "Unless you want to be locked in your room and your +dinner." + +Kitty retreated--they heard the door of room slam--and Louisa went on +with her plate scraping. + +"There's the baby!" Louisa started nervously. "Kenneth must have +stopped rocking her." + +At that moment Kenneth appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking +distinctly cross. + +"I don't see why I always have to rock the baby!" he grumbled. "Alec +wants me to stake Dora down by the brook and when am I going to get any +time to help him if I have to keep June quiet?" + +"Let me rock her," said Shirley. "I can rock just as nice--can't I, +Rosemary?" + +"Well, I think you could," admitted Rosemary, smiling. "You must touch +the cradle very gently, you know, Shirley--don't rock June as though +she were in a boat at sea." + +She went in to the darkened room off the kitchen with Shirley and +showed her how to sway the old-fashioned cradle with a soothing motion. +When she came back to Louisa, Kenneth had disappeared and Sarah with +him. + +"I declare, sometimes I get so discouraged, I don't know what to do," +confided Louisa, filling the heavy tea kettle at the sink and lifting +it to the stove. "We do everything the wrong way and yet I don't see +where we can take time to do them any better. + +"For instance, there's June. I know she shouldn't be rocked to +sleep--but the one day I tried to break her of the habit and make her +go to sleep quietly by herself, I didn't get a thing done. The other +children got into mischief, Alec was hurt trying to pitch hay and +manage the team without help and, after all, June didn't learn a thing. +She acted worse the next day, so I had to give it up and go back to the +cradle rocking." + +"I suppose it is hard because she is used to the cradle now," said +Rosemary, busily clearing a place on the table for the clean dishes. + +"Yes, that's the reason," agreed Louisa. "And we spend a lot of time +staking Dora around in different places--she was in the front yard that +day you came over with Richard. She was there because the front yard +has the one decent piece of fencing left on the farm. She would give +more milk if we could let her go free in the pasture--but Kenneth has +to stake her with a staple and rope because the fences are so +poor--where there are any--that the only way to keep her home is to tie +her." + +"You're tired," said Rosemary quickly. "You worked too hard yesterday, +Louisa. I wish you'd go off somewhere--find a nice, cool place--and +rest; I'll do these dishes." + +Louisa did look tired. More than that, she looked discouraged. She +had not taken pains to brush her hair as carefully as usual and it was +"slicked back" in the tightest possible knot. Her dress was perfectly +clean, but so faded and mended that it would have taken a merry-hearted +girl to have been quite happy in it. Louisa was far from merry-hearted. + +"But the potatoes will bring in some money, won't they?" urged +Rosemary, who now knew a great deal about the Gay finances. + +"They will, if they're not all sunburned, before Alec gets them into +the barn," responded Louisa gloomily, pouring hot water over a pan of +dishes. "Last year the yield was poor, too. Ken and Jim try to help, +but neither Alec nor I can bear to keep such little boys working in the +hot sun all day long. It isn't right." + +Louisa was not given to complaint and Rosemary guessed something of the +pressure the slender shoulders must be enduring. + +"I wish I had a million dollars!" burst out Rosemary, putting her arm +about Louisa. "I'd give it all to you!" + +To her distress, Louisa began to cry. She was standing near the +kitchen table and she just put her head down on her arms and "let go" +as Rosemary later told her brother. Shirley, who had ventured to leave +the cradle, after several cautious tests to determine the depth of +June's slumbers, peered in aghast. Rosemary motioned to her to go on +and Shirley dashed out into the sunshine, glad to escape. + +"You're so sweet to me!" choked Louisa, raising her tear-stained face. +"And you're so pretty--I never saw a girl as pretty as you are. I wish +I could look the way you do and have the clothes you do!" + +So the faded dress had had something to do with it, after all. + +Rosemary had always taken her pretty summer frocks for granted. Now +she looked from her own blue and white gingham to Louisa's old dress +and remembered the freshly-ironed linens and ginghams hanging in her +closet. Not many, perhaps, but dainty and pretty, every one, and +neither old-fashioned nor faded. + +"I wish you'd let me give you a couple of mine," said Rosemary +impulsively. "We're almost the same size and you would look so nice in +blue, Louisa. I wouldn't tell a single soul." + +Louisa dried her eyes and reached for the dish mop. + +"I'm ashamed of myself," she declared briskly. "I don't know what made +me cry like that--Alec and the boys would think I had lost my mind. +No, I couldn't take a dress from you, Rosemary--I don't really need it, +anyway. Thank you, just the same. We need so many things that I vow +there is no place to begin to replenish; a dress would be a drop in the +bucket." + +They both laughed a little at Louisa's mixed metaphor and the laughter +cleared away the last trace of the tears. As they washed and dried the +mountains of dishes, Louisa explained that what was really troubling +her, was the interest. + +"The interest on the mortgage, you know," she said earnestly. "It is +due the first of September. Mr. Greenleaf holds the mortgage and Alec +is desperately afraid he will foreclose." + +Rosemary's experience with mortgages dated from that minute, but she +sensed the importance of the interest. + +"Perhaps the potatoes--" she suggested hopefully, having great faith in +Alec's main crop. + +"We owe for the seed and the fertilizer," answered Louisa. "And last +year's taxes are not paid; and if we do manage to scrape together +enough to pay the interest, I don't see what we're going to live on the +rest of the year." + +Rosemary had to admit that the outlook was discouraging. She scoured a +paring knife thoughtfully and polished it off before she ventured a new +suggestion. + +"Why doesn't Alec go to this Mr. Greenleaf, and tell him that he is +having a hard time?" Rosemary proposed. "Ask him to wait a little +longer for his money. Hugh waits when people can not pay him; I heard +Winnie say that he never collects a bill, but waits for the money." + +Louisa looked graver than ever. + +"The one thing we must never do, and you must never, never tell," she +said impressively, "is to go to Mr. Greenleaf. Just as soon as it is +known in town that we are having a hard time to get along, do you know +what will happen? They'll take the farm away from us and send us to +the poor farm--probably bind Alec and me out and separate the family +for good and all. My father and mother would rather have us dead than +paupers." + +"Could anyone take the farm away from you and do that?" asked Rosemary, +much shocked. + +"Of course--it's often done," said Louisa, her light blue eyes gazing +intensely at her friend. "They'd take us to the poor farm in a minute, +if they knew we couldn't hold the farm." + +"Perhaps it is pleasant at the poor farm," Rosemary was trying to find +the cloud's silver lining. "You might like it there; did you ever see +it?" + +"No, and I never want to," retorted Louisa with finality. + +Then Rosemary asked what it was to be "bound out" and Louisa told her +that children old enough to work were bound out to families who agreed +to give them their board and clothes and send them to school in return +for their services. + +"It would mean that until we are eighteen we'd never have a cent to +call our own," declared Louisa. "We couldn't do a thing for the +younger children and, worst of all, we should be separated." + +It was a very sober Rosemary who helped with the remainder of the work +that morning. She spread dish towels to bleach, she swept the porch, +made the beds--visiting for a brief moment with the unrepentant Kitty +who clamored to be allowed to get up and finally was released a half +hour ahead of time on her promise to pick the "greens" for dinner--and, +at Louisa's request, showed her how a simple soup was made in cooking +class at the Eastshore school. But she was unusually silent while she +did all this. + +Walking home across the fields at noon--they steadfastly refused to +burden the harassed family with three extra mouths to feed--Sarah +noticed her sister's abstraction. + +"What's the matter, Rosemary?" she asked curiously and Shirley echoed +the question. + +"Oh--I'm thinking," said Rosemary. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE POOR FARM + +Rosemary thought a great deal about the Gays in the days that followed. +Louisa had asked her to promise that she would tell no one the +precarious state of their finances--"no one can help and I won't be +discussed like the 'cases' they bring up at the sewing circle," said +Louisa passionately. + +"They'd be 'running up' clothes for June and Kitty," she said another +time, "and fitting us out to go to the poor farm looking respectable. +I'd rather stay here and look any old way." + +Sarah was extremely observant for her years and she surprised Rosemary +and Louisa with a shrewd comment or two, until the latter deemed it +expedient to take her into the inner circle of confidence. Sarah could +be loyal and she could be silent. From that day she and Rosemary were +leagued with Louisa and Alec to circumvent the town authorities. + +Not that authority, in any guise, was ever manifested. At least it had +not been so far. Rosemary, on the beautiful moonlight nights when "Old +Fiddlestrings" wandered again up and down the road, playing the +"Serenade" with his soul in his fingers, found it hard to believe that +there could be such ugly things in the world as poverty and fear. She +was sure that Louisa and Alec must be mistaken--or else the money would +come from somewhere--it must. There could not be such music and such +moonlight and such heavenly scented breezes on an earth that was +anything but wholly lovely, wholly kind. + +"My dear child, you must go to bed," Mrs. Willis remonstrated on the +third night when she came in to find Rosemary's room flooded with +moonlight and Rosemary herself kneeling at the window. "You can hear +the music just as well in bed and I don't like to have you lose so much +sleep." + +And then she brought a light comfortable from the bed and, wrapped in +that, knelt with Rosemary at the window till the player and his violin +walked wearily away out of sight. After all, what was the loss of a +little sleep as compared with such playing? + +"Heard Old Fiddlestrings again last night," said Mr. Hildreth, drawing +up before the kitchen door the next morning while Richard carried in +the piece of ice they had brought from the creamery for Winnie. "I +declare it's a mercy we don't have full moon more than once a month; no +one would get a fair night's sleep. Does he bother you?" + +"_Bother_ us?" echoed Rosemary in astonishment. "Bother us? Why, it +is the loveliest playing we have ever heard!" + +Richard judged this an excellent time to ask a question. + +"How would you like to go over to the poor farm?" he suggested, pulling +Shirley back from the dusty wheel and taking a firm grip on Sarah with +the other hand to prevent her from crawling under the horse--for what +reason she alone knew. + +"The poor farm?" Rosemary's mind immediately leaped to the Gays. + +"Oh, Richard, do let's go!" she cried, her enthusiasm kindling. "I've +always wanted to see the poor farm." + +"Well, your brother goes there often enough," said Mr. Hildreth drily. +"It's thanks to him that the new Board of Freeholders put in decent +plumbing all through the place." + +Richard climbed back into his seat and took the reins. + +"Well, be ready in about fifteen minutes," he directed. "It's thanks +to Mr. Hildreth that the poor-farm folks are going to get some early +tomatoes." + +"I've a good mind to cuff you," said the exasperated Mr. Hildreth who +had never been known to raise his hand against anyone. (Warren had +once remarked that when he raised his voice he needed no further +reinforcements.) "It's a pity when we have the first tomatoes and more +than we can use, not to send those poor creatures a few." + +The "few" tomatoes proved to be six peach baskets full and they made a +crimson splash in the back of the light spring wagon Warren presently +drove around harnessed to the useful Solomon. + +"Mother says do you want to take us all?" cried Shirley, balancing +herself on the lowest step and eyeing Richard anxiously. "I hope you +want all of us, Richard, because no one wants to stay home." + +Her mother, coming out in time to hear this speech, laughed. + +"Have you room for three, Richard?" she asked. "The girls have had a +great many rides lately and I'm sure one or two will stay home without +grumbling, if necessary." + +"Room for everybody," Richard assured her. "Don't you want to go, Mrs. +Willis? I'll tip the girls over with the tomatoes and you may have the +whole front seat, if you'll come." + +"Thank you no," she answered him smiling. "Winnie and I have a busy +day ahead of us. You know the doctor and Jack Welles are coming up +next week to stay two weeks and Winnie and I want to have as much done +ahead as we can. Have a good time and bring me home some wild flowers +if you pass any growing along the road." + +It was a warm morning, but no one minds that in July. Besides, as +Sarah pointed out, there was now and then a breeze. Sarah and Shirley +were seated in the middle of the single long seat with Richard at one +end and Rosemary the other. + +As usual Sarah and Shirley both wanted to drive and, also as usual, +Richard settled the argument diplomatically by allowing each to hold +the reins in turn, stipulating fixed distances for each, using the +trees which could be seen ahead as boundary marks. + +Rosemary was less interested in the driving than in their destination. +She plied Richard with questions about the poor farm. Who lived there? +How many people? How poor did one have to be before he was compelled +to live on the poor farm? Did one, once sent there, ever save enough +money to go somewhere else? Were there any children and what did they +do? + +"Good grief!" ejaculated the harassed Richard, at last rebelling. "I +never lived on a poor farm, Rosemary. I don't know a great deal more +about it than you do." + +"Is it a nice place?" persisted Rosemary. + +"Depends on what you call nice," answered Richard. "It is a large farm +and the house looks comfortable. I'll tell you one thing--if I had to +be a county charge, I'd rather be sent to a country poor farm than to a +city almshouse; in the country you at least have something green to +look at." + +"Would you like to live at this poor farm?" said Rosemary. + +Louisa and Alec, Kitty, Ken, Jim and June--they were in her mind. She +would, perhaps, have some comforting news to take them about the poor +farm. She was totally unprepared for the violence of Richard's reply. + +"Like to live at the poor farm?" thundered he. "Not if it was the most +magnificent place on earth! Do you think for one moment that I'd have +charity handed out to me? I'd rather wash dishes for a living--what do +you take me for, anyway?" + +Three pairs of astonished eyes stared at him. Then Rosemary laughed +and, after a moment, Richard laughed with her. + +"Guess I got too eloquent," he admitted a little shamefacedly. "But +honestly, Rosemary, I pity those poor souls who have to live at the +poor farm, more than I pity any other people of whom I've ever heard. +There is nothing worse, to my mind, than to be deprived of your +independence and ability to work." + +"How do you come to live in the poor house?" inquired Rosemary. "Sit +still, Sarah; no, it isn't your turn to drive yet." + +"Oh, sometimes you're old and haven't saved any money," said Richard +absently. "Sometimes you're old and sick and have to stop earning. +Lots of people lose those who would have supported them--say their +children. And now and then parents die and leave a family of kids who +must be brought up as wards of charity." + +Rosemary hardly noticed when he took the reins from Shirley and turned +Solomon into a beautiful tree-lined road in perfect condition. She was +thinking that "wards of charity" did not sound half as happy as when +one said "the Gay children." + +"Here we are!" announced Richard, stopping before a handsome red brick +building with a great white front porch and a fine stretch of lawn +before it. "How do you do, Mrs. Carson? Mr. Hildreth thought you +might like some early tomatoes for supper." + +A stout gray-haired woman had come out from the beautifully paneled +door and Richard performed the introductions. Mrs. Carson was voluble +in her thanks and suggested that the "young ladies" might like to go +through the buildings. + +"If you'll come, too," whispered Rosemary to Richard, pressing closer +to him. + +Mrs. Carson was a rather handsome woman and there was efficiency and +competency in every crisp fold of her immaculate gingham dress and +every neat coil of her iron-gray hair. No doubt the Board of +Freeholders was to be congratulated on its choice of a matron for the +poor farm--but it was awe she inspired in the minds of the three girls +before her. Not for worlds would they have left the safe companionship +of sunny, kind-hearted Richard and gone on a tour alone with this +formidable personage. + +"Where are the people who live here?" whispered Sarah, when they had +been led through spotless corridors, glistening with varnish and +covered with bright linoleum, into orderly rooms stiffly furnished and +showing no signs of use and out again on to the porch tiled in red and +supported with white columns. + +It was a question Rosemary had been debating, too. + +"Oh, they're out back--there's a porch there they can use," said Mrs. +Carson carelessly. "Some of 'em spend the time in their +dormitories--just puttering around. The old ones are so messy I can't +have them out here or it would never be clean; and the young ones work +in the kitchen, mornings. Now if you'll come upstairs, I'll show you +the bathrooms your brother had installed for us." + +Richard had explained that they were Doctor Hugh's sisters and Mrs. +Carson was determined to show them every courtesy. They saw the large +kitchen at last, with three young girls, in blue dresses made exactly +alike, scraping carrots, and four old women peeling potatoes, and then +went out to the back lawn where half a dozen old people dozed in the +glare of the hot sun. + +"You needn't bother to speak to them," said Mrs. Carson. "Most of them +are deaf." + +But Rosemary, catching several indignant glances darted at the speaker, +doubted this. + +"I hope you'll come over again," Mrs. Carson said, walking with them to +the wagon after they had, as she expressed it, "seen everything." + +"Tell Mr. Hildreth he'll be a popular man tonight when we have those +tomatoes for supper," she added. "The old folks would rather have +something they like to eat than any other kind of gift; and our +tomatoes are late this year." + +Yes, she meant to be kind--one could see that, thought Rosemary, +mechanically holding on to Shirley as Solomon speeded up in his haste +to reach the home barn. + +She was very silent during the return drive and busied with her own +thoughts. Richard's quizzical announcement, "This car doesn't go any +further--end of the line, lady," woke her from her dreaming to find +that they were home. + +As she lightly jumped to the ground, she put the gist of her +meditations into words: + +"No," said Rosemary with conviction. "No, I wouldn't want to live at +the poor farm!" + +Sarah remained untroubled by any idea of living at the poor farm, but +at the supper table that night she had an individual announcement to +make. + +"All those people weren't deaf," she said placidly. + +"How do you know?" Rosemary asked in astonishment. + +"I found out," Sarah answered, buttering her mashed potato lavishly. + +"But how?" insisted Rosemary, not without anxiety. One never knew what +Sarah would do next. + +That small girl grinned impishly. + +"I asked one old lady," she replied. "She said she wasn't. And that's +how I know." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SARAH'S SURPRISE + +Winnie folded up a pair of stockings and dropped them into the +capacious bag which hung on the arm of her chair. + +"It beats me," she said conversationally, "where Sarah runs to every +afternoon. It's been going on now for three weeks and she shuts up +like a clam when I ask her any questions." + +Winnie and Mrs. Willis were seated in the cool, shaded living-room with +their mending. It was an intensely warm afternoon and several degrees +cooler inside the house than on the porch. Winnie insisted on helping +with the darning--she would have felt hurt had she been denied the task +of mating and sorting and mending the stockings and socks for the +family each week--and she took pride in assisting Mrs. Willis to keep +Doctor Hugh's belongings in perfect order. + +"Mother!" Rosemary hurried in, her hair a tangle of waves and ringlets +dampened from heat and perspiration, her cheeks like scarlet poppies +and her eyes glowing with enthusiasm. "Mother, I've thought of +something!" + +"Rosemary leads an exciting life," Jack Welles had once declared in +Mrs. Willis' hearing. "She can get all worked up about anything she +happens to be thinking about." + +Rosemary's mother remembered this speech now, smiling a little at the +recollection. + +"Richard and Warren are down in the tomato field, working their heads +off in this broiling sun," said Rosemary more picturesquely than +accurately. "And Mother, couldn't I make lemonade and take it down to +them?" + +"We have lemons," put in Winnie. + +Mrs. Willis nodded approval. + +"Make plenty, dear," she said cordially. "Don't put in too much sugar, +for the boys don't like it so sweet; but why not wait an hour until it +is cooler?" + +"Oh, Mother, let me do it now--they'll like it when they're working +hard. Where's Shirley? She could carry the cups," and Rosemary paused +in her flight kitchenwards. + +"Shirley is asleep--don't wake her," cautioned the mother. "Ask Sarah +to help you, dear; she is out in the barn. And do keep out of the sun +as much as you can, dear." + +"Yes'm," promised Rosemary obediently, disappearing. + +"I'll go crack the ice," said Winnie, rising. "There's no use in +making the kitchen look like Niagara Falls, if a little forethought can +prevent it." + +Rosemary was a quick worker and a neat one, when she didn't have to +chop ice, and she soon had a shiny white enamel pail half filled with +delicious cold lemonade. She poured out two generous glasses for her +mother and Winnie and carried them in with her compliments and then set +off expeditiously, carrying pail, dipper and three cups, a feat that +required her closest attention. + +"Sarah!" she called when she reached the barn. + +"What?" called back Sarah, not very graciously. + +"Please come help me take some lemonade to the boys?" + +Sarah put her head out of the barn door and eyed the pail thirstily. + +"Let me have some?" she begged. + +"If you'll help me carry these things," said Rosemary. "I brought +three cups and there's enough lemonade for everyone." + +"Well--all right, I'll help you," decided Sarah, "but I'm thirsty now." + +"The ice will melt if you're going to talk all day," said Rosemary, the +blazing sun making her more impatient than usual. "Come help me first +and drink your lemonade after we get down to the tomato field." + +Sarah darted back into the barn and reappeared in a moment with Bony, +the pig, under her arm. + +"Sarah Willis! You can't carry that filthy pig and help me lug this +pail, too--put him down," scolded Rosemary. + +"Bony isn't filthy--he's had a bath this morning!" flared Sarah. "He's +just as clean as any person, so there. And I want to show Richard and +Warren what he can do." + +"You know what Hugh would say if he saw you fussing with a pig and then +coming around food without washing your hands," Rosemary reminded her. +"If there is one thing Hugh won't stand, it's to have you handle pets +and then come to the table without scrubbing your hands. You know +that, Sarah." + +"I'm not coming to any table," insisted Sarah. "Besides Bony is clean, +I tell you. If I can't bring him I won't come at all." + +The walk down to the tomato field was long and hot, and Rosemary could +not hurry unless she had someone to share the weight of the pail which +would, she knew, grow heavier at each step. She capitulated. + +"But keep Bony on the other side of you," she commanded Sarah. "I +don't see why he can't walk; do you carry him everywhere he goes?" + +Sarah tucked the pig under one arm and gave the other hand to the +handle of the pail. + +"Bony can walk, but I am saving his strength," she remarked with a +dignity worthy of Winnie. "You wait till you see what a smart pig he +is, Rosemary; no one appreciates him except me." + +Warren and Richard, bending over the long rows of tomatoes, +straightened up in surprise as Rosemary's clear call came down to them. + +"Stay up by the fence--you'll get your dress stained!" shouted Warren. +"We'll come over." + +"Ye gods, lemonade!" ejaculated Richard when he was near enough to hear +the inviting tinkle of ice. + +"And a pig!" grinned Warren. "Isn't Bony too heavy to cart around on a +day like this, Sarah?" + +Sarah shook her head in negation, but remained silent. + +"You must be baked!" Rosemary looked with sympathy at the two flushed +faces. + +Both boys looked warm and tired, but they averred stoutly that no one +minded the heat "after they were used to it." They declared that +nothing had ever tasted as good as the lemonade. + +"What made you think of bringing us it?" asked Warren, sitting down on +an overturned crate after his second cup and mopping his face with his +handkerchief. + +"Oh, last winter Jack Welles and the high school boys were shoveling +snow, we took them hot coffee and doughnuts," said Rosemary carelessly. +"I suppose I must have remembered how much they liked something warm to +drink--and you like something cold just as much, don't you?" + +"We sure do," agreed Richard warmly. "This Jack Welles is coming up +next week, isn't he? Mr. Hildreth is counting on him for two weeks." + +Rosemary moved the pail beyond the reach of Sarah who seemed to have +developed an excessive thirst. + +"Jack and Hugh are both coming next Sunday," she answered. "You'll +like Jack, Warren, and so will you, Richard. He lives next door to us, +you know." + +"Well, I only hope he's used to hard work," said Richard. "How old is +he, Rosemary? Almost sixteen? I don't suppose he has ever picked +tomatoes from sunup to sundown, but the cannery opens next week and +we'll be picking steadily until it closes. Mr. Hildreth is shipping +some crates to-day, but the real picking starts when the cannery opens. +We're counting on Jack to make a third hand." + +"He'll want to go fishing," declared Sarah. + +"Jack doesn't care how much he hurts the poor fish, jabbing hooks into +them." + +Sarah and Jack had had more than one violent argument over this +question. + +"It isn't cruel to go fishing," said Rosemary impatiently, thinking how +tired Warren looked. + +"I haven't been this year," announced Richard, "though they say there +are several good streams near here. Sundays I seem to lack ambition +and during the week, of course, there isn't time." + +Sarah edged a little nearer the pail. + +"You wouldn't catch fish would you, Warren?" she asked coaxingly. + +Warren looked at her and grinned. + +"Not only would I catch them," he told her, "but I'd eat them; if we +are to have fish to eat, Sarah, someone must catch them for us. The +same way with roast chicken for Sunday dinner and roast pork, you know; +they don't grow on bushes." + +Sarah's eyes turned to Bony, now lying comfortably sprawled across her +lap. She was sitting on the ground and Rosemary beside her. + +"I never would eat Bony!" she said in horror-stricken tone. + +"No, of course not," Richard put in quickly, "but you'd eat a pig you +were not acquainted with, wouldn't you?" + +Sarah was most uncomfortable. She liked roast pork and in winter was +fond of little sausages. And now here was Richard telling her that +pigs--like Bony--had to be killed before one could have roast pork to +eat. + +"Never mind, Sarah," said Rosemary, taking pity on her sister. "You +don't have to think about what you eat--just don't try to make everyone +see your way and don't argue so much and eat what Winnie gives you and +you'll have nothing to worry about." + +Warren laughed and held out his cup as Rosemary lifted the dipper +invitingly. + +"In other words, Sarah," he counseled, "don't be so valiant a reformer." + +"What's a reformer?" demanded Sarah, eyeing the pail anxiously. + +"You're one when you try to stop your friends from going fishing," +Warren informed her. "That's the whole trouble with reform--no one is +willing to improve himself and let his neighbor alone; for all you +know, Sarah, you drive Jack Welles fishing in self-defense. Perhaps, +if you let him alone, he wouldn't go at all." + +Sarah stared, but Rosemary nodded. + +"I don't know about Jack," said Rosemary, "but I do know that as soon +as someone says it isn't right to do such and such a thing, I always +want to do it. And it may be something I never thought of before." + +"Like coasting down hill backward," contributed Sarah. + +Rosemary dimpled and Warren, who had been uneasily thinking they ought +to go back to the vines, resolved to wait a few minutes longer. + +"Did you coast backward?" asked Richard with interest. "What happened?" + +"Oh, I ran into another sled and cut my wrists and nearly broke the +legs of the two boys on the other sled," Rosemary recited. "The +trouble was I never would have thought of it, if it hadn't been for +Miss Johnson. She's a woman who lives in Eastshore and she's forever +scolding about girls--the way they 'carry on,' she calls it. I +happened to hear her say that no nice, well-brought up girl would make +herself conspicuous on a coasting hill." + +"So you thought up the most conspicuous way of getting down the hill +and did it?" suggested Richard. + +"Well, it turned out more conspicuous than I intended," Rosemary +acknowledged. "I never intended to tangle up three or four sleds and +have the news get around that there had been an accident on the hill. +Mother was so frightened when she heard of it--remember, Sarah?" + +Sarah remembered. But she was more interested in the lemonade. + +"There's some left, Rosemary," she tactfully declared. + +"You've had enough," said Rosemary. + +Richard rose to his feet at a significant glance from Warren. It was +pleasant to rest a few moments, but the driving force of waiting work +had not relaxed, merely slowed down. + +"I wish I could help you," said Rosemary, simply and sincerely. + +"What do you call it you've just been doing?" answered Warren. +"Picking tomatoes isn't so hard, but it is monotonous; giving us a +little break in the day is something that counts big, Rosemary." + +"Well, anyway, Jack will be here to-morrow to help you," said Rosemary. +"Then perhaps you won't have to work so hard--many hands make light +work, Winnie says." + +"Now what," said Richard thoughtfully, "should you say was troubling +the small Sarah at this moment?" + +Sarah, cut off from the supply of lemonade, had turned her back on the +others and was busily disgorging an assortment of articles from her +blouse. When she whirled around upon the astonished group it was +apparent that she had secreted upon her small person a pair of baby +shoes, a doll's dress and a small parasol. In these her pig, Bony, was +now arrayed. + +"You want to look at my pig!" she announced in clarion tones. "He can +do tricks!" + +"Tricks!" echoed Richard, while Rosemary rapidly identified the dress +as belonging to Shirley's largest doll, ditto the parasol, and the +shoes as a pair of Sarah's own carefully treasured for years by Winnie. + +"What kind of tricks?" demanded Warren. + +"You wait and see--" Sarah was so excited her voice trembled. "I +taught him lots of things. I've been teaching him every afternoon in +the barn--he is a naturally bright pig." + +Her audience was inclined to share her opinion, after watching Bony +perform. The pig walked up and down before them in the absurd costume, +twirling the parasol and bowing to each in turn as he passed. + +He danced, very mincingly, to a tune Sarah played for him on the +harmonica--Rosemary wondered how many other treasures Sarah's blouse +could hold--and though Richard said that no pig, no matter how highly +educated, could hope to identify that tune, it was admitted that Bony +was a graceful dancer. + +"He can wear spectacles and read a book, too," declared Sarah proudly, +"but I couldn't bring them!" + +Like all managers of celebrities she had begun to experience the +tyranny of the "props." + +"Well, you must have had a heap of patience," commented Warren +admiringly. "Can he do anything else, Sarah?" + +"Jump through a hoop," enumerated Sarah, "push a doll carriage and walk +around carrying a doll like a baby--I broke two of Shirley's china +dolls, teaching him that trick, but she doesn't know it yet. And, oh, +yes, he can sweep--with a toy broom--and play a toy piano." + +"So that's where all Shirley's toys have gone to!" Rosemary tried to +speak severely, but she ended by laughing. "Shirley has been missing +her playthings, one after the other," Rosemary explained to the boys. +"And we thought she took them outdoors to play with and forgot where +she left them." + +"After supper to-night," said Sarah, calmly ignoring this disclosure, +"I'll give an exhibition in the barn." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WILLING AND OBLIGING + +Sarah was as good as her word. She not only assembled the entire +Rainbow Hill family in the barn that evening and put Bony through his +paces, but she continued to give "exhibitions" whenever and wherever +she could assemble an audience of one or more. Eventually she took +Bony over to the Gay farm and delighted the children there who thought +he was absolutely the most clever pig they had ever seen and Sarah the +most wonderful trainer. + +The fame of Bony spread abroad and gradually Sarah's family grew +accustomed to having a horse and wagon drive in, usually with a couple +of empty milk cans rattling around in the back showing that the driver +was on his way home from the daily trip to the creamery; and to hearing +a knock at the door, followed by a voice asking, "Is the little girl +in--the one with the pig?" + +Answered in the affirmative, the inevitable request would be: "Do you +think she would mind letting me see him do tricks? They tell me, down +to the creamery" (or at the store or the postoffice) "that he is sure a +smart pig." + +These requests pleased Sarah immensely. She, would sally forth +importantly and rout Bony out of his comfortable box, present him as +one would introduce a famous artist and put him through his program. +The audience never failed to be pleased and grateful and to be generous +with praises. Warren declared that there was small danger of Bony ever +forgetting his accomplishments for hardly a day passed that he wasn't +"billed to appear." + +But before Bony attained this place in the limelight, Doctor Hugh and +Jack Welles arrived for their promised two weeks' visit and vacation. +Even her marvelous pig could not hope to compete with these arrivals +and Sarah's interest in Bony slackened slightly though she kept him +rigorously in training. + +The doctor and Jack came in the former's car. It was difficult to say +whose disappointment was keenest when Jack announced that he intended +to sleep at the bungalow and eat at Mr. Hildreth's table--Mrs. Willis, +Winnie and Rosemary were equally dismayed. + +"Jack dear, I thought of course you'd live with us," protested Mrs. +Willis. "You know we'll love to have you and I'm afraid you won't be +comfortable at the bungalow." + +"It won't be any kind of a vacation for you," declared Rosemary. +"You'll have to get up at five o'clock because they have breakfast at +six; and Mrs. Hildreth won't let you put a book or a paper out of +place--Richard says so." + +"I'm not saying anything against her cooking," pronounced Winnie, +through the screen door, where she had been drawn by the argument. +"But I tell you this in all honesty, Jack Welles; Mrs. Hildreth puts +too much salt in her oatmeal, to my way of thinking, and she skimps on +the shortening in her pie crust." + +Jack glanced across the porch at Doctor Hugh, who was seated in the +swing with Rosemary. + +"This isn't a vacation, you know," said Jack mildly. "I've hired out, +at wages, and I'm to go to work to-morrow morning. And it is in the +agreement that Mr. Hildreth is to 'board and lodge' me." + +"Well, you can work for him and live here with us, too," suggested +Rosemary comfortably. "Can't he, Mother?" + +"It's ever so nice of you to want me," said Jack, "but you see, I've +figured out that I want the complete experience; I want to get up when +the other hired men do and eat breakfast when they do--Winnie wouldn't +like to get me a six o'clock breakfast for the next two weeks--and I +wouldn't let her, if she did." + +"Richard doesn't think you'll stick it out for the whole two weeks," +offered the placid Sarah, looking up from the book she was sharing with +Shirley on the grass rug. "He said so." + +Jack flushed, Doctor Hugh looked annoyed and Mrs. Willis sighed. +Sarah's remarks usually aroused varied emotions. + +"I think Jack is quite right," said the doctor firmly, before anyone +could speak. "He wants to see this thing through and while he knows +I'd like first rate to have him stay here at the house, I think he'd be +handicapped from the start. There'll be the evenings left him, anyway, +and Sundays--two of them at least." + +"You must come to us for Sunday dinner," planned Mrs. Willis instantly. +"I'll ask Richard and Warren, too; Winnie has wanted me to for some +time, but there never seemed to be a mutually convenient time." + +So Jack took his suit case over to the bungalow and was introduced to +the little room next to the one shared by Warren and Richard. He had +met Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth on one of his trips to Rainbow Hill with +Doctor Hugh, but he had not seen Warren and Richard till this afternoon. + +The three boys shook hands pleasantly. Jack was the youngest by a +couple of years and not so deeply tanned; though, being an active lad +and fond of outdoor sports, he had acquired a coat of brown since the +closing of school. But he felt, looking at the other two, that he +lacked their muscular advantage and a certain hardness that bespoke +sturdy endurance. + +"I'm ready to go to work," said Jack, in response to a question from +Mr. Hildreth. "I've brought overalls and I'm said to be willing and +obliging." + +Richard grinned and Warren's gray eyes smiled. + +"Well, I hope you'll tumble up early in the morning," observed the +farmer, his mind busy already with the next day's work. "We're going +to start picking tomatoes for the cannery." + +There wasn't much thrill about the persistent ringing of the alarm +clock the next morning and Jack turned over with a groan. The dial +said five o'clock, though he was sure he had not been asleep longer +than two hours. + +"Morning," was Mr. Hildreth's brief greeting when he met his new hand +at the back door. "Glad to see you made it. Warren's your boss--he +knows what has to be done. You'll find him out in the barn, milking." + +Even a careless observer--and Jack was not that--would have been struck +with the dewy freshness of the grass and shrubbery and the magnificent +splendor of the Eastern sky; and Jack, on his way to the barn, drew a +deep breath of something like contentment. + +"Not so bad," he thought, beginning to whistle. "Not so bad, after +all." + +Warren glanced up from his milking, his eyes cordial, his busy hands +continuing their task. + +"Mr. Hildreth said you're my boss," said Jack directly. "What do you +want me to do?" + +"You can't milk, can you?" replied Warren. "No, of course, you haven't +been around cows. Richard is feeding and cleaning the horses--you +might help him." + +Jack was inclined to remember the remark Sarah had attributed to +Richard, but five minutes spent in that cheerful youth's company were +enough to dispel any faint resentment he might feel. Richard liked to +chatter and he liked to sing and whistle; and while he showed Jack what +constituted a proper breakfast for a horse and how these useful beasts +should be groomed, he kept up a running fire of comment and +good-natured musical effort that made up in volume what it lacked in +depth. By the time Warren's pails were full and the barn work done, +the three boys were on a friendly footing and they marched into +breakfast to the tune of "There Were Three Crows Sat in a Tree." + +Jack could have found it in his heart to wish that Mrs. Hildreth might +think less of time and more of passing comfort. The dining-room of the +bungalow was fully furnished, but the farmer's wife used it only on +state occasions. It made less work, she said, to eat in the kitchen +and she could "get through" a meal more rapidly and take fewer steps +when those to be served were close to the stove. + +It fell to the lot of Jack to be close to the stove this morning and he +gave a momentary sigh for the coolness and order and daintiness that he +knew would give atmosphere to the breakfast in Mrs. Willis' household. +Not that he minded eating in the kitchen--he and his mother often did +that when his father was away and thought it a lark; but he did mind +the heat and the haste and the silence in which this, his first meal +with the Hildreths, was consumed. + +"Ready?" said Warren briefly, when they had finished, leading the way +to the barn. + +They had been working in the barnyard and vegetable garden for an hour +and were on their way to the tomato field--it was necessary to wait for +the heavy dew to dry before they began to work among the vines--when +the Willis family gathered for their breakfast at the round table set +on the porch this warm morning in Doctor Hugh's honor. + +"Hugh, will you come watch me wade in the brook?" asked Shirley, eating +her cereal as though hypnotized and quite forgetting to protest that +she didn't see why she had to drink milk. + +"You wait till you see Bony, Hugh," Sarah told him. "He's the best pig +you ever saw. He's bright." + +"I wish, if you have time, Hugh," said Rosemary, "you'd show me what is +the matter with the camera. Every picture I take is overexposed." + +"For mercy's sake, let your brother rest," Winnie admonished them, +bringing in a plate of fresh Parker House rolls. "He only gets a bit +of a breathing spell and he doesn't want to race from one end of this +farm to the other. Take that large brown one, Hughie." + +Mrs. Willis, behind the silver coffee pot, smiled at her son. + +"Best rolls I ever ate, Winnie," he said appreciatively. "I'll bet if +Mr. Greggs' wife could make rolls like these he'd be a sweeter-tempered +carpenter. I'm going to have the finest of vacations and rest +thoroughly by going everywhere with everybody. I'll watch you wade, +Shirley; and I'll give Sarah my opinion of this remarkable pig; +Rosemary and I will 'snap' the whole farm. But I wish it distinctly +understood that Mother and I have an unbreakable engagement to take a +drive every afternoon, or just after dinner, as she prefers." + +"And won't you have to go see any sick people at all?" demanded +Shirley, almost upsetting her glass of milk in the excitement of having +a brother with time to spare. + +"I left word with Mrs. Welles that I'd answer emergency calls, of +course," explained Doctor Hugh, answering his mother's unspoken +question. "I've arranged it so I won't have to go the hospital and, +barring the unforeseen, I can count on a free fortnight. So we'll hope +there won't be any sick people to go see, Shirley." + +"Where are you going, Rosemary?" the doctor hailed her as she and Sarah +started down the lawn after breakfast was over. + +"We thought we'd go down and see Jack," called Rosemary. + +Doctor Hugh pushed open the screen door and came down the steps. + +"Let Jack get his bearings first," he advised. "There is bound to be a +number of new experiences for him this initial day and I think it will +be kinder to let him get adjusted to his job. He'll be up this evening +and you and Mother can play for him and cheer him up generally." + +"Why--why--will he need cheering up?" Rosemary looked so startled that +her brother laughed. + +"Not precisely cheering up, perhaps," he said, "but a mental and +physical rest. Jack is bound to have sore muscles, after a long day +bending over tomato crates; he thinks he knows what it means to work, +but he has never worked in his life as he will now. And I don't know, +but I suspect, he may have a sore mind; Jack has never worked for +anyone and he must learn to be 'bossed.' All in all, Rosemary, I'd put +off going down to the tomato field till to-morrow." + +"Well--all right," agreed Rosemary reluctantly. "I do think he might +have stayed with us and then he would have had a better time." + +"If we're not going down to the field, I'll go get Bony and take him +down to the brook," said Sarah, quick to seize her advantage. "I can +wash him while Shirley goes wading." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A NEW FRIEND + +They spent the morning down at the brook. Shirley was enchanted to be +allowed to help build a dam--the height of his ambition, Doctor Hugh +whimsically told them. Shirley paddled around in the brook and brought +him stones and he laid them in a chain that made a crude dam, both +getting very warm and very wet and having a thoroughly enjoyable time +of it. + +Rosemary had brought the camera and snapped a dozen poses of the +sunny-haired Shirley as she gamboled about with her skirts tucked up to +her waist, looking like a particularly chubby elf. Doctor Hugh had +done something to the camera that would, Rosemary was sure, correct her +tendency to overexpose a film and the results fully justified her +faith; whether it was due to his manipulation of the "innards" of the +camera or his instructions to her, the prints were exceptionally good +and clear. + +Sarah, of course, devoted her morning to scrubbing the pig. The +doctor's shouts of laughter could not persuade her to curtail the +ceremony in the slightest detail. She had brought soap and towels and +brush with her and she gravely scrubbed and rinsed and dried Bony and +put him out in the sun to dry. + +"He'll bake," protested Doctor Hugh, when, the pig's bath finished, +Sarah arranged him on a dry towel in the sun. "You'll have roast pork, +Sarah, if you're not careful." + +"No I won't," answered Sarah confidently, straightening the pig's legs +for him since he did not offer to move. + +"Can't he even grunt?" demanded Doctor Hugh who had never seen an +animal so willing to be waited upon. + +"Of course he can grunt--" Sarah was indignant. "He can do anything." + +"When the sun dries him on that side, she'll turn him over on the +other," whispered Rosemary. "You'll see." + +The dam was built, the roll of films used up and Bony dry and +immaculate by the time Winnie rang the bell to tell them that lunch was +ready. + +"We must have a picnic," said Doctor Hugh as they went up to the house, +he carrying Shirley, who objected to putting on her socks and sandals, +and Sarah carrying the pig with almost as much care. "I haven't been +to a picnic in years." + +That afternoon he carried his mother off for a drive in the car, and +the three girls were left to their own devices. Rosemary's natural +inclination was to find Jack and ask him how his day was going, but +mindful of her brother's advice, she resolved to wait. She was playing +jack stones with Shirley and Sarah when Mrs. Hildreth came hurrying +across the lawn. + +"Rosemary," she said, fanning her flushed face with her apron, "I +wonder if you'd do me a favor. All the men are busy and I couldn't ask +them to drop their work for such a trifle; and I have to grease the +chickens for lice, so I can't go myself." + +Mrs. Hildreth always seemed to choose the hottest days for the most +unlovely tasks, reflected Rosemary, but Sarah held a different opinion. + +"I'll come hold 'em for you, Mrs. Hildreth," she offered, rising in +such haste that she almost knocked Shirley off the step. "I love to +see you grease chickens!" + +"All right, I do need somebody to help me," said Mrs. Hildreth +gratefully. "Rosemary, Miss Clinton telephoned me this morning she +wanted a dozen fresh eggs--why do they always say 'fresh eggs'?" she +broke off irritably. "'Tisn't likely I'd go out and get her a dozen +stale eggs, even if I could find 'em. Well, she wants them this +afternoon and I hate to disappoint her. She's kind of used to getting +what she wants and everybody feels sorry for her. I know you like to +walk and when I saw your mother and brother going off in the car, I +says, 'Maybe she won't mind walking over there for me, having nothing +else to do.'" + +"I'll go," said Rosemary pleasantly, "but where does this Miss Clinton +live?" + +Mrs. Hildreth gave minute directions for finding the house. It was +close to the road, the same road that went past the Gay farm, but in +the opposite direction. It wasn't over a quarter of a mile and +Rosemary was to knock on the door and when someone called "Come in" to +lift the latch and enter. + +"I'll take Shirley with me," said Rosemary, "and you'll tell Winnie, +won't you, Mrs. Hildreth? She went down to the mail box at the +cross-roads to mail a letter and she'll wonder where we are when she +comes back." + +Mrs. Hildreth promised to tell Winnie and she and Sarah departed to +begin their war on the chicken pests while Rosemary and Shirley set off +to follow the back road to the little yellow house where Miss Clinton +lived. + +They found it without difficulty, knocked and heard someone call "Come +in," just as Mrs. Hildreth had predicted. + +"How do you do?" said the same voice when they stepped directly into a +large square room. "I'm very glad to see you." + +A very tiny old lady sat in a wheel chair in the center of the room. +Her skin was almost as yellow as the paint on the house and +considerably more wrinkled. She had bright black eyes that reminded +Rosemary of a bird and little, eager claw-like hands that were +strangely bird-like, too. She beamed at the girls, plainly delighted +to have company. + +"I'm glad you came," she said when Rosemary had given her the eggs and +explained they were from Rainbow Hill. "Mrs. Hildreth told me the +Hammonds rented their house this summer. Sit down and we'll talk. Let +the little girl play with the toys in the cabinet--she won't hurt 'em." + +The cabinet stood in one corner of the room and was well stocked with +toys, some new, some well-worn. Shirley sat down on the floor and +amused herself contentedly while Miss Clinton kept up a running fire of +comment till Rosemary's wrist watch showed half-past four. + +"I wish you'd come see me again," said the old lady wistfully. "I get +lonesome for someone to talk to. I get around pretty good in this +chair and I have lots of books and papers to read; but I like to talk +and summers everyone is so busy they don't think to drop in." + +"I'll drop in," promised Rosemary impulsively. "Mother would come to +see you, too, but she couldn't walk this far; perhaps Hugh, my brother, +will bring her some day." + +"Let me have my knitting, if you're really going," said Miss Clinton +regretfully. "It's there in that basket beside you. That's my sixth +bedspread, or will be, when I get it finished." + +"What beautiful work!" exclaimed Rosemary as the old lady spread the +knitted square over her knee. "How fine it is--isn't it very +difficult?" + +"Not a bit," Miss Clinton assured her. "I do it when my eyes get tired +of reading print. I'll teach you how to make a spread, if you'll come +see me now and then," she offered quickly. "They tell me they're worth +seventy-five dollars apiece but I never sell mine; I give them to +relatives and friends." + +Rosemary and Shirley said good by and were half way down the path when +the door was opened and Miss Clinton called after them: + +"Bring the little girl with you, too; I'll get her something new to +play with when she gets tired of the cabinet toys." + +"Rosemary," said Shirley, skipping happily--she seldom walked, her +brother said, but ran or hopped her way along--"Rosemary, what is +there?" + +"Where?" said Rosemary, puzzled. + +"_There,_" insisted Shirley, pointing behind her. + +"Why, nothing--except Miss Clinton's house--you know that, Shirley," +replied Rosemary. + +"No, not Miss Clinton's house," said Shirley, shaking her head. "Next +to that, Rosemary." + +"You mean around the curve?" asked Rosemary, for the road curved +sharply beyond the big maples that marked the line of Miss Clinton's +property. + +Shirley nodded. + +"What is there?" she repeated. + +"I don't know, dear," Rosemary admitted. "I've never been that far. +Do you want to go and see? We have time, I think." + +Shirley slipped a small hand into her sister's. + +"Let's go," she said eagerly. + +Rosemary had often felt a curiosity to know what was beyond a bend in a +road, but she never remembered making a deliberate attempt to gratify +that feeling. Shirley, having been made curious, had no mind to go +away unsatisfied. + +They turned and walked back, Rosemary hoping the little old lady might +not see them. But she was nowhere in sight and was, in all +probability, absorbed in her knitting. + +"Maybe the three bears live around the corner," suggested Shirley, +beginning to regret her curiosity as they neared the turn. + +"The Big Bear and the Middle Bear and the Little Bear?" said Rosemary. +"I wonder if they do? In a cunning little house, Shirley, with three +beds and three porridge bowls--wouldn't that be fun?" + +Shirley pressed closer. She preferred to hear about the three bears, +rather than meet them face to face. + +A few minutes' walk brought them to the curve and around it--and there +was a vegetable stand; almost a small market, with fruits and garden +produce attractively displayed and a number of boldly painted signs +announcing that fresh eggs and dressed poultry were for sale on +specified days of the week. + +"Is it a store?" asked Shirley, much interested. + +"It's like a store," Rosemary told her. "I remember Hugh was telling +Mother something about this plan the other night. He said that down on +the shore road he saw lots and lots of stands, when he spent his +summers at Seapoint. And he was wondering why some of the farmers +inland didn't do this--sell to people who have automobiles." + +"Do people come and buy?" asked Shirley, staring at the tomatoes as +though she had never seen that homely vegetable before. + +"Yes, they come out in their cars, from Bennington and further away, I +suppose," said Rosemary. "And they buy all this stuff fresh and take +it home with them. I wonder who takes care of the stand?" + +A sharp, thin, freckled face rose slowly from behind the tiers of +baskets and a reedy voice announced, "I do--want to buy anything?" + +Rosemary jumped. She had not known there was anyone near. Now she saw +the owner of the freckled face was a girl, a few years older than +herself. + +"Do you take care of the stand?" Rosemary asked, smiling her friendly +smile. + +The freckle-faced one nodded. + +"That's my job summers," she confided. "Winters I'm studying. I'm +going to be a school teacher. What are you going to be?" + +Rosemary pulled Shirley back from a contemplated investigation of a +basket of early pears. + +"Why--I don't believe I know," she answered the question. "I've +thought of being a nurse--my brother Hugh is a doctor; or I might be a +music teacher." + +"I'm going to teach school," the other girl declared again. "I'm going +to have some pretty dresses and go to the city every Saturday, if I +have a mind to. What's your name?" + +"Rosemary Willis," Rosemary answered meekly. "This is my sister, +Shirley." + +"I'm Edith Barrow," the girl announced. "I don't live here, except in +summer. I help Mr. and Mrs. Mains--know them?" + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"We're here for the summer," she replied. + +"Renters," said Edith Barrow as though that catalogued the Willis +family as perhaps it did. "Well, when I'm going to school I live with +my aunt. She boards students. I don't suppose you're in high school +yet?" + +"Don't touch those onions, Shirley," Rosemary warned. "No, I'm not in +high school--not for a year. In June I'll graduate from the Eastshore +grammar school," she explained. + +"Do you like keeping store?" asked Shirley, who had kept still longer +than usual. She may have thought it was her turn to ask questions. + +"This isn't a store--it's a stand," Edith corrected her. "Yes, I like +it well enough. I took in twelve dollars yesterday. You have to be +good at arithmetic to make change; that's why Mr. Mains likes me to be +out here. Mrs. Mains can't tell how much money to give back when she +gets a bill from a customer." + +"Have you any candy?" was Shirley's next query. + +"Not a bit," Edith Barrow answered. "Only things that are good for you +to eat. Candy makes you sick. Did you know that?" + +Rosemary couldn't help thinking that, young as she was, Edith already +talked like a school teacher. + +"Like the fussy kind," Rosemary emended to herself. + +"Here comes a car now," said the young saleswoman suddenly. "They're +going to stop--I know them. I hope they'll want tomatoes today. We +haven't much else." + +"We'll have to go," Rosemary declared hastily. "Good by--say good by, +Shirley." + +"She isn't looking at me," complained Shirley and indeed Edith was +centering her attention on the coming car and her thoughts were +evidently all for the approaching sale. + +"Jack would say she was chasing success," Rosemary told herself smiling +as she took Shirley's hand and led her away. + +Doctor Hugh and his mother were on the porch when Rosemary and Shirley +reached the house, but Sarah was nowhere in sight. When a few minutes +later she walked out among them, radiantly clean, attired in fresh tan +linen, her shining dark hair neatly brushed, her family welcomed her +with delighted surprise. + +"How nice you look!" said her mother appreciatively. + +"I wish you could have seen her half an hour ago," announced Winnie +from the doorway. + +Her words were in direct opposition to her desire, for she went on to +say that she had met Sarah as the latter came from the chicken yard. + +"She was grease from head to foot," pronounced Winnie, while Sarah sat +down on the rug and looked innocent. "You'd have thought, to look at +her, that Mrs. Hildreth had been greasing her and not the chickens; +there were feathers in her hair and dirt ground into her face and +hands, and she must have been sitting in the dust pile where the +chickens scratch. I had to give her a bath and change every stitch of +her clothes, because I was afraid you wouldn't know her. And if dinner +is late to-night, you can thank Sarah Baton Willis." + +"I'll come set the table." offered Rosemary, jumping up. + +As she laid the knives and forks, she told Winnie about her visit to +Miss Clinton. + +"I know her," declared Winnie, slicing bread--she had fastened back the +communicating door between the kitchen and the dining-room. "At least +I know of her; Mrs. Hildreth was telling me the other day. She's a +woman who likes company--that's all she wants and all she doesn't get, +summer times at least. I never saw a neighborhood like this one--I +don't believe any of the farmers dare die in July or August for fear +their friends couldn't stop farming long enough to come to the funeral." + +Rosemary giggled. + +"Is she poor, Winnie?" she asked with frank curiosity. + +"My, no, not that I have heard tell of," answered Winnie. "She has an +income of her own and plenty of relatives, scattered hereabouts. I +believe a niece comes and stays with her during the winter months--her +brother's daughter. Mrs. Hildreth was telling me that she writes +hundreds of letters--though I guess she can't write as many as +that--and she wheels herself out to the mail box and back in that chair +and washes dishes and everything, sitting in it. But summers she gets +fearfully lonesome. The neighbors run in a good deal in the winter and +hold sewing-circle meetings there, but they haven't time to bother in +the growing season." + +"She had toys in a cabinet--Shirley played with them and she said she'd +get her some more if she tired of those," said Rosemary, placing the +chairs. "Do many children go see her, Winnie?" + +"Mrs. Hildreth told me she keeps those toys to amuse the children who +may come visiting with their mothers," explained Winnie. "Miss Clinton +figured that if the children had something to play with they wouldn't +be in a hurry to go home. Downright pathetic, I call it, to be so +hungry for someone to talk to that you try to bribe people to stay a +little longer." + +"I'm going to see her," Rosemary said, as she filled the water glasses. +"I told her I'd come--it isn't far to go and I have plenty of time. +Can I do anything more, Winnie?" + +"Nothing except to tell your mother dinner is ready," was Winnie's +grateful reply. "You are the handiest child, sometimes, Rosemary, and +I declare I don't know how I should have got dinner on the table +to-night without a bit of a lift. I hate to be late, too, when Hughie +is here." + +"I hope Jack comes up to talk to-night," said Rosemary as they sat down +at the table. "I want to know if it is fun to earn your own living. +I'm going to try it myself some day." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JACK--HIRED MAN + +It wasn't all fun, Jack assured her when, soon after dinner, he came +toiling up the grass path and mounted the porch steps wearily. + +"I never was so tired in my life," he declared. "Gee, I thought I was +'hard' enough--I've been fishing lots since school closed and that +isn't a lazy man's work especially if you wade upstream. I've hiked +miles and I've worked in the garden at home; but at this minute I have +three hundred and ninety-eight muscles creaking in my machinery that I +never knew before existed." + +Doctor Hugh tossed him an extra sofa cushion and Jack stuffed it behind +his back as he sat in one of the comfortable wicker chairs. + +"Where's Richard and Warren?" demanded Sarah. "I want to tell them +about greasing the chickens. Jack, did you ever grease chickens?" + +"Now look here, Sarah," protested Doctor Hugh hastily, "we've listened +to the unsavory details of that process once and not even for Jack's +sake can we go through it again. Besides, Jack has a recital of his +own; you come sit with me and we'll listen to an agricultural lecture." + +Sarah and Shirley both rushed to accept the invitation and after some +skirmishing managed to squeeze into the one big chair. + +"Warren and Richard have gone down to the brook," reported Jack. "Mr. +Hildreth thinks someone from town is gigging there nights and they want +to keep a watch. I haven't enough ambition to catch a worm, let alone +a gigger." + +"What's gigging?" cried Sarah, twisting about so that she placed her +feet in Rosemary's lap. + +"Gigging is fishing at night," said Jack briefly. "I'll show you +sometime--when I can bend my knees again." + +Doctor Hugh adroitly shifted the wandering feet by turning Sarah back +to her original position. + +"The first day is always the hardest," he said encouragingly. "You +will live through to-morrow, if that's any comfort, Jack." + +"Well, of course, I'm not complaining," Jack declared. "I don't expect +to pick roses--ouch!--and I won't grunt. But that tomato field must be +twenty miles long!" + +Rosemary played for him presently and Mrs. Willis brought out the drop +cakes she had "saved" for him, and before it was nine o'clock--his +self-imposed bed-time--Jack felt more cheerful in spirit if not in +muscle. + +But the days that followed tested his spirit severely. It was, as +Doctor Hugh had said, an entirely new experience for him to work for +anyone else and to work straight through a hot summer day with a brief +noon hour and no free time planned. There were even a number of chores +to be done after supper. "Vacation" to Jack had hitherto meant long, +cloudless days with leisure to read lazily in the hammock, or go +swimming when he pleased and license to grumble when his father +suggested that a little weeding would do the garden no harm. + +It had not occurred to Jack, when he so blithely decided to hire out to +Mr. Hildreth, that he was contracting to give six days of labor--and +part of the seventh--as a week's work; he had not thought much about +it, but somewhere in the back of his mind there had been a hazy scheme +of affairs that included a day or two off, when it should be convenient +for him--free days which he would spend fishing with Doctor Hugh and +"playing around" with Rosemary and Sarah and Shirley. He was surprised +to find that fishing and kindred sports had no place on Warren and +Richard's schedule; work was a serious thing to them and in their +experience money was not to be easily earned. + +Jack said little, but an undercurrent of friction began to develop +between him and Warren though to do him justice Warren was more than +ordinarily thoughtful and ready to make every allowance for Jack's +inexperience. But naturally the issuing of orders fell to him and he +was made responsible for the volume of work accomplished each day. Mr. +Hildreth permitted no excuses for failure in tasks set and though +extremely just he had a shrewd and accurate knowledge of the time +required for each chore and the amount of finished work to be turned +out each hour. + +Jack and Richard "hit it off together" very well, too well, in fact; +they began to "fool," to skylark and, insensibly, waste time. When +Warren interfered it was in the role of kill-joy, a character he did +not fancy. When, on his return from driving a load of tomatoes to the +cannery one afternoon, instead of finding filled crates ready for a +second trip, he discovered that neither boy had picked a tomato and +that they had broken several crates and mashed a quantity of ripe +tomatoes in good-natured tussling. Warren spoke sharply and to the +point. He sent Jack to one end of a row and Richard to the other and +kept them separated the remainder of the afternoon. + +The team was another grievance. Jack was sure he could be trusted to +drive Solomon and his mate to the cannery and back and this hauling +afforded a welcome break in a monotonous day. But Mr. Hildreth flatly +refused to allow Jack to handle the horses and either he or Warren made +the twice a day trip to the Center. + +"I'll quit to-morrow," said Jack desperately, night after night. + +And in the morning he would decide to stick it out another day. + +Twice he went to sleep in his chair on the porch of the little white +house, waking to find that Mrs. Hildreth and the girls had gone to bed +and left Doctor Hugh, reading quietly under the lamp, to keep him +company. + +"Nothing to be ashamed of," said the doctor when Jack stammered his +apology. "After a day of honest toil, Nature's going to exact her +toll. You'll be as hard as nails, Jack, if you keep this up." + +The girls soon accepted the idea that Jack was not free to go about +with them and made their plans without including him. Rosemary went +nearly every day to see Miss Clinton, on some pretext or other, and +Shirley often accompanied her. Rosemary was rapidly learning to knit +the blocks for a bedspread with which she intended to surprise her +mother. Sarah gave most of her time and attention to Bony, but she +also visited the Gays though, in the excitement and pleasure of having +Doctor Hugh at their beck and call, it is to be regretted that the Gay +family were left more to themselves than Rosemary or her sisters +intended. + +Jack's irritation culminated in the second week of his contract. True +to her promise, Mrs. Willis had asked the three boys to Sunday dinner +and, under the mellowing influence of Winnie's best cooking and the +friendly atmosphere of the little white house, the tension had relaxed +and the afternoon spent on the porch had been restful for at least +three of the group and happy for all. + +"I'm going fishing to-morrow," announced Doctor Hugh, a night or two +later. "The alarm clock is set for four and I'm coming home when the +last nibble plays me false." + +"Care if I go along?" said Jack impulsively. "I haven't had a bit of +fishing since I've been here. I brought my rod and tackle in case I +had a chance, but I haven't unpacked them yet." + +The creak of the swing ceased suddenly. Warren had been swaying back +and forth gently in the darkness. + +"Why--no--come along, if it's all right," said the doctor, after a +moment's hesitation. + +"I'll meet you at the barn," promised Jack. "Gee, it will seem good to +take a day off." + +Still Warren said nothing. The three boys had said good night and +walked almost to bungalow before he spoke. + +"Are you really planning to go fishing tomorrow, Jack?" he asked +quietly. + +"Of course," said Jack shortly. + +"What about the work?" + +"One day out won't wreck the crops," hazarded Jack. + +"Don't stand here arguing all night," urged Richard. "Come on--I'm +going to bed." + +Warren paid no attention and continued to address Jack. + +"If you don't turn out in the morning I'll know you've quit," he said. + +"I'm not fired till Mr. Hildreth says so," angrily retorted Jack. + +"You work to-morrow, or you're through," declared Warren, a steel edge +to his voice. "I'm bossing this job and it doesn't happen to be one +that can wait anyone's personal convenience." + +They tramped upstairs to their rooms, Jack inwardly seething. He took +off one shoe and hurled it across the bed as a relief to his feelings. + +He'd show Warren Baker! It was a pity if a fellow had to ask him every +time he wanted a few hours to himself--he didn't have to have money, +anyway--he'd let the old job slide. He had come up voluntarily to +"hire out" and he didn't intend to be treated like a day laborer. + +The other shoe followed the first. + +Richard had said he wouldn't "stick it out" for two weeks. Perhaps he +ought not to quit with the time so nearly gone. Mr. Hildreth would, of +course, uphold Warren. He would hate to be left short-handed in such +beautiful picking weather, but he would not condone a fishing trip. +And there was his record--Jack was secretly rather proud of that; he +and Richard were keeping count of the number of crates each picked +daily and Jack had high hopes of outdistancing Richard before the end +of the week. Maybe he might stay his week out--just to show Richard! + +Doctor Hugh waited twenty minutes for Jack the next morning, then +rightly concluded that he had changed his mind. Warren, meeting Jack +in the barn at the usual hour, said "good morning" pleasantly, but Jack +merely gave a curt nod. He might be working, but there was no reason +why he should pretend to like it, he said to himself childishly. + +He went about his chores jerkily, still "sore" as Richard described it +and, as industrial statistics demonstrate, ill temper lowers our guard; +another time Jack might have been more careful, but this morning he +caught his finger on a nail in the harness room and tore an ugly gash +down its brown length. + +He said nothing about the accident, washed the cut as well as he could +and went doggedly to work after breakfast at the interminable rows of +tomatoes. + +Doctor Hugh and his car returned with a most respectable "catch" about +four o'clock that afternoon and the lucky fisherman suggested that +company be asked to dinner to enjoy the fish. + +"I never saw such acting boys--never!" scolded Rosemary, who had +volunteered to be the messenger. "They won't any of them come! Warren +said he was too tired to talk to anyone and Jack said 'No'--just like +that--he is too cross for words! And then Richard said if they were +going to act like ninnies he wasn't going to come and make excuses for +them, so he said 'No thank you,' too." + +"Jack has a sore finger," said Sarah wisely. "I heard Richard tell him +he ought to take care of it and Jack told him to mind his own affairs." + +"Well, it's been a warm day and perhaps they're entitled to be cross," +said Doctor Hugh pacifically. "We'll send Mrs. Hildreth three of the +fish and if she fries them as well as Winnie does, there may be a peace +treaty signed." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A LITTLE GIRL LOST + +Mrs. Hildreth may not have been as good a cook as Winnie. Whatever the +reason, no one came whistling up from the bungalow after dinner to +suggest "Let's hear 'Old Black Joe,'" or to offer to play a game of +croquet. Presently Doctor Hugh announced that he was going to walk +down to see Jack, and Rosemary went with him. Sarah and Shirley were, +with some difficulty, persuaded to remain behind. + +"Nobody home," was Richard's disconsolate greeting as he rose from the +porch railing. "Mr. Hildreth has gone across fields to borrow some +more crates and Mrs. Hildreth is setting bread in the kitchen. Warren +has gone to the Center and Jack is nursing a grouch upstairs." + +"Well, I came to see Jack," said the doctor. "I'll go up in a minute." + +"He and Warren are on the outs," declared Richard frankly. "Each one +thinks he is a Roman candle." + +"How perfectly horrid of Warren!" said Rosemary hotly. + +"Warren?" echoed the bewildered Richard. "What has Warren done to you?" + +"He hasn't done anything to me--" Rosemary's color began to rise. +"But I don't think he is one bit fair to Jack." + +Before Richard could argue this, the door opened and Jack came out. He +had heard voices and perhaps wished to discourage the intention of the +doctor to come up and see him. He sat down on the opposite side of the +step from Rosemary and her brother and put one hand carelessly behind +him. + +"Hello!" he said grumpily. + +"Say, those fish were fine," declared Richard, feeling his +responsibility as host, since Jack did not seem moved to speech. "They +were so fresh, I could almost see 'em leaping out of the brook. You +must have had good luck." + +"First-rate," said the doctor. "Sorry you couldn't come up to the +house for dinner, Rich." + +"Well, I could have come," admitted Richard cautiously, "but I'm no +good presenting regrets for others. Warren and Jack were peeved--" + +"You needn't make any excuses for me," interrupted Jack coldly, holding +up a throbbing hand behind his back. + +"See?" said Richard with a gesture of despair. "What could a fellow +do? And I'll bet Winnie cooks fish so you never forget it." + +"She's a good cook," Doctor Hugh conceded. + +Richard sighed. He wished Rosemary felt more talkative. In his +anxiety to entertain his guests, he stumbled on a sore subject. + +"I used to go fishing pretty often myself," he said pleasantly. "The +first year we were in college, Warren and I went off by ourselves +nearly every Saturday afternoon. We made friends with the State +wardens and they told us a lot of useful things. Once we saw them +stock a stream--that was great. Ever see that, Jack?" + +"No," snapped Jack, "and I'm not likely to; the only thing I'll know by +the end of this summer will be how many cans of tomatoes the Goldenrod +Canning Company has packed this year." + +"How do they stock a stream?" asked Rosemary, her curiosity unloosening +her tongue. + +"Oh, they have thousands of baby fish and they ladle 'em out like so +much fine gold," said Richard. "And we saw them net a pond once for +carp--I wish I had more time to play around. Perhaps when Warren and I +get our own farm we can carry out a few ideas of ours." + +"What's that you're going to do when you get your own farm, Richard?" +asked Mrs. Hildreth, coming out on the porch, looking warm and tired. +"I declare, every summer I say I'll have the baker stop here," she +added. "I get so sick of baking my own bread when it's warm." + +She did not sit down, but stood poised on the top step. Jack who had +risen with the rest, kept one hand stiffly away from his body. + +"What were you saying, Richard?" asked Mrs. Hildreth again. + +"Oh, I was day-dreaming I guess," Richard answered. "I said that when +Warren and I have our own farm, perhaps we'll have time to do some of +the things we have always wanted to do." + +Mrs. Hildreth mopped her flushed face with a handkerchief of generous +size. + +"Well, you won't," she prophesied. "I never knew anyone who lived on a +farm to have a minute's time for anything but the hardest kind of work. +Even in winter when the crops are in, there's wood to get out and cut +and the animals to be fed and bedded down and the fires to look after +and paths to be opened and the milking to be done. It's one thing +after another, all the year round." + +Richard put one arm around the porch pillar. + +"It could be different," he insisted. "For instance, you could buy +bread--you just said so. That would save you some time." + +"Which I should feel duty-bound to use in canning more fruit," +countered Mrs. Hildreth promptly. "I'm not so keen on work, but the +way I'm made, I feel guilty if I waste a half hour." + +"It isn't wasting time to have a little enjoyment and leisure," Richard +declared doggedly. "Is it, Jack?" + +Jack a moment before had struck his hand against the porch railing, a +light tap, scarcely to be noticed. But his face was white as he turned +savagely on Richard. + +"Work is the only thing that counts and you know it," he said fiercely. +"The crops and the crops alone, are to be considered. If you kill +yourself getting them in, that's a small matter; next year someone else +will plant 'em again and perhaps kill himself, too." + +"Dear me, Jack, maybe you have a little touch of the sun," said Mrs. +Hildreth. "I think the doctor had better give you something to make +you sleep. You will, won't you, Doctor Willis?" the good woman urged +anxiously. + +"I'm all right," said Jack. + +"Well, I'm sure I hope so," she returned in a voice that was far from +sounding convinced. "Mr. Hildreth had a brother who had a sunstroke +once and he wasn't right for years. Were you working in a blaze +to-day, Jack?" + +"He wore a hat," said Richard quickly, fearful that Jack's scant supply +of patience would be utterly exhausted. "Besides, there was a breeze +in the afternoon. It wasn't a bad day at all, Mrs. Hildreth." + +"Don't you want to sit down, Mrs. Hildreth?" suggested Rosemary, +wondering how anyone could remain standing so long, after being on her +feet virtually all day. + +"No, I'm going down the road in a minute," Mrs. Hildreth answered. "I +want to ask Mrs. Tice about some new kind of rubber rings she got for +her jars. How much fruit did Winnie put up so far, Rosemary?" + +"Why--I don't believe I know," said Rosemary with a little laugh. "She +made jelly, I remember and she's been canning nearly every week; but I +don't know how many quarts or pints she has. Do you, Hugh?" + +"Never counted," acknowledged the doctor lazily. "I'll warrant Winnie +can tell you right off the reel, Mrs. Hildreth. She's proud of her +success--I heard her tell my mother so." + +"I'll step over and look at her shelves some day," promised Mrs. +Hildreth. "Dear me, I'm tired. But if I don't go to Bertha's now, +I'll never get there. Tell Mr. Hildreth I'll be right back, if he asks +you where I am." + +She went heavily down the steps and disappeared across the lawn. + +Richard dropped with an exaggerated thud. + +"Another minute and my ankles would have given out!" he declared. "And +she thinks it is work that tired her out." + +"Well, it is," said Rosemary. "She works from five in the morning till +nearly ten at night." + +"But she could rest, if she only knew how," Richard protested. + +"Ah, now you have it, Rich," said Doctor Hugh. "There's a great deal +in knowing how to rest." + +"There's no use in knowing how, when you can't rest if you want to," +Jack complained bitterly. + +"That isn't a very clear sentence, Jack," said the doctor. "Explain a +little, won't you?" + +"Oh, I'm tired," Jack declared ungraciously, "and there's nothing to +explain, anyway." + +The desultory conversation that followed was almost wholly between +Rosemary and Richard. Jack was curiously silent and Doctor Hugh, too, +seemed content to listen. Finally he rose. + +"We must be getting back," he said. "First though, I'll take a look at +your hand, Jack." + +"There's nothing the matter with it," countered Jack gruffly. + +"You act remarkably like Sarah," was Doctor Hugh's response to this. +"Come in where I can have a light and don't be foolish." + +Jack followed him sulkily and Rosemary and Richard watched while the +doctor unwound the cloth that bound the injured finger. The cut was an +angry-looking one. + +"Needs attention," Doctor Hugh commented briefly. "Do you want to come +up to the house with me, or shall I send Rosemary for the iodine +bottle?" + +Jack elected to remain where he was, and Rosemary sped away to get +bandages and antiseptics. Mrs. Hildreth's tea kettle was requisitioned +for a supply of hot water and then the doctor washed and dressed the +cut, Jack enduring the process gamely. + +"I won't knock off," he said defiantly as the last gauze fold was +fastened in place. "I'm going to pick tomatoes, if I have to do it +with my left hand." + +"You can use your hand, if you'll keep the bandages in place," the +doctor assured him. "I'll dress it again for you in the morning--and +don't let me have to send for you. When you have had breakfast, come +and get your hand attended to, before you go into the field." + +"He'll feel better now," he said to Rosemary as they walked slowly down +the road, extending their walk to enjoy the beauty of the summer +evening. "His finger was throbbing and beginning to fester and must +have given him great pain all day." + +"Here comes Warren," whispered Rosemary. + +Warren looked warm and tired. He stopped when he saw them and Rosemary +would have walked on with a short "Hello!" had not her brother's hand +upon her arm held her. + +"You've been down to the bungalow?" said Warren, after he had thanked +them for the fish and congratulated the fisherman on his luck. "I'm +sorry I missed you." + +"We went to see Jack," Rosemary informed him pointedly. "He's sick." + +"Jack sick?" Warren looked surprised and, though she would not have +admitted it, concerned. + +"Not sick--but he has rather a nasty cut on one finger," corrected +Doctor Hugh. "He'll be all right, if he follows directions." + +Warren's eyes were troubled. + +"I'm afraid he's having a tough time," he said regretfully. "I'm +sorry, but--" he left the sentence unfinished. + +The storm signals in Rosemary's expressive face were easily interpreted +by her brother. He said good night to Warren and they resumed their +walk. + +"Why didn't you say something, Hugh!" burst out Rosemary, hardly +waiting till they were beyond earshot. "Why didn't you tell him that +Jack is our friend and that Warren needn't think he can treat him like +that!" + +"I don't know that Jack is being treated 'like that,'" protested Doctor +Hugh whimsically. "You looked so like a thunder cloud, Rosemary, that +there was nothing left to be said." + +Rosemary jerked her arm free and faced him tempestuously. + +"I believe you're taking Warren's part!" she accused him. "How can +you? Anyway, I don't care what you do--Jack Welles is my friend!" + +"Jack is to be envied," said Doctor Hugh gently. "Though I wish, dear, +that you would learn to reason a little more quietly. You know I am +very fond of Jack--he is a splendid lad in many ways. So is Warren. +This quarrel between them will blow over--why Rosemary, you and Jack +have half a dozen quarrels a year and none of them are serious." + +But the next day matters remained in much the same uncomfortable state. +Jack reported obediently to have his finger dressed and refused--with +more vigor than courtesy--Warren's offer to release him from picking +for that day. Rosemary had a hot argument with Sarah, who perversely +upheld Warren's cause, and then quarreled with her brother, who would +not admit that Jack was a martyr. + +"We won't discuss it any further, Rosemary," he said at last. "As far +as I can judge, Warren is in the right and Jack is acting like a young +and obstinate donkey." + +The following afternoon Mrs. Willis went in to spend the night at the +Eastshore house and choose the wall paper for the new suite of rooms. +Doctor Hugh drove her in and was to drive her out the next morning. +Jack had just finished bedding down the horses that night, and was +wondering whether he had the energy to dress and go up to the little +white house, when he heard Rosemary's voice outside the barn. + +"Jack! Jack, where are you?" + +"Here!" Jack hurried into sight. "What's the matter?" he demanded +when he saw her face. + +"Sarah!" gasped Rosemary. "She didn't come in to supper and none of us +have seen her the entire afternoon. Winnie wanted to telephone Hugh, +but I am so afraid it will worry Mother." + +"Don't telephone!" commanded Jack. "She's somewhere on the place and +has forgotten to come in; let her get hungry and she'll turn up. But +we'll go find her and remind her it's after six o'clock." + +Jack's cheerful matter-of-fact acceptance of Sarah's absence was the +surest way to relieve the anxiety Winnie, as well as the girls, felt. +At once they assured each other that Sarah was playing somewhere on the +farm and had forgotten to come home. The discovery that Bony was also +missing bore out Jack's theory; Sarah and the pig were having a +beautiful time together. + +Leaving Winnie and the two girls to search the barn and outbuildings, +Jack hurried off to get reinforcements. He thought of Warren as a +tower of strength, cool, level-headed Warren who could manage any +situation. + +Warren and Richard had finished the last chore and were beginning to +change, when Jack burst unceremoniously into their room. + +"Warren!" he hurdled the wall of misunderstanding that had grown up +between them in one agile leap. "Warren, they say Sarah Willis is +lost. She didn't come home to supper. Mrs. Willis is in Eastshore +with Hugh to-night and we have to find Sarah without letting her mother +know." + +Warren agreed that Rainbow Hill was to be searched from one end to the +other. He and Richard and Jack went in different directions and Mr. +Hildreth took a fourth. Winnie stayed at the house, in case the lost +one returned, and Rosemary and Shirley went down to Miss Clinton's to +ask if Sarah had perhaps been there that afternoon. She had not and +when they came back Winnie put Shirley to bed for it was past her bed +hour and she was tired and sleepy. + +No trace of Sarah was found on the farm and no better luck was +encountered at the Gay farm, whither Jack went, or at the two nearest +neighbors, queried by Warren and Richard, cautiously, lest the alarm +spread and be relayed by the garrulous and unthinking to the little +mother. + +"Say, Warren," Jack stopped him as he was setting out again. "Old +Belle isn't in her pasture." + +"Old Belle!" + +"And the light runabout and one set of single harness is gone--I +looked." + +"That kid couldn't harness without help and get off this place--don't +tell me!" Warren's tone was half skeptical, half alarmed. + +"Sarah can do anything you don't expect her to do," declared Jack. +"Take it from me, that's what she has done this time. But how are we +to find out the direction she took?" + +"She'd go to Bennington," said Warren quickly. "If she had gone toward +Eastshore someone who knew her would have been sure to spot her; +besides, she is crazy about Bennington, always teasing to go with Hugh." + +Old Belle was the oldest horse on the farm, a shambling, half-blind +creature whose days of work had long been over. In summer she reveled +in clover pasture, and the warmest box stall and choicest oats were +hers in winter. Sarah had ridden her around the pasture a number of +times, but it had never occurred to anyone that she would attempt to +drive her. Indeed the boys had not known that Sarah knew how to +harness. + +Three pairs of willing hands quickly backed "Tony," Mr. Hildreth's +light driving horse, into the shafts of the buggy and, telling the +anxious Winnie and Rosemary that they would have good news for them +soon, they drove off toward Bennington, the county seat. + +They said little, but they were more worried than they cared to admit. +The highway was a state road and automobiles ran in both directions, +two fairly steady streams. It was dark by now and the glare of the +headlights might easily confuse an old, enfeebled horse and a little +girl whose driving skill was of the slightest. + +Warren drove and presently he pulled in the horse and gave the reins to +Jack. + +"I want to look at the road," he said, leaping lightly over the wheel +and turning his pocket flash light full on the dusty macadam. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +DOWN LINDEN ROAD + +"What is it?" asked Richard eagerly. + +"Yes, what is it?" urged Jack. + +Warren stooped and picked up something from the road. + +"A horse shoe," he said briefly. "One of Belle's--hers were old and +thin, you know, Rich. And over here--" he walked a few steps to a +crossroad--"Sarah must have turned off. You can see the marks." + +"Well," sheer relief spoke in Richard's voice, "that's one thing to be +thankful for; if she turned off from the main road, she wouldn't meet +many cars. But how far do you suppose she can have gone down the +Linden road?" + +Warren climbed back into the buggy and turned Tony's head down the +Linden road. + +"She hasn't gone far, not with Belle," he asserted confidently. "The +old horse couldn't stand a long trip; I don't know whether there are +any places for Sarah to drive in down here, but I hope some kind farmer +has her safely housed." + +The Linden road was very dark and there was no moon to help out the two +twinkling buggy lights. Suddenly Tony whinnied. + +"Pull in, pull in!" cried Richard excitedly. "I think I see something!" + +With a sharp "Whoa!" Warren brought the buggy to a standstill. + +"Unscrew one of the lights," he directed Richard, at the same time +jumping out and running to Tony's head with the rope and weight, a wise +precaution for the horse might take fright easily in that strange place +and start to run. "Come on, Jack." + +They had to go only a few rods. Then the buggy lamp and the pocket +flash showed them the runabout, with something dark and small curled up +on the seat. The mare was down between the shafts and she raised her +head inquiringly as the lights flashed into her patient eyes. + +"Sarah--asleep!" whispered Jack. "And the pig, too!" + +"Belle fell down and Sarah couldn't get her up," said Warren, realizing +at once what had occurred. "The poor kid--she must have been +frightened stiff." + +Jack pulled himself up on the runabout step and leaned over Sarah. The +tears were not dry on her cheeks and as he looked she opened her dark +eyes with a little cry. + +"You're all right, Sarah," he said soothingly. "Warren and Richard and +I have come to take you home." + +To his astonishment, Sarah, who hated demonstration of any kind, threw +her arms about his neck and burrowed her face on his shoulder. Bony +rolled protestingly to the floor and squeaked sharply as he hit the +dashboard in his descent. + +"The horse fell down," sobbed Sarah, "and she wouldn't get up. And it +got darker and darker and there weren't any houses anywhere. Is Belle +dead, Jack?" + +"Not a bit of it," said Jack stoutly. "She was tired, because she is +an old horse and isn't used to traveling far." + +"Now that she is rested, we'll have no trouble getting her home," put +in Warren. "You stay where you are, Sarah, till we get her up." + +But Sarah had had enough of the runabout and she insisted on climbing +down while the boys got Belle to her feet and went over the harness. + +"It's a wonder it didn't slide off her," declared Warren as he cinched +belts and snapped unfastened buckles. "I'll give you a lesson in +harnessing some day, Sarah, for you still have a few points to learn." + +It was an odd procession that drove into Rainbow Hill lane an hour +later. They dared not hurry the old horse and Sarah flatly refused to +be taken home in the buggy with Tony, leaving Belle and the runabout to +be driven in at a slower pace. Jack would have bundled her off +unceremoniously but Warren, while admitting that she had "made enough +trouble and ought to consider the feelings of other people once in a +while" would not force the issue. + +"She's dead tired and she's been badly frightened," he said quietly. +"After all, it will mean a difference of not more than half an hour. +We'll wait for old Belle." + +So Jack and Richard, driving the runabout and the old mare, set the +pace and Sarah and Bony in the buggy with Warren followed behind Tony. + +Rosemary and Winnie and the Hildreths came running out to greet the +prodigal, who had to be awakened to answer their eager questions--and +Winnie bore Sarah off to bed while Rosemary flew to the kitchen and +began making sandwiches to serve with the ginger ale she knew was in +the ice box. Excitement has a way of making people hungry and the boys +especially were appreciative of the refreshments. + +Doctor Hugh read his small sister a severe lecture the next morning +when, upon his return with his mother, he heard the story, and +extracted her promise that hereafter she would not leave the farm +without explicit permission. A subdued Sarah made a shamefaced apology +to Mr. Hildreth for taking his horse and runabout and for as much as +three days she slipped about like a meek little shadow. + +"Jack told me you found the horse shoe, Warren," said Rosemary, meeting +Warren that next morning as he came from the creamery. "So you really +found Sarah for us--and I think you are very quick and clever." + +"Any one of us would have found her," declared Warren lightly. "You +can't really lose a little girl and a horse--you're bound to fall over +them sometime, sooner or later." + +"Sarah might have had to spend the night on that lonely road," insisted +Rosemary. "Hugh says so, too. And Mother thinks just as we do." + +She turned, with a little determined nod of her pretty head. + +"Rosemary!" Warren's voice halted her. + +He made no motion to drive on to the barn but sat in the wagon, holding +the reins, and looking at her steadily. + +"You're not angry with me now?" he said. + +Rosemary was perplexed. + +"Of course not." + +"But you were a night or two ago--when I met you and Doctor Hugh?" + +The tell-tale color rose under Rosemary's smooth skin. + +"Well--" she hesitated. "Perhaps I was then--just a little. But I get +mad so easily, Warren, it doesn't count." + +"I'd prefer," said Warren composedly, "to always be good friends with +you." + +The impulsive Rosemary took a step forward that brought her close to +the wagon. + +"We _are_ friends," she assured Warren eagerly. Then, mischief welling +up in her blue eyes, "When you've known me a little longer you'll find +out that I often quarrel with my friends." + +"I don't," said Warren soberly, but he drove away to the barn whistling +merrily. + +The few days remaining of Doctor Hugh's vacation and Jack's agreement +with Mr. Hildreth, passed quickly and pleasantly. The three boys +worked together in perfect harmony and Jack began to enjoy a sense of +power and ease that came with the hardening of his muscles. The sun +might be hot, but the rays no longer made him uncomfortable--the rows +of vines were as long as ever, but he swung down them easily and picked +the ripe tomatoes almost automatically. + +"I don't see why you don't finish out the month," Mr. Hildreth said to +him the night before his two weeks were over. "I'd like to have you +first rate and it seems a pity to leave just when you're broke in." + +Somewhat to his surprise, Jack heard himself agreeing to stay. Warren +and Richard heartily applauded his decision and Doctor Hugh agreed to +carry back an approved report to Mrs. Welles. + +"It will do you good, in many ways, Jack," said the doctor seriously. +"And if you are going to try for the football team this fall, you'll be +in the pink of condition." + +The next day Doctor Hugh went back to resume his regular schedule +though, he promised his disconsolate family, he would try to spend the +week-ends, or Sundays at least, with them. + +"But I hope you realize that the summer is almost over," he told +Rosemary who was riding with him down to the cross-roads where she +expected to get out and walk back. "School opens next month and we +must be safely moved back to Eastshore before that important day. You +have not more than four weeks left to spend at Rainbow Hill, young +lady." + +"I'll go over and see Louisa," said Rosemary to herself, as she reached +the back road that led to the Gay farm, after leaving her brother. +"Mother won't expect me back till lunch time, for I told her I might +stop in and see Miss Clinton. But I've seen Louisa only once since +Hugh came." + +The Gay farm looked more dilapidated than ever to Rosemary's eyes and +the little attempt at a flower bed, in the center of the long, dried +grass before the house, only made the general effect more hopeless. + +Rosemary walked around to the back door and knocked. Louisa answered, +carrying June in her arms. + +"I thought maybe you'd gone back to Eastshore," said Louisa dully, "but +Sarah and Shirley said no, your brother was visiting for his vacation." + +"Yes, Hugh did come," answered Rosemary honestly, "and we went +somewhere with him nearly every day, if only over the farm. I would +have liked to bring him to see you and Alec, but I was afraid--I +thought--" + +"Mercy, I'm glad you didn't!" the idea seemed enough to frighten +Louisa. "I wouldn't want a stranger coming here." + +"Louisa, do you know Miss Clinton?" asked Rosemary suddenly. "She +lives all by herself and she is so lonesome." + +She had a hazy thought of suggesting that Louisa might be willing to go +and see Miss Clinton--Louisa needed friends as badly as the little +wheel-chair woman did--but the girl's answer was not encouraging. + +"She lives in that little yellow house," said Louisa. "She may be +lonely, but she has enough money to live on and no one need be pitied +who can keep out of debt." + +"Oh, Louisa!" Rosemary drew nearer in concern. "Haven't you the money +for the interest?" + +"Not a cent," said Louisa bitterly. "The little we did have saved +toward it, we had to spend on a pump. The old one gave out and you +can't get along without water, no matter what else you can do without." + +Rosemary glanced toward the shining new pump--so obviously new and +shiny that it made everything else in the kitchen look shabbier by +contrast. + +"There ought to be _some_ way to get money when you need it," she said +earnestly. + +"There isn't," Louisa informed her. "Don't you suppose I've thought +and thought? No matter how much you need it, there isn't any money to +get--and if there was, you wouldn't need it because it would be there +to get," and Louisa laughed rather hysterically. + +"That may not make good sense," she added, "but I can't help that; it +is true." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SARAH HAS AN IDEA + +Rosemary walked home slowly. Louisa, worn out by worry and work, had +yielded to the luxury of a good cry and though, when she had wiped her +eyes, she declared she felt much better and more cheerful than for a +week. Rosemary was not convinced. A glimpse of Alec, thin and brown, +with the same worried look in his nice clear eyes, had not helped to +convince her. It was plain that both Louisa and Alec were expecting +the foreclosure of the mortgage on the farm and anticipating the +separation of the family. + +"I couldn't stand it," said Rosemary earnestly to a chipmunk, who shook +his head in sympathy. "I couldn't stand it, if Sarah and Shirley and I +had to go live in different houses. Suppose we didn't have Mother and +Hugh and Winnie!" + +The realization of her own blessings only emphasized the hard position +of the Gays without a father or mother. By the time she had come to +the Rainbow Hill orchard, Rosemary was feeling very blue indeed. + +"Come on up!" two sweet little voices called to her. "Come on up, +Rosemary!" + +Rosemary peered at the trees, and giggles floating from one gnarled old +apple tree revealed where Sarah and Shirley were hidden. + +"What's the matter?" asked Shirley instantly, when Rosemary had swung +herself up to a seat beside them. + +"I've been to see Louisa Gay," explained Rosemary, "and they haven't a +cent of money for the interest on that awful mortgage. It's due the +first of September and Louisa says the man will take the farm and +they'll all be on the town!" + +"I thought you had to go and live in the poor house, if folks took your +farm," objected Sarah. + +"It's all the same," said Rosemary impatiently. "Louisa says so. When +you're 'on the town' that means the town supports you and you live at +the poor farm. Girls, we just have to get some money for the Gays!" + +"Ask Hugh," suggested Shirley, as her favorite way out of money +difficulties. + +"We can't," Rosemary told her. "Louisa and Alec don't like strangers +and Hugh is a stranger to them. We mustn't even tell grown-up people +about them, because if they know the Gays are poor, they'll come and +take them to the poor farm, anyway. Alec says they don't even go to +the Center any more because he doesn't want people to ask him +questions." + +When Winnie rang the bell to signal that lunch was ready, the three +girls had not succeeded in forming any definite plan to help the Gays. +They had made up their minds that money must be obtained, but the way +was anything but clear. + +"You see," said Rosemary, taking up the question again after lunch, "we +can't ask Warren or Richard for any money. They are saving all they +earn to get them through agricultural college and Hugh told me they +have to do some work in the winter to get enough. Jack never has any +money of his own--he will have some at the end of the month, but he's +set his heart on buying his mother something lovely with the first +money he has ever really earned. There doesn't seem to be anybody to +help Louisa and Alec, except us." + +"And we haven't a cent, except the five-dollar gold pieces Aunt Trudy +sent us Fourth of July," said Sarah practically. + +"We must think," declared Rosemary solemnly. "You think _hard_, Sarah, +and you, too, Shirley. And I'll think with all my might." + +Such concentration of thought should have produced some result, but the +next morning each had failure to report. Then Richard announced that +Solomon must be shod and offered to take anyone over who felt free to +spend the morning in Bennington. + +"I have to make up my lost practising," said Rosemary, "and Hugh is +going to take Mother and Shirley with him--he telephoned he'd stop for +them. Sarah would like to go--she was wailing that everyone went to +places and left her home." + +Sarah climbed happily into her place by Richard and they drove off to +Bennington, at a slower pace than usual for Richard wished to "favor" +the shoeless foot. + +"Ph, look!" the rather silent Sarah kindled into animation at the sight +of a gay-colored poster tacked to a telegraph pole along the road. +"What's that, Richard?" + +"Circus!" he answered smilingly. "Coming next month. See the lions, +Sarah? How would you like one of those to play with, eh?" + +He obligingly pulled in the willing Solomon, and Sarah studied the +poster with intent, serious dark eyes. Driving on, Richard found her +curiously self-absorbed. She answered him in monosyllables and was +apparently deep in a brown study. + +"A penny for your thoughts?" he offered, wondering what she could be +pondering over. + +But Sarah refused to sell and continued to be silent. + +Richard would have been surprised indeed, could he have seen what was +going on in that active little brain. The circus poster had shown +Sarah, besides the wonderful lions, a marvelous performing bear, +dancing on his hind legs. A crowd of people laughed at him and +applauded. + +"Bony can do that!" Sarah had thought with pride, and then, like a +flash, followed the thought: "I could sell Bony to the circus and give +the money to Louisa!" + +The rest of the way to Bennington was occupied, as far as Sarah was +concerned, in selling Bony to the owner of the bear, who promised to +give the pig a kind home and explain to him frequently why his mistress +had consented to let him leave Rainbow Hill. + +Sarah had reached the moment when she put her precious pig into the +bear man's hands (she innocently assumed that he must have charge of +all the circus animals) just as Richard drew up before the blacksmith's +shop. + +"You don't want to hang around here," said Richard authoritatively, +lifting her down from the seat. "I'll have to give some orders about +shoeing Solomon and you wait for me on the side porch of the hotel. I +won't be long." + +He led Sarah unprotestingly--though at any other time she would have +teased to be allowed to stay and watch the fascinating work of the +smithy--across the street and to the steep little flight of steps that +led to the pleasant, vine-covered side porch of the country hotel. + +"Good morning, Mrs. King," he said, lifting his hat as a gray-haired +woman peered over the railing at them. "This is Sarah Willis--I want +to have her wait here while I'm over at the shop." + +"She'll be all right," answered Mrs. King kindly. "She can sit here +and rest; it's nice and shady." + +Mrs. King was shelling peas, and Sarah sat down in the cretonne-covered +rocking chair next to her. There was one other person on the porch--a +stout gentleman, stretched out in an arm chair, sound asleep. His face +was covered with a white silk handkerchief which partially hid his +round, bald head. + +"Do you like the country?" asked Mrs. King, glancing toward her small +visitor while her clever, quick fingers sent a continuous shower of +peas rattling into the pan in her lap. + +"Oh, yes, I like it," nodded Sarah with enthusiasm. "I like it lots +better than Eastshore and going to school. I wouldn't mind living in +the country for always." + +"But you'd have to go to school if you lived in the country," said Mrs. +King mildly. "You can't get away from lesson-books, no matter where +you go." + +"Not in Africa?" suggested Sarah who never disdained an argument. + +"I've never been in Africa," Mrs. King replied, "so I can't tell you +positively. But my guess is all the children who aren't natives, have +to be educated." + +"What do the children who are natives do?" asked Sarah. + +Mrs. King considered. + +"I imagine they go around without any clothes on and the tigers eat +them," she decided, recalling to mind several doleful pictures she had +seen in an old geography. + +Sarah shivered, not in sympathy with the scantily clad children, but +because of the tigers mentioned. + +"I wouldn't want to be eaten by a tiger," she declared, rocking +violently back and forth, "but I would love to have a baby tiger to +play with me." + +"Look out you don't go over backward," warned the landlady. "Don't you +know a baby tiger would grow up to be a fierce, wild animal and +probably end up by eating you?" she added. + +"He wouldn't eat me, if I brought him up tame," said Sarah. "Baby +tigers are like kittens--I saw some pictures of them once. I'd keep +mine to guard my farm and I'll bet no robbers would come if they knew a +live tiger was roaming around." + +"No, robbers wouldn't come, or your friends, either," Mrs. King said +grimly. "And the butcher would be afraid to turn up, for fear the +tiger might think he was the meat ordered for his dinner. You and your +tiger would get lonely after a while." + +"I have a tiger cat home," volunteered Sarah. "But she isn't very +exciting. I like big animals. Maybe a baby elephant would be more +fun." + +"Than a tiger?" said Mrs. King, pausing to admire a freshly opened pod +in her hand. "Seven perfect peas," she murmured. + +"Yes, I could use a baby elephant," Sarah informed her. "They are very +strong. I have an animal book that tells all about them. Even baby +elephants are strong. I saw a picture of one pulling a tree over." + +"My land, a farm won't be big enough for you," commented Mrs. King. +"What you ought to do is to go out West and start a place in the middle +of the desert. But the snakes would probably send you back home before +long." + +She was quite unprepared for Sarah's cry of rapture. + +"Snakes!" repeated that small girl in a voice of ecstasy. "Are there +snakes in the desert?" + +Mrs. King shook her pan vigorously in the effort to find a stray pod +that had slipped through her fingers. + +"I've heard that the place is full of snakes," she answered. "Man or +beast isn't safe from them. Rattlesnakes and all kinds--sometimes, +I've heard folks say, if the nights are the least bit chilly, the +rattlers crawl under the blankets to get warm. Imagine waking up in +the morning and finding a snake in bed with you!" + +"He wouldn't hurt you, if you didn't provoke him," Sarah asserted. +"Snakes are polite and they'll let you alone if you let them do as they +please. I think snakes are the most interesting things to see!" + +"I don't!" said Mrs. King. "I'd run a mile before I'd face one. There +is nothing, to my mind, more disgusting than a wriggling snake." + +Sarah looked grieved. + +"That's the same way my Aunt Trudy talks," she observed. "She is +scared to death of little, tiny snakes. Even water snakes. And a +water snake never hurts anyone." + +"Don't show me one," said Mrs. King hurriedly. "I don't care what kind +of a snake it is, they're all alike as long as they can move. I never +want to see one on the place." + +Sarah wisely concluded that another topic would be welcome and +unconsciously the huge gray cat that climbed over the porch railing and +leaped heavily to the floor, provided it. + +"What a darling cat!" cried Sarah, abandoning her chair in such haste +that it narrowly missed falling backward. "Is it yours, Mrs. King?" + +"Yes, he's mine," said the landlady. "He used to be a right handsome +cat but lately he's getting too fat. The girls in the kitchen feed him +all the time. I don't believe he has caught a mouse or a rat for six +weeks." + +"He wouldn't catch mice," Sarah declared feelingly. "Would you, +darling? He's too nice for that," and she sat down in the +cretonne-covered rocker again, holding the cat in her arms. + +"No cat is worth his board, to my way of thinking, who _doesn't_ catch +mice and rats," retorted Mrs. King. "Garry used to be a famous mouser." + +"I guess the poor mice want to live," Sarah protested, stroking the +thick fur of the purring cat with a practised hand. + +"It's a question of human beings living, or the mice," declared Mrs. +King. "Of course if you want the mice to move into your house and you +move out, that's another matter. Till I get ready to do that, I'm +going to set traps in the pantry every night and leave Garry shut up in +the kitchen." + +"Just like Winnie," murmured the hapless Sarah. + +"Seems to me you ought to run a zoo," said Mrs. King glancing curiously +over her spectacles at the small girl rocking the fat cat. "Though how +you're going to keep the mice and the cats and the snakes and the +tigers all happy and contented together, is more than I'm able to +figure out." + +"I could make 'em love each other," said Sarah confidently. + +"I don't know about that," argued Mrs. King. "Even in the circus they +can't bring that about. Mr. Robinson would tell you that," and she +pointed to the stout man who was still asleep in his chair. + +"Who's that?" whispered Sarah, wondering why anyone should want to +sleep with a handkerchief over his face. + +"That's Mr. Robinson, dearie," replied Mrs. King, her swift fingers +never pausing in their work. "He's advance agent for the circus." + +Sarah sat up with a jerk. + +"Does he own the circus?" she asked eagerly. + +"Bless you, no," said Mrs. King smiling, "he doesn't own it, though he +has a good deal to do with it, in one way or another. He comes every +year to see that the posters are put up and to arrange for space for +the tents and some extra help, if it's needed. He goes around to all +the towns, ahead of the circus, you see, and tells folks it is coming; +and in the winter he does considerable buying of animals and whatnot +and hiring of performers, they tell me." + +Sarah stared at the silk handkerchief in spellbound fascination. One +more question struggled for utterance. + +"What is whatnot?" she demanded, her eyes still on the fat man asleep +in his chair. + +"Whatnot?"--Mrs. King was puzzled. + +"You said he bought whatnot for the circus." + +"My land alive, didn't you ever hear of whatnot? It doesn't mean a +thing--it's just a phrase," poor Mrs. King protested. "I meant Mr. +Robinson buys little tricks and novelties and small side-show stuff +like that." + +Sarah nodded absently, though she had no very clear idea of the good +lady's meaning even then. When Mrs. King went away presently, +murmuring that it was time to put the peas on to cook, Sarah sat +quietly in her chair, her gaze riveted to the silk handkerchief. + +Suddenly, as she watched, a large and noisy fly also discovered the +handkerchief. He decided to investigate, experience probably having +taught him that handkerchiefs may be used to conceal a set of sensitive +features. + +Cautiously he alighted and began to crawl--swat! the stout gentleman +slapped sleepily, narrowly missing the tormentor. + +Up rose Sarah and bore down upon the scene. + +"Don't swat him!" she begged. "He won't hurt you--flies only tickle. +Anyway, if you'd use a palm leaf fan, no flies would ever bother you." + +The circus agent snatched the handkerchief from his face and sat up in +astonishment, revealing a very kindly, very good-humored face fringed +with white hair and lighted by a pair of twinkling eyes. + +"Bless me!" he cried when he saw the determined small girl. "What's +all this?" + +"The fly!" explained Sarah seriously. "You tried to kill him. And he +doesn't even bite." + +"Well, I may have been hasty," apologized Mr. Robinson, his eyes +twinkling more than ever. "I don't always think when I am half asleep." + +Sarah's mind was already running on what she wanted to say to him. She +was more direct by nature than tactful as her next remark showed. + +"You're a circus man, aren't you?" she said, making it more a statement +of fact than a question. + +"I'm advance agent, yes," Mr. Robinson admitted. + +He was totally unprepared for the next query. + +"Then," said Sarah gravely, "wouldn't you like to buy a very fine pig?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BONY JOINS THE CIRCUS + +Mr. Robinson, recovered from his first surprise, proved to be an +excellent listener. Sarah told him of Bony and that animal's +accomplishments and he admitted that his circus did not have a trained +pig. He was interested, too, to hear how she had taught the pig these +tricks and Sarah, quite carried away by this flattering evidence of +understanding, told him a great deal more. In fact, unconsciously, she +presented him a picture of the family at Rainbow Hill and, before she +had finished, of the Gay family, too. This last, to do her justice, +was quite unintentional. + +"I didn't mean to tell you about the Gays," she cried in quick remorse. +"Rosemary said we must never tell a stranger about them; when a +grown-up person knows how poor they are, the town will take them to the +poor farm." + +"Now don't you be sorry," Mr. Robinson comforted her. "Don't you be +sorry for one thing you've told me. I won't let it go any +further--least ways not among the town folk. I'm glad you told me +about this family, downright glad. I've known what it is to live on a +farm with a mortgage hanging over your head." + +"Have you?" asked Sarah humbly, much relieved. "Then maybe Louisa +won't care if you do know about their mortgage." + +"I've been thinking," said Mr. Robinson slowly, "that it would be a +good thing if I went with you this morning and saw the pig you've told +me about; mind you, I can't promise to buy it, till I've seen it. But +I'd like to look at it. And I'd like to see this Gay farm--maybe that +will turn out to be something I can use." + +Sarah did not see how he could use a farm in a circus, but she wisely +refrained from asking. Richard returning for her at this juncture, she +introduced him to the circus agent and explained that he wanted to go +back to Rainbow Hill with them. + +Richard was surprised, but cordial, and as Solomon, brave in a new shoe +and three tightened old ones, trotted them homeward, Sarah and Mr. +Robinson together explained their plans. + +Sarah's was comparatively simple. She wanted to sell Bony to the +circus and give the money to Louisa. The pig was the most valuable +possession she owned and would surely bring more money than anything +else she might part with--even her five-dollar gold piece. Yes, she +admitted, in response to Richard's questioning, she was fond of +Bony--but she thought he would like living with a circus. + +Mr. Robinson's plan was more complicated. "For some time past," he +said to Richard, a little breathlessly, for he was stout and the wagon +jolted him considerably, "for some time past, I've been on the lookout +for new winter quarters for the circus. My idea has been to get a farm +in a good section of the country, but of course we can't afford to pay +a price a place in a good state of cultivation would bring; what we +want is acreage and buildings in fair shape. This Gay farm the little +girl tells me about, may fill the bill, providing they are willing to +sell." + +"They would sell, all right," Richard declared thoughtfully, "but I +don't see where they can go. The place won't bring enough to keep a +family of six very long." + +"We can talk that over, after I see the place," said Mr. Robinson. +"You can trust me to be fair to a parcel of kids--I lived on a farm and +I was bound out on a farm." + +Eager as Sarah was to exhibit her pig, she had to wait. It was "dinner +time" at the farmhouse and lunch time for the Willis family when +Richard stopped before the barn. Mrs. Willis and Shirley had +returned--Doctor Hugh had dropped them at the crossroads and gone on to +the hospital in Bennington--and while at the table Sarah made no +mention of her plans. She had a habit of taking no part in the general +conversation, unless personally interested, and her silence created no +wonderment. + +After the hospitable manner of the countryside, the circus agent was +asked to dinner by Mr. Hildreth who took it for granted that he had +asked a lift of Richard on his way from one town to another. And, the +meal over, Richard piloted him to the barn, where Rosemary and Shirley +and Sarah and the pig awaited him. + +"Come on and watch," said Sarah cordially, but Richard, declaring he +was too busy, went on to his work. + +Sarah was a little fearful lest Bony develop "temperament," of which he +had his share, and refuse to act, but he happened to be in the best of +humors, thanks to a peaceful morning free from interruptions, which had +allowed him to enjoy a full-length nap. + +Sarah put him through his paces and change of costumes with pride. He +danced, he marched, he went through his acrobatics; he wheeled the doll +carriage and poured afternoon tea; he played the piano and read, +wearing a pair of glassless spectacles and turning the printed page +with a graceful air of interest. He grunted "Yes" and he squeaked "No" +to half a dozen questions. And finally, seated in a doll's rocking +chair, he fanned himself as though the exactions of his art were +wearing in the extreme. + +"I ought to sign _you_ up with the circus," said Mr. Robinson +admiringly, when Sarah announced that Bony had displayed the extent of +his accomplishments. "You must have a gift, to be able to train an +animal like that. Of course he is a clever pig, but you have developed +him and made it easy for us to teach him fancier tricks. Do you want +to sell him?" + +Sarah looked at Rosemary, who, with Shirley, had come out to witness +the performance. + +"Yes," said Sarah, after a minute. "Yes, I want to sell him." + +"You can't change your mind, you know," announced the circus agent +warningly. He wanted the pig but he wished to be fair. + +Sarah's chin went up in the air. + +"I won't change my mind," she declared. "I won't sell Bony and then +ask for him back. You may have him--now." + +"Can't take him till to-morrow morning," said Mr. Robinson. "Don't you +have to ask any older person--your mother, for instance?" + +Rosemary shook her head. + +"Mr. Hildreth gave the pig to Sarah," she explained. "It is all hers. +And you mustn't tell anyone about buying it--that is, that the money is +for Louisa." + +Mr. Robinson looked perplexed, as well he might. + +"But little grasshoppers!" he ejaculated, scratching his head. "You +can go just so far with a secret, you know; if I buy this Gay farm a +heap of people will have to know about it." + +"Oh, who?" said Rosemary in quick distress. + +"Well, the guardian, or whoever holds the estate for them," said Mr. +Robinson. "Then the lawyer who draws the deed and all the folks at the +Court House who have anything to do with the searches and like that." + +"I don't understand," declared Rosemary, while Sarah and Shirley began +to fold up the dresses Bony had worn. "But I am sure there is no +guardian. Louisa would have said something about it." + +"Never mind," said the circus agent kindly. "Plenty of time to find +out all that later. Now if the little girl really wants to sell the +pig--" + +He named a figure that surprised them all. Whether, as Doctor Hugh +suspected when he heard the story, Mr. Robinson wanted to help the Gays +too, and added more as a practical way to assist them; or whether, as +Sarah was firmly convinced, Bony was the smartest pig he had ever seen +and he recognized his value, does not really matter. There, before +three pairs of wondering eyes, he counted out a little heap of soiled +bills and gave them to Sarah. + +"I'll take the pig in the morning," he said, folding up the remainder +of his money and fastening the roll with an elastic. "I expect to put +up with the Hildreths to-night and one of the boys will take me back to +town after breakfast. You look after the pig for me till then, won't +you?" + +Sarah promised and then, as she did not seem to know what to do with +the money, he suggested that she run into the house and give it to her +mother to put away. + +The three girls were anxious to go over to the Gay farm with Mr. +Robinson, but he explained that he thought he could talk better to Alec +and Louisa alone. + +"I'm just going to wander over there and tell 'em that Richard Gilbert +sent me," he said. "I'll say he heard I wanted to buy a small place +and that I thought they might be in the market. I'll tell you all +about it, soon as I get back." + +They watched him start "across lots" to the Gay farm and then Sarah +went into the house to ask her mother to put away the money. + +"You've sold Bony, dear?" echoed Mrs. Willis when she heard the news. +"And for all this money? Who bought him, Sarah? When did you sell +your pig?" + +Sarah told her about Mr. Robinson, and Rosemary and Shirley listened +eagerly for they had not heard the details, nor learned how Sarah had +met the circus agent. + +"I always said Bony was a smart pig!" wound up Sarah, watching her +mother counting the money into a little black tin box, fitted with a +lock and key. + +"But Sarah dear, I thought you were very fond of Bony," said Mrs. +Willis. "Why did you want to sell him--and what are you planning to do +with all this money?" + +"It's a secret," declared Sarah, setting her lips tightly. + +"Oh, lamb! Don't you want to tell Mother?" + +Sarah shook her head so violently her black hair whipped across her +eyes. + +"Nobody must ever tell--never, never, never!" she asserted and, +catching Shirley by the hand, she ran out of the room, dragging her +small sister with her. + +Rosemary's beautiful blue eyes turned to her mother's troubled ones. + +"It's all right, Mother," she urged. "Really it is; the man wanted to +buy the pig--he told Rich it was very cleverly trained. And what Sarah +wants to do with the money won't be a secret after the first of +September. She'll tell you then." + +"I'll have to hold it for her until she does tell me," said Mrs. Willis +quietly. "I don't see how Sarah could bring herself to part with Bony, +Rosemary; she has been devoted to him." + +Rosemary wanted to tell of the motive that had prompted Sarah's +sacrifice, but thought she was in honor bound not to. So she went +downstairs to her practising, wondering what Louisa and Alec were +saying to Mr. Robinson and whether he would buy the farm from them. + +Sarah and her pig disappeared till dinner time and if during the meal +the former seemed more silent than usual it might easily have been +because she was tired. + +Mrs. Hildreth came for one of her rare chats with Mrs. Willis after +dinner that night and then the girls felt free to slip down to the +bungalow to hear what Mr. Robinson had to tell them. + +Eager as they were to learn what had been done for the Gays, they were +not to go directly to the bungalow for half way across the lawn Mrs. +Hildreth called to them. + +"Miss Clinton sent me word to-day, Rosemary," she said, "that she'd +like very much to see you; the letter-man told me. I thought maybe +you'd go down there this evening." + +"Don't go," whispered Sarah. "We want to see Mr. Robinson." + +Rosemary stopped uncertainly. It was still light and Mrs. Willis would +not object if they were back before dark. + +"We were going to see the boys," said Rosemary. "There was something I +wanted to ask them--" + +"Oh, you can see them when you come back," Mrs. Hildreth answered. +"I'd go see Miss Clinton if I were you; she gets lonely and it isn't +very nice to disappoint an old lady. She hasn't so many interests as +you have." + +Rosemary looked at the speaker a trifle resentfully. Mrs. Hildreth, +like many busy people, was an adept at pointing out duties for other +folk. + +"Shall we go, Mother?" she asked doubtfully. + +Now Mrs. Willis knew nothing of Mr. Robinson's all important visit to +the Gay farm and she saw no special reason for a visit to the bungalow. + +"Why I don't see why not, darling," she answered. "If you are not too +tired. Don't stay long, because you want to be home before dark. As +Mrs. Hildreth says, the old lady is probably lonely." + +Rosemary went on and Sarah began to scold. + +"I don't see why you said you'd go," she complained. "We never plan to +go anywhere that someone doesn't spoil it. Why didn't you say you'd go +when you got ready and not before?" + +"Because that would have been disrespectful and rude and you know it," +retorted Rosemary tartly. "You and Shirley go on and see Mr. Robinson +and I'll see Miss Clinton. I don't mind going alone." + +"I'll go, too," said Shirley. + +"I'm not going to hear what he has to say and let you wait," announced +Sarah gruffly. "What do you suppose Miss Clinton wants?" + +"Company, probably," said Rosemary. "We'll tell her we can't stay +long, because Mother doesn't like us out after dark; we can stop at the +bungalow on the way back and the boys will walk back with us." + +They found Miss Clinton, sitting in her chair, in the center of the +doorway. Then they were glad they had come, for it was easy to picture +her sitting like that a whole dreary evening, watching and waiting. + +"I hoped you'd come this evening," the old lady greeted them. "Is that +Sarah with you? My, my, I don't often have you for a visitor, my dear." + +Sarah looked pleased. She appreciated cordial welcome as much as +anyone. + +"I told the letter-man to tell Mrs. Hildreth I wanted to see you, +Rosemary," went on Miss Clinton, "because I have a letter I can't read +and I don't want to trust it to anyone around here. They are such +gossips!" she added a little harshly. + +"But can I read it?" asked Rosemary, surprised. "I mean will I be able +to?" + +"Oh, it's written in English, all right," laughed the old lady, her +bright bird-like eyes twinkling. "I'm not asking you to translate a +French or Spanish letter. I don't believe it will take you very long, +because you are bright." + +"We mustn't stay till dark," murmured Rosemary, wondering what kind of +a letter it could be that Miss Clinton was unable to decipher. + +"You'll have it done long before dark," Miss Clinton assured her. "Let +me see, where did I put it? Oh yes--look in that jar on the cabinet +shelf." + +Rosemary lifted the lid of the Canton ginger jar. It was apparently +empty but feeling around in it, her fingers found some scraps of paper. + +"That's the letter," said the old lady placidly. "I put it down on a +pile of old papers this morning when it first came and then when I went +to start a fire this noon, I carelessly tore the papers across and with +them the letter. Fortunately I discovered what I had done in time to +save the scraps, but I can't put them together again. I thought you +could." + +Rosemary emptied out the pieces of paper on the table and, instructed +by Miss Clinton, found the paste and a large sheet of paper on which to +paste the bits. Shirley and Sarah sat down on the floor and began +playing with the toys in the cabinet. + +"Adelaide has real good sense," remarked Miss Clinton as Rosemary +studied the pieces attentively, "she never writes on more than one side +of the paper. I'd be in a pretty fix, if she had." + +Rosemary privately thought that she was in a fix as it was, for the +scrawled writing made no sense whatever, as far as she could see. She +arranged it tentatively, scattered the pieces again and laboriously +pieced them together in another combination. + +"Did it begin, 'Dear Aunt'?" she asked desperately. + +"Mercy no." Miss Clinton looked up brightly from her crocheting. +"Adelaide calls me 'Clintie' and always has. Usually she begins, +'Clintie dear.'" + +Rosemary worked feverishly, anxious to please the old lady and even +more anxious to be on her way. She wanted to know what the circus +agent had done about the farm and she was curious to know if Louisa was +displeased that their straits had become known to a stranger. + +"There!" she said, after almost an hour's work. "I think I have it all +right--it makes sense, anyway. But there's a corner missing." + +"I don't mind a corner, as long as you have the gist of it," returned +Miss Clinton gratefully. "I didn't want to write to Adelaide that I'd +destroyed her letter before I'd even read it. I'm sure I don't know +how to thank you, Rosemary!" + +She wanted the girls to stay and have some of her sponge cake--baked +that afternoon--but they were in a fever of impatience to be gone. +When they finally found themselves out in the lane that took them to +the Hildreth house, Sarah was the first to speak. + +"If she'd had a telephone we could have asked her what she wanted and +then we wouldn't have gone," she declared. + +"Yes we would," smiled Rosemary. "That wasn't much to do--or it +wouldn't have been, if we weren't going to hear about the Gays. Miss +Clinton didn't know that." + +"I see Mr. Robinson!" chirped Shirley as they came in sight of the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +TRULY A SACRIFICE + +"Did you buy the farm?" asked Sarah bluntly. + +Richard and Warren and Jack and the circus agent sat on the top step +and below them were ranged Rosemary, Shirley and Sarah. Mr. Hildreth +had considerately gone into the kitchen to read. + +"No," answered Mr. Robinson, "I didn't buy the place." + +Three faces fell. + +"But I've rented it," he went on, "and paid a quarter's rent in +advance." + +"Is that just as good?" inquired Rosemary respectfully. + +Mr. Robinson laughed and Warren nodded. + +"Alec was over at milking time and he was feeling as gay as his name," +said Warren. "I guess their troubles are over for a time." + +Then Mr. Robinson explained what he had done and why and never did a +speaker have a more attentive audience. + +"I won't bother you with the legal end of it," he said good-naturedly, +"but these children are under twenty-one and when their parents died a +guardian should have been appointed for them. If I tried to buy the +farm there would have to be a guardian appointed and even then I doubt +if he could give me a clear title. + +"So, for many reasons, it is much simpler to rent the farm from them +and better, I am firmly convinced, for the children. They are to stay +on in the house and this winter I and my wife will come out and make +our headquarters there. Alec can lend me a hand with the animals and +Mother will see that that plucky girl gets her schooling. I'll stable +most of the circus horses out here and as nearly as I can tell it's +just the kind of a place we need." + +He told them a great deal more about Alec's surprise and Louisa's +delight and something of the plans for the winter which should include +the attendance at school of the five Gays old enough to go. + +The boys walked back with Rosemary and Shirley and Sarah, and Warren +told them further details. + +"Mr. Robinson is a brick!" he declared heartily. "He's renting the +farm because he discovered in what desperate straits the Gays are; if +he tried to buy it, it would take months to get their affairs +untangled--there would be miles of red tape and court hearings and dear +knows what all. Instead he has paid them cash down for a quarter and I +understand from Alec he is paying a generous rental, besides offering +Alec employment this winter. He's put out because the town hasn't done +anything--and now, he says, he and his wife will look after them and +Bennington can save its legal snail tracks." + +"But Alec and Louisa didn't want the town to know anything about them," +protested Rosemary. + +"Well, they're too young to manage their own affairs," said Warren +curtly. "Somebody should have been responsible long before this." + +It was odd, but Jack, Warren and Richard separately, each took Sarah +aside and asked her if she had wanted to sell her pig. Each offered to +return the money to the circus agent for her and get Bony back. + +"I wanted to sell him," said Sarah stolidly, three times. + +In the morning she kissed Bony good by and watched him drive away with +Richard and Mr. Robinson. Then she went out to the barn, refusing +Rosemary's invitation to go over to the Gays'. Shirley went in her +stead and they were greeted by a radiant Louisa who declared that her +troubles were at an end and that now she had hopes of being able to +keep the family together and even educate them. + +"Of course we have to be careful," she said, smiling as though that +would be comparatively easy. "The quarter's rent Mr. Robinson paid +won't quite meet the interest, but Alec thinks he can scrape the rest +together somehow. And of course we will have to pay for the potato +fertilizer and the store bill is overdue; but we'll manage." + +It was on the tip of Rosemary's tongue to tell her about the money +Sarah had, but she stopped in time and sent Shirley a warning glance. +That pleasure belonged to Sarah and no one should take it from her. + +"Will you come upstairs a moment, Rosemary?" asked Louisa, "I want to +show you something. Let Shirley play with Kitty in the yard." + +The two girls went up the steep, straight stairs and Louisa took her +guest into one of the front rooms. + +"Mr. Robinson said his wife would be out to get acquainted with us +soon," Louisa explained, "and of course she'll have to stay all night. +And where, I ask you, Rosemary, is she to sleep?" + +"Why I don't know, dear," replied Rosemary, smiling. "What is the +matter with this room?" + +She looked about it as she spoke. It was a large, square room, very +clean and, it must be confessed, very bare. There was a bureau, one +leg missing and the lack supplied by a brick; one chair, the bed and a +little table (not large enough to be useful and not small enough to be +dainty) completed the furnishings. + +"It looks so awful," said poor Louisa. "And of course I can't buy +material for curtains; Mother used to say that curtains softened a room +and helped to furnish it. But I certainly am thankful for one thing." + +"What?" Rosemary asked. + +"That I've always saved one pair of Mother's good sheets and her best +light blankets and two pillow cases, real linen ones," said Louisa. +"When the linen began to wear out, I patched it and darned it as well +as I could, but our sheets last winter were made of flour sacks, +stitched together. They're white as snow for I bleached them, but I +wouldn't want to have Mr. Robinson's wife sleep on flour sack sheets." + +"Oh, my, of course not," said the sympathetic Rosemary. + +"She won't have to," declared Louisa with satisfaction. "Much as I +have wanted to use these sheets and the blankets, I've kept them put +away. They are linen Mother had when she was married and I never could +afford to buy any like it now." + +"That's fine," said Rosemary, a trifle absently. + +She was studying the windows, three placed close together on one side +of the room. + +"Do you know, Louisa," she said slowly, "I believe we could make +curtains for those windows--just straight side-drapes, you understand, +with a plain valance across the top." + +"I've seen pictures," Louisa admitted, "but I haven't any material." + +"I could get it," Rosemary began, but Louisa shook her head. + +"It's a silly idea, anyway," she declared resolutely. "I haven't any +business to be thinking about curtains when the whole house is as +shabby as my old winter coat. If Mrs. Robinson does come and see new +curtains she'd know right away that I'd spent money I couldn't afford +on them. She might even get the idea that I was trying to make an +impression." + +"You have a perfect right to try and make a pleasant impression!" +flared Rosemary hotly. "Of course you have. And I'll tell you how to +make new curtains and they won't cost a cent--except money you have +already paid. Use the blue and white gingham!" + +Louisa stared. She had bought, almost as soon as Alec had told her the +good news of the farm's rental, a dozen yards of neat blue and white +checked gingham to make Kitty and June some much-needed frocks and +herself an apron or two. + +"But I never heard of gingham curtains!" Louisa protested. + +"They're very fashionable for bedrooms," Rosemary assured her. "We +have some at Rainbow Hill--I can show you those. And Mother has a +magazine with heaps of pictures in that show checked casement curtains. +You'll love them when you see them made and hung, Louisa." + +"Well--the children can wait for the dresses, I suppose," said Louisa. + +And, with Rosemary's help, the curtains were made and hung before the +circus agent's wife paid her promised visit. They were a great success +and Louisa was inordinately proud of them. + +Now they went back to the kitchen to look again at the gingham. + +"I wish there was some way I could earn a little money," said Louisa +wistfully. + +The knitted face cloth on the back of the kitchen chair was responsible +for Rosemary's idea. + +"You could knit a bedspread, Louisa!" she said with enthusiasm. "I'll +show you how; Miss Clinton told me they sell for lots of money and +Warren has a cousin who is a domestic science teacher in a large city; +he said she was out here last summer and offered to get orders for Miss +Clinton, but she wouldn't agree to sell her spreads. She doesn't need +the money, but you do." + +Louisa was as excited as Rosemary and before an hour had passed the two +girls had, in imagination, knit four elaborate spreads and disposed of +them for eighty dollars apiece. + +Then Louisa came down to earth and spoke more practically. + +"It will take a long time to do a full-sized spread," she said, "but I +will have plenty of time to knit this winter. You show me how and Miss +Clinton will help me, if I get stuck in the middle of a pattern. You +are too lovely, Rosemary, to think of something I can do!" + +"I wish I could earn some money for the Gays," sighed Shirley, trotting +home beside Rosemary when they had left the cheerful Louisa. + +"Well, you're a pretty little girl to earn money, darling," Rosemary +told her, "but I'll try to think of something you can do. We'll ask +the boys; they know more about money than we do, Warren and Rich +especially." + +Her intuition proved to be right, for Warren, consulted, suggested that +Shirley might pick herbs, wild ones, and get the Gay children to help +her. + +"Old Fiddlestrings buys wild herbs and sells them, along with those he +raises in his garden, to city druggists," explained Warren. "I'll see +him to-night and find out what he wants right now. Then I'll help you +till you learn to know the different leaves and after that it will be +easy." + +Warren was as good as his word and in a few days Shirley and Jim, +Kenneth and Kitty Gay were earnestly hunting herbs. They made a few +mistakes at first, but soon learned and as it was wholesome work and +did not take them off the farm, they were encouraged to go herb picking +every day. Warren acted as selling agent and the little heap of +pennies and dimes and nickels in the pink china bank grew steadily. + +That, however, was after Sarah had presented her offering to Louisa. +For one anxious half day it seemed that there might be no presentation, +for Sarah disappeared completely after saying good by to Bony; and +diligent search on the part of her sisters failed to produce her. + +"Sarah didn't come to lunch, and Mother is worried," announced +Rosemary, meeting the wagon as it returned from the cannery with Warren +driving and Jack sitting on the empty crates in the back. + +Warren reined in the horses and looked anxious. + +"She hasn't taken Belle again, has she?" he asked. + +"No, I looked and Belle is in the pasture," replied Rosemary. "I've +looked everywhere and Winnie came and helped me and Shirley, too. And +Hugh telephoned he would be out for dinner--where can she have gone?" + +Jack spoke suddenly. + +"I'll tell you what I think," he said. "I think she is crying +somewhere about Bony. You know Sarah--she would run a mile before she +would let anyone see her cry. And I'll bet seeing Bony go just about +broke her heart. She was crazy about that pig." + +"Yes, she was," agreed Rosemary. "Poor little Sarah! She was +determined to sell him and give the money to Alec and Louisa--and all +the time she must have cared so much!" + +"You go help Rosemary find her, Jack," said Warren. "Rich and I will +get up the next load. Think where she would be likely to run and hide +and then look for her there." + +Jack jumped down from the wagon and faced Rosemary anxiously. + +"Where shall we look?" he asked. + +"In the woods," answered Rosemary, after a moment's thought. "There's +a place there we call the cave--four rocks around in a ring. You can +climb over them and drop down on the moss and it feels as though you +really were in a cave. Let's go look there." + +The woods were some distance away and the sun was hot, but Rosemary and +Jack ran nearly all the way. Rosemary was almost crying, for the more +she thought about Sarah, the more plausible it seemed that she must be +heart-broken over the loss of her beloved pet. + +"You go look," whispered Jack, when they reached the four large rocks +Rosemary had described. "Peek over and see if she is there." + +Cautiously Rosemary crawled over the rocks--long afterwards she +remembered how cool and damp they felt to her fevered hands and +knees--and peered down into the green hollow they formed. A little +figure in a crumpled tan frock was huddled against one of the stones. + +"Sarah!" called Rosemary softly. "Sarah dearest! You must be starved!" + +"Go away!" said Sarah crossly. + +That was all she would say, though Rosemary told her how worried they +had all been, urged that Doctor Hugh was coming to dinner and pleaded +with her to come home at once and have something to eat. + +"Come on, Sarah--that's a good girl," begged Rosemary. "Jack is here, +too, and he wants to get back to work." + +"Tell him to go, then," muttered Sarah. Jack climbed over one of the +boulders and gazed down at the obdurate little person whose unhappy +brown face lacked its usual life and color. Sarah did not look like +herself. + +"Look here, Sarah," said Jack with directness, but not unkindly. "Your +mother is worried stiff about you and you're coming back with us and +coming now. If you don't want me to climb down there and pull you out, +you'd better scramble up this minute." + +Suddenly Sarah climbed up the rock furthest from Jack and dropped to +the ground. She refused to take Rosemary's hand and scuffed on before +them silently, like a small Indian in a very bad temper. + +"She does care," whispered Rosemary to Jack. "She always acts like +this when she wants to cry and is too proud." + +With Rosemary to the left of her and Jack on her right and no possible +avenue of escape open, Sarah mounted the porch steps. Someone all in +white, fragrant and dainty and sweet, gathered her, dirt-stained and +disheveled as she was, into loving arms. Sarah began to cry. + +"There, my precious," said Mrs. Willis softly, "tell Mother all about +it--she wants to hear." + +Rosemary and Jack slipped away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +UP TO MISCHIEF + +Once more a flood of moonlight and a night or two when "Old +Fiddlestrings" wandered up and down the road playing the "Serenade" and +then the first of September was blazoned on the calendar and on the +fields of Rainbow Hill. The summer was virtually over. + +Jack went away hilariously for a brief fishing trip with his father +before the Eastshore schools should open; and to the delight of his +mother and sisters, Doctor Hugh came out to stay till they were ready +to go back with him, a matter of ten days or so, for school would be in +session by the middle of the month. + +Finding Sarah in a sad state from violent crying on his arrival the day +of Bony's departure, Doctor Hugh was soon in possession of the Gays' +story; and he not only succeeded in persuading Louisa and Alec to +accept the money Sarah's sacrifice had obtained, but he also managed to +give them a more wholesome outlook on the world in general. Although +Alec and Louisa were naturally reluctant to accept Sarah's money, when +they were finally persuaded, their relief was plain. Now they had +enough cash in hand to meet the dreaded interest payment. Alec +insisted that the money from Sarah was to be regarded as a loan and +Doctor Hugh agreed to this. + +"All right," said Sarah when this arrangement was explained to her, +"but I don't want to see Bony--not ever any more." + +Alec had told her that the pig would probably be brought to the farm to +spend the winter and had offered to drive to Eastshore some day and +bring her back to see her pet. Sarah's refusal was unmistakable; the +parting once made, she was not minded to harrow her feelings again. + +Rosemary found Louisa a diligent pupil and the knitted spread was soon +under way. Louisa's pet ambition was to buy a good flock of hens and +raise chickens. The money earned from the spread, or spreads she might +make, she confided to Rosemary, was to be saved toward this venture. + +"We haven't had our picnic yet," said Doctor Hugh one morning at the +breakfast table. "We must have one before we go back to town. Let's +ask the Gays and the Hildreths and Warren and Richard--next week will +be a good time." + +And then for a few days a round of emergency calls kept him so busy he +forgot that such things as picnics were ever held. + +Bringing the car around a few mornings later, intending to take his +mother and Winnie in to look at the remodeled house, he found Sarah and +Shirley placidly seated behind the wheel when he came out from +breakfast. + +"You can't go this time--there isn't room," he informed them +pleasantly. "Hop out--here come Mother and Winnie." + +"You said we could go next time and this is next time," insisted Sarah. + +There were tears of disappointment in Shirley's eyes, but she climbed +out of the car in response to a second look from Doctor Hugh. Sarah, +however, clung to the wheel and had to be lifted out bodily. + +"You're too old to act like this," said her brother sternly. "It is +important that Mother and Winnie go with me this morning--they were +going yesterday and then I had to put them off to go in to the +hospital; suppose Mother scowled the way you do, Sarah, when things +didn't go to suit her." + +Rosemary came out to see them off and Mrs. Willis and Winnie waved as +though nothing had happened. Doctor Hugh suddenly swooped down upon +Sarah, lifted her high in his arms and kissed her. With another swift +kiss for Shirley, he was back in the car before the angry Sarah could +recover from her astonishment. The car rolled down the road and left +her standing glaring after it. + +Sarah was exceedingly put out and she did not attempt to disguise her +state of mind. Rosemary, finding it impossible to win her to a more +reasonable point of view, went indoors to finish the odds and ends of +work Winnie had had to leave undone. This left Shirley to Sarah, and +Sarah was like the disgruntled sailor who deliberately incites mutiny. + +"I want to be _bad_!" she told Shirley passionately. "Let's think of +something awful and go do it!" + +Shirley could not think of anything, unfortunately, that is +unfortunately from Sarah's point of view. + +"I know!" cried that small sinner, after a moment's thought. "We can +go in the tool house." + +Sarah had remembered what Warren had said when they first came to the +farm--that the tool house was forbidden ground. He had also warned +them against going into the windmill. + +"Come on, Shirley," cried the naughty Sarah. "We'll look at the old +tools--we won't hurt 'em." + +She found she had reckoned without the canny Mr. Hildreth, when she +reached the tool house. It was securely locked and no amount of +tampering could make any impression on the stout padlock. + +"Come on, we'll go up in the windmill," said Sarah, not to be balked. + +She would have found it hard to explain what satisfaction disobeying +Mr. Hildreth and Warren gave her, when her anger was really directed +toward her brother. However, she may have reasoned that doing +something she knew was wrong was one sure way to plague Doctor Hugh. + +Shirley obediently trotted after her sister to the graceful red +shingled tower that enclosed the iron framework of the windmill. Alas, +for once in his busy life, Mr. Hildreth had inspected the pump and left +the door unlocked. Sarah had merely to open it and fold it back and +the interior of the mill was revealed to her. + +"We'll play it's a robbers' cave, Shirley," suggested Sarah. "It's +nice and dark." + +She was minded to climb the enticing iron ladder, but fearful lest +Shirley develop an obstinate streak and refuse, she had decided to +begin with a milder amusement. + +"I'll be the robber chief, Shirley," she went on--Sarah had a fondness +for such plays and her brother often said that she would have had a +wonderful time as a boy. "I'll be the robber chief," she repeated, +"and you drag in the loot." + +"What's loot?" asked Shirley hopefully, having a vague idea that it was +something one ate. + +"Loot is what we steal from the noble lords and ladies," Sarah asserted +with a faint memory of old firelight stories. + +"But where do we get it?" the literal-minded Shirley demanded. + +"Oh, we go out and hunt for it," said Sarah. "Don't let anybody see +you--remember we're robbers." + +And she opened the windmill door cautiously and peered out. + +There was no one in sight and the two little girls crept out and sped +to the nearest tree with a delicious sense of excitement. If they had +turned around and seen someone chasing them, they would not have been +surprised. + +"Take a stone," said Sarah. "Take a stone for loot. A little one, +Shirley--that one by your foot." + +Shirley picked it up and dropped it immediately with a little cry. + +"Did you drop it on your foot?" asked Sarah. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Horrid, nasty little bugs under that," Shirley announced, pointing +with a dainty pink forefinger at the stone she had sent crashing back +to earth. + +"Well, a few bugs never hurt anyone," proclaimed Sarah. "I only hope +you haven't mashed any; when will you learn not to be afraid of bugs, +Shirley?" + +Shirley refused to look as Sarah carefully turned the stone over. +There were numerous little crawling creatures beneath it and several +white slugs. + +"I suppose you've murdered a hundred, but I can't see them," Sarah +reported. "If I had something to scrape them up with, I could save +some." + +"Don't play with bugs, Sarah," pleaded Shirley, who knew too well the +fatal attraction of all creeping and crawling things for her sister. +"I don't like bugs. Leave them alone." + +"All right, I will," said Sarah with surprising amiability. "We'll go +back to the cave; I'll take this stone and you needn't take any." + +Back to the windmill they went and nothing would please Sarah but +closing the door again. She liked the dark, she said. + +"What's that?" cried Shirley, starting. "I heard a noise, Sarah." + +Sarah had heard it, too. + +"It's the clanking chains," she declared with relish. + +"What clanking chains?" whispered Shirley fearfully. + +"The chains we put on our prisoners," said Sarah whose imagination was +stimulated by the dark pit in which she found herself. + +"What prisoners?" asked Shirley, fascinated in spite of herself. + +"Prisoners we robbed," said Sarah solemnly. "We put long chains on +them and they have to walk up and down and they can't get out." + +"Oh--Oh--I don't like them to have on long chains," Shirley wailed. "I +want you to take them off, Sarah. Please, Sarah." + +"Well," Sarah considered. "Perhaps I will. We might as well let the +prisoners go, anyway. They make too much noise. Now the chains are +off, Shirley." + +Just as she said that, the noise sounded louder than before. + +"Clank! Clank! Clank!" + +"You said you took 'em off!" wept Shirley. "You said so, Sarah." + +"I thought I did," admitted Sarah. "Wait till I get the door open and +I'll see what made that last noise." + +She had latched the door of the windmill and in the darkness it took +her some time to find it. At last she got it open and the light +streamed in, showing Shirley's face streaked with tears. + +"I see what made the noise!" proclaimed Sarah triumphantly. "It's the +jigger-thing pumping up and down." + +The wings of the mill had turned lazily and the iron rods, jerked up +and down, had made the clanking noise. + +"I don't want to play that any more," said Shirley with more decision +than she usually showed. + +"We'll play we are firemen and climb the ladder," said Sarah, pointing +to the narrow iron ladder that led to the top of the mill. + +And she actually helped the confiding Shirley to start the long upward +climb and followed close behind her. + +Half way up, the inky darkness--for the narrow windows were few and far +between, frightened Shirley and she begged to go back. Sarah cajoled +and bullied her into continuing and the two children managed to make +the steep climb and reach the platform at the top of the mill. As they +stepped out on the boards a gust of wind caught the big fan-like sails +and the pump began to sound with a loud clanking noise. This and the +sensation of being high among the clouds terrified Shirley and she +clung to Sarah, screaming. + +Sarah would have liked to scream too. Her face was quite white under +the tan and she grasped the framework tightly. As she looked far +across the fields and felt the dizzy sensation of floating with the +clouds that seemed near enough for her hand to touch, one awful thought +came to her--"How are we to get back?" She was sure they could never +go down that narrow ladder--it had been hard enough to climb up and +going down would be impossible. + +She sat down, close to the frame, and Shirley hid her face on her +shoulder. And there Rosemary found them--having heard from Mrs. +Hildreth that they had been seen going down to the brook. The quickest +way to reach the brook was past the windmill. + +Rosemary called as she came through the field and Sarah heard her. She +stood up and shouted and, because the wind had died down and it was +very quiet and still, Rosemary, too, heard. Kneeling down, Sarah could +see her sister through a knot hole in the platform. + +Rosemary's first impulse was to run and get help--someone to bring the +girls down, but Sarah implored her "not to tell." + +"Everyone will scold and tell Hugh," said Sarah, shouting her plea. +"You come get us, Rosemary--please don't tell." + +Both she and Shirley were confident that Rosemary could rescue them +alone and unaided. As the older, Rosemary was accustomed to helping +Sarah out of tight places and, it must be confessed, shielding her from +the consequences of her own wrong-doing. She promised not to tell +"this time." + +Setting her teeth, Rosemary began the climb and accomplished it with +fair ease. Her nerves were steady and she was strong and vigorous. +But when it came to getting Shirley down, all her powers of endurance +were taxed to the utmost. + +Shirley was rigid with fright. She wanted to hang on to Rosemary and +it was necessary to force her to face the ladder and come down step by +step, Rosemary just below her steadying her with a light touch and +constant words of encouragement. Shirley cried piteously, she stopped +often and refused to take another step. Rosemary had to plead, to +scold, to stimulate, everything but pity--that would have been fatal. +Long before they reached the floor of the mill, Rosemary's face and +hands were dripping with cold perspiration. + +Shirley safe on the ground at last. Rosemary detached her clutching +little fingers and went back for Sarah. Gone was Sarah's bravado, lost +her courage completely. She hung back and cried and only started the +descent when Rosemary threatened to leave her. Twice Sarah lost her +footing and shrieked and Rosemary's heart raced madly. The climb +seemed interminable and all the time, down in the darkness below, they +could hear Shirley crying to herself. + +A great wave of thankfulness surged over Rosemary as she felt her foot +touch the ground and lifted Sarah from the ladder. They were safe! + +"Come away, quick!" said Rosemary, her voice sounding hoarse and +unnatural in her own ears. "Don't ever come here again!" + +They stumbled over the doorsill, the strong sunlight blinding their +eyes after the darkness of the windmill interior. So it happened that +none of them saw Warren till he was close to them. + +"Rosemary!" he cried in quick alarm. "Is anything the matter? You're +as white as a sheet!" + +Rosemary tried to smile, but she swayed as she stood. He put an arm +around her and led her to an overturned tomato crate under a tree. +"Sit down," he said commandingly. "Do you feel faint?" + +"I'm not!" Indignation sent the color flying back to Rosemary's +cheeks. "I'm never faint." + +But to her disgust, she began to tremble uncontrollably. She shook +from head to foot and her lips were blue. + +"I was afraid!" she whispered. "So afraid--" and then she could have +bitten her tongue. + +Sarah and Shirley were dismayed--never had they seen Rosemary like +this. They crept close to her and she leaned her head against Sarah, +closing her eyes. All the horror of the dizzy climb and descent +pressed in upon her, tenfold stronger. + +Warren's quick eyes went from face to face. All three were white and +strained. Plainly something had happened. Sarah and Shirley had torn +their dresses and there were great dust and oil stains on Rosemary's +white skirt. + +Warren wheeled and looked back. The windmill door swung slowly in the +breeze. + +"Rosemary!" he spoke so sharply that she jumped. "Rosemary, have you +been in the windmill? Have you been hurt?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SOMETHING TO REMEMBER + +Warren stood a moment in indecision. Rosemary's pallor frightened him +and she was evidently concealing something. Sarah and Shirley glanced +at him hostilely as though, he thought resentfully, he was in some way +to blame. + +He turned on his heel and ran over to the mill, shutting the door with +a resounding slam. In a trice he had snapped the padlock and had come +back to the three girls huddled under the tree. + +And then a cheerful whistle sounded and down the lane came the one +person Rosemary least desired to see at that moment--Doctor Hugh. + +"Got through early!" he called, vaulting the fence and striding toward +them. "Why, Rosemary! What's wrong?" + +Rosemary made a desperate effort to recover her self-control. She +managed a shaky smile, but she did not dare try to stand. + +"Perhaps you can find out," said Warren grimly. "I found her like this +a few minutes ago and Shirley and Sarah looking as though they'd seen a +ghost; and not a word will any of 'em say." + +Very coolly, very quietly, very firmly, Doctor Hugh lifted Sarah aside +and took her place beside Rosemary on the crate. He rested the tips of +his fingers for a moment on the slender wrist nearest him. Then-- + +"What frightened you. Rosemary?" he asked evenly. + +The touch of his skilled fingers seemed to slow down her hammering +pulse. Rosemary's troubled gaze swept the circle of faces surrounding +her, Sarah's and Shirley's expressive of their anxiety lest she be +"sick," Warren's baffled and worried, and came back to the steady, +understanding dark eyes behind the doctor's glasses. In that moment +Hugh became a tower of refuge to her and she suddenly knew what she +would do. + +"I don't know what made me act like this," she apologized, a little +tinge of color creeping into her white face. "I'm sorry, because I am +afraid I have made you think it is worse than it is." + +She stopped and looked at Sarah who stared at her in a puzzled way. + +"You won't want me to tell, Sarah dear," went on Rosemary, still +calmly, "but this time I think I'd better; because--well, because if +there should be a next time and you should hurt yourself, I should be +to blame. Besides, there is Shirley." + +Warren drew a deep breath and Doctor Hugh sent a look toward Sarah that +made that young person decidedly uncomfortable though she pretended to +be absorbed in the antics of a beetle and sat down, cross-legged, to +consider it. + +"Then it was the windmill?" asked Warren. + +"Yes, it was the windmill," nodded Rosemary, putting her arm around +Shirley who was beginning to feel that her adored older sister had for +once deserted her. + +And then she told them, graphically and in detail, how she had found +the two children on the platform and of the climbs she had made to +bring them down safely. + +"That part wasn't so bad, really it wasn't," she explained earnestly. +"Though when Sarah's foot slipped--" + +Warren looked at Doctor Hugh. + +"But I keep thinking of that awful platform!" cried Rosemary, hiding +her face against her brother's shoulder and tightening her arm about +Shirley. "Every time I close my eyes I can see them there--and it is +such a narrow space and they could have fallen off so easily--" + +"Stop!" said Doctor Hugh sternly. "Stop that at once, Rosemary. You +are letting your imagination run away with you. Closing your eyes and +thinking what might have happened, will not do at all. You'll get the +better of your nerves, if you try. Don't think what has happened and, +above all, don't talk about it. Tag around after Warren and Rich +to-day and keep so busy you haven't time to think--you'll find the +worst is over now that you have told us." + +Rosemary lifted her head. She was quite herself, her blue eyes told +Warren. Under her arm, Shirley peeped uncertainly at her brother. + +"Come around here where I can see you, Shirley," he commanded. + +She obeyed disconsolately. + +"You were there when Warren said that you must not go in the windmill, +weren't you?" said Doctor Hugh. "And now you see what happens when you +disobey him. I understand that Sarah suggested this disobedience, but +that doesn't excuse you, Shirley; there have been plenty of times when +you have refused to do as Sarah asked you to. You didn't have to be +naughty because she was, did you?" + +Shirley shook her head. + +"I know you're sorry," her brother went on. "Then tell Warren so--and +next time, Shirley, have a mind and will of your own when you are asked +to do something you know is wrong." + +Warren accepted Shirley's apology gravely and then made a suggestion. + +"I'm going over to the mill with the heavy wagon," he said, "and if you +want to come along, I'll take you. I'll harness up now and let the +team stand till after dinner." + +Sarah scrambled to her feet with the evident intention of including +herself in the invitation. + +"Run along, Rosemary," directed Doctor Hugh, "and take Shirley with +you. But I want to talk to you, Sarah." + +Rosemary glanced back as she walked away with Warren. + +"Poor Sarah!" she said. "I'm so sorry and I know Hugh is going to +scold. But oh, Warren, I think I did right." + +"Sure," agreed Warren tersely. He had been more shaken by her recital +than he cared to admit. + +"I couldn't have given Sarah away like that, if it hadn't been for +Shirley," said Rosemary, her eyes now on the infinitely dear little +figure dancing ahead. "Sarah asked me not to tell and I said I +wouldn't--and I never have before. Once she lost Aunt Trudy's ring and +we all got in an awful mess, but we wouldn't tell. Hugh said then it +was wrong and not being truly kind to Sarah. + +"I didn't see it that way--then," confessed Rosemary. "But +to-day--well, to-day, Sarah frightened me so! And I thought that if I +kept still and said nothing, next time she might hurt herself or +Shirley--when she makes up her mind, she can persuade Shirley to do +anything. And Sarah goes a little bit further every time, unless she +is stopped." + +"If you are fretting about whether you did the right thing or not, +forget it," Warren advised her seriously. "In the first place, your +brother would have had the truth from you in five minutes and in the +second place shielding Sarah when she is in a fair way to break her +neck unless someone interferes, isn't far from wicked, to my way of +thinking." + +"But she trusts me," urged Rosemary. "Suppose I have lost her +confidence?" + +"You haven't," said Warren with conviction. "More likely, you've +gained her respect." + +Sarah was never to forget the talk with Doctor Hugh that morning. He +sat down beside her on the grass and gravely and kindly, without +raising his voice or threatening punishment, made her see what she had +done. + +"You were angry at me and you wanted to do something to 'get even,' +Sarah," he began. "And to satisfy that miserable little desire to get +even, you would have let serious injury, perhaps worse, come to Shirley +and Rosemary--Shirley who would follow you anywhere and Rosemary who +loves you so much she would dare anything for you." + +Ignoring her tears and protests, he spoke to her of the responsibility +of an older sister for a younger one and explained the far-reaching +consequences of temper and disobedience. + +"You have frightened Rosemary and you have disappointed me," he said +sadly. "We both thought that head-strong and willful and reckless as +you are, you would always take care of Shirley. How can we ever trust +her to you again?" + +"I didn't think she would get hurt," wept Sarah. "I do take care of +her." + +"My dear little sister--" Doctor Hugh took her in his arms and the +stolid Sarah clung to him crying as though her heart would break. "My +dear, dear little sister, it is because I want you to always think +first, before you do something wrong, that I am talking to you like +this. Shirley admires you--when you do the right thing, she will try +to imitate you even more readily than when you do wrong. You are +constantly setting her an example." + +He let her cry a little while and then supplied her with his clean +pocket handkerchief. With her flushed face pressed against his coat, +Sarah listened while he explained gently the old, old lessons and laws +that govern us all. + +"Remember this, Sarah," he concluded earnestly, "you may think, when +you do wrong, that you will take all the punishment yourself, but you +can not; no one can bear the consequences of a misdeed wholly alone. +Every time you do wrong you hurt someone else, two or three others, +perhaps, and usually those who love you most." + +Sarah was only nine years old, but she understood. Doctor Hugh had a +faculty for making people understand him. He slipped his hand under +Sarah's chin now and lifted the little brown face till the shamed dark +eyes met his. + +"Am I to trust you again, Sarah?" he asked gravely. + +The little brown face grew vivid, resolution and love contending for +possession of the dark eyes. + +"I will be _just_ as good!" promised Sarah. "Truly I will, Hugh." + +And they sealed the compact with a kiss. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SUMMER'S END + +"Keep away from that coffee pot!" said Warren for the sixth time in as +many minutes. + +Rosemary laughed and pulled Shirley back from the fire. + +After twice fixing a day for the picnic, only to have Doctor Hugh +summoned by telephone and obliged to remain away till early evening, +the suggestion of a picnic supper had been suggested and accepted. + +"A good idea, I call it," Winnie had approved. "We won't have to start +till around four o'clock and by that time Hughie ought to have a couple +of hours off, anyway. I'm not crazy about eating outdoors, but if a +body can have something hot, it isn't so bad as it might be." + +Warren and Richard had promised to build the fire and make the +coffee--they assured Winnie that even she would praise their brew--and +Doctor Hugh had insisted on the "hot dogs" without which no properly +conducted supper--so he said--could be arranged. He was sharpening a +stick to serve Sarah as a toaster now. + +Winnie's hospitable soul rejoiced in the groups gathered about the +glowing fire, built on an improvised stone hearth between two tree +stumps. Winnie had put her best efforts into the food and she liked to +be assured that the quantity, as well as the quality, would be +appreciated. + +They were all there--the six from the Willis household, Mr. and Mrs. +Hildreth, Richard and Warren; and the six Gays with roly-poly little +Mrs. Robinson and her husband who had come up to introduce his wife to +the farm and leave her there while he finished "the season" on the +road. Mrs. Willis had been delighted to have this opportunity to meet +the people who were to live with the Gay children and who would, she +reasoned, have more or less influence over them. Mrs. Robinson had +been three days at the farm and already she had won the friendship of +Louisa and Alec, not an easy matter to bring about. The younger +children were devoted to her and it was apparent that the motherless +household unconsciously welcomed her wealth of tact and wisdom and +sympathy. + +"They need you so," said Mrs. Willis when she had a chance to speak +confidentially to the wife of the circus agent. + +"Not more than I need them," responded Mrs. Robinson. "They have no +mother and I have no children." + +And if the payment of the quarter's rent in advance had "turned the +luck," as Alec insisted, it was the coming of Mrs. Robinson that turned +the Gays back to normal, happy living. + +Rosemary had stipulated that the "grown-ups" were to visit and leave +the preparation of the supper to the children. Most of the preparation +was confined to setting the table--on a flat rock--and to boiling the +coffee and toasting the meat. Richard and Warren were in charge of the +fire and Louisa and Rosemary undertook to set out the eatables, while +Alec carried fresh water from the spring, fished out ants from the milk +pitcher and endeavored to keep the younger fry from tasting everything +left unguarded. + +Sarah's insistence on toasting her own "hot dog" led to a general +clamor for sticks and Doctor Hugh obligingly whittled a dozen wands. +taking care to make them long as a precaution against a too eager +approach to the fire. + +The table looked very pretty when Rosemary summoned them, for a bouquet +was in the center and tiny wreaths of flowers circled the paper dishes. +Warren's coffee was pronounced delicious and Winnie received so many +compliments on her stuffed eggs and the potato salad that she told Mrs. +Hildreth it would serve her right if the cake should turn out to be +soggy. + +"Then," declared Mrs. Hildreth neatly, "I should know it was no cake of +your baking!" + +But one distressing incident interrupted the serene progress of that +wonderful supper--when the paper cup of ants and bugs and beetles and +flies that Sarah had captured before sitting down, upset directly into +her saucer of home-made ice cream. Even that catastrophe could not mar +the general enjoyment, though Sarah retired to fish out the bugs +carefully by hand with the forlorn hope of "drying them off and saving +them." + +When the supper was over and everything cleared away, Warren built up +the fire again and they gathered around it. The day had been warm but +a slight chill was in the air--the early touch of fall. + +"It doesn't seem as though we were going home to-morrow," remarked +Rosemary pensively. "And school opens next week." + +"The summer has gone so swiftly," said Mrs. Willis. "I can scarcely +realize that this is September. The Hammonds have started--Hugh had a +letter yesterday." + +"I think it's been a long summer," declared Sarah, trying to hide a +yawn. + +"Well, I'm glad it's over," said Louisa bluntly. + +Then the baby June was discovered asleep in Alec's lap and Mrs. +Robinson offered to take her back to the house and put her to bed. +Louisa decreed that bed-time had arrived for the other Gays and they +all turned homeward, promising to say good by to the Willises in the +morning. + +"And remember you've promised to bring Rosemary out to see us this +winter, Doctor Willis," Louisa reminded him. + +"You come along, Sarah, and see the new tricks I've taught your pig," +said Mr. Robinson with the kindest intention in the world. + +Sarah made no reply. She had never voluntarily mentioned Bony since +the morning she had watched him driven off the farm and gradually her +mother and sisters had forgotten him. Not so Sarah. She never forgot +but nothing ever induced her to go and see the pig though she had +plenty of opportunities later, had she so desired. + +The twilight shut down and Warren added more fuel to the fire. Shirley +pressed close to her mother, hoping to hide the fact that she, too, was +getting sleepy. + +"I don't think it was a long summer," she chirped, "I would like more +summer to get herbs in; Mr. Fiddlestrings likes us to get them for him." + +"You don't call him that, do you?" asked Rosemary, shocked. + +"Everyone does," retorted Shirley. "Only they say 'Old Fiddlestrings' +and we don't--do we, Sarah?" + +"He has a stuffed snake," said Sarah who seldom troubled herself to +answer questions that failed to directly interest her. "Rich, you said +you'd show me how to stuff a snake and you never did." + +"Well, I never got around to it," Richard apologized. "I'm one who +found the summer too short." + +Mr. Hildreth grunted. + +"Guess you don't need a stuffed snake, Sarah," he said humorously. "A +stuffed chicken seemed to be too much for your family." + +Sarah looked disgusted, while the others laughed at the recollection of +that chicken. Sarah, a few weeks before, had found a dead chicken +under the carriage house and had decided it to be a Heaven-sent +opportunity to practise her theories of taxidermy. She had stuffed the +carcass with a variety of available materials--grass and hay and +pebbles, mixed with small sticks and cakes of mud--and, her task +completed, had hidden the treasure in a cupboard in the pantry. For +some reason she deemed the sympathy of her family doubtful and she made +no mention of the experiment to anyone. + +It was not long before Winnie complained of an unpleasant odor in her +always thoroughly aired pantry. She stood it for one day, grumbling. +The second day she began to talk about "country plumbing" and the third +morning she started in to scrub and scour and disinfect vigorously. +Her activities led her to the dark corner where Sarah had stowed her +chicken and the subsequent interview was brief and to the point. Sarah +buried the unfortunate fowl, using the cake turner which she was later +to bury also on command of Winnie, and this, to date, had been her sole +experience with "stuffing" anything. + +Rosemary leaned forward, smiling at the fire. + +"What are you thinking of, Rosemary?" asked her brother, dexterously +shifting Sarah's position so that she could not kick the fire with her +shoes--a feat she was anxious to accomplish. + +"Oh, ever so many things," said Rosemary. "About Louisa and Alec and +the circus. And the poor farm, too." + +Warren was watching the fire closely, too. + +"I drove past the poor farm the other day," he said slowly, "and the +lawns have all been ploughed up and seeded. There's no place now for +the folks to sit, except on the back porch. Not till the new grass has +a good start." + +"I don't see why Sarah is always planning a farm for animals," Rosemary +declared a little passionately. "If I ever have a farm it is going to +be a home for people who haven't any other home. People like the Gays +and old men and women who have no one to take care of them." + +"I'll have a poor farm, too," cried Sarah, wide awake in an instant. +"I never thought of that. I'll have a place for sick animals, too, but +I'll have a real poor farm for old horses and cows and pigs and +things--when they're too old to work, like old Belle." + +Warren and Richard laughed and Doctor Hugh patted his small sister's +energetic dark head. + +"I wish you and Rosemary could do all you plan," he said with a half +sigh. "There's room enough for that help and more." + +Mrs. Hildreth, her busy hands for once idle, stared at the blazing +fire. She had told her husband earlier in the day that she hardly knew +how to behave at a picnic, it had been so long since she had allowed +herself such a frivolous pleasure. + +She sat now, between Winnie and Mrs. Willis, tense and upright, unable +to relax, but resting nevertheless. + +"It's been a nice summer," she said slowly. "I don't know when I've +had time go so fast. Young people in the house and outside do brighten +things up amazingly. And Warren and Rich have made me so little +trouble--I never knew two boys who needed less waiting on; yes, I've +had a nice summer. I can say that." + +Warren's tanned face flushed a little and Richard stirred uneasily. +Both recalled moments of impatience, fortunately suppressed, and +remembered small kindnesses they might have easily performed. Poor +Mrs. Hildreth, so utterly unable to take life easily, was something of +a taskmaster like her husband. She prided herself on asking no more of +anyone than she was willing to do herself and the result was nerves +strung up to concert pitch and a volume of work turned out that was the +wonder of a neighborhood famed for its industry. Warren and Richard +felt guiltily that they might have made more positive contributions to +her "nice summer," but they were thankful for the little they had done +to lighten the good woman's labors. + +"How about you, Mother?" said Doctor Hugh mischievously. + +"I? Oh, I have learned to love Rainbow Hill," was Mrs. Willis' +response. "I could ask no more of any summer than these weeks have +given me--love and happiness and health. And to-morrow we're going +home!" + +Rosemary smiled across the fire at her mother. She, too, liked to +think of going home. + +"I only hope the smell of the paint will be out of the house," remarked +Winnie who could never, under any circumstances, be accused of being +sentimentally inclined. + +"And the gas stove," went on Winnie dreamily. "If that Greggs has been +mixing messes on it and dropping his glue on the enamel, I'll give him +a piece of my mind. I left that kitchen like wax and it's my hope to +find it like that, but I have my doubts." + +Doctor Hugh laughed and put back a brand that slipped from the glowing +embers. + +"Ah, Winnie, you know you can hardly wait to get to the straightening +up part," he accused her. "You're already turning the rooms inside out +in your mind's eye for a grand cleaning. I had thought of getting +someone to come in and have it all in order for you and then I was +afraid you might not like it so I changed my mind." + +"Hughie, if a strange person lays hand on a thing in that house," began +Winnie solemnly and then she stopped as she saw the smiling face. + +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself to be teasing me," she scolded. + +"Shirley's asleep and so is Winnie," said Doctor Hugh suddenly. + +"I am not!" protested Shirley indignantly as usual. + +"Eh?" Winnie jerked her eyes open with a start. "For mercy's sake, do +we have to stay out here all night?" she demanded crossly. "I can +stand a picnic supper, if I have to, but it's no picnic for me to have +to sleep out on damp grass." + +Doctor Hugh laughingly declared that after that gentle hint there was +nothing to do but go in. He helped the boys cover the fire and stamp +out every vestige of an ember and then led the way to the house, +carrying Shirley and leading Sarah who pretended to be very wide-awake +but whose feet lagged unaccountably. + +"I declare, I can't get used to having no dinner dishes to wash," said +Winnie when they had reached the porch. "I'm going in now and see if I +left the kitchen in good order." + +She disappeared and Mrs. Willis took Shirley and Sarah up to bed, while +Doctor Hugh snapped on the reading light. + +"I want to look over the paper," he said comfortably. "Don't go, +Warren--it's early yet, Rich." + +Rosemary found her favorite low rocker and the boys chose the swing. + +"We'll miss this," said Warren slowly. + +"Yes, we haven't any swing at Ag State," declared Richard with a grin. + +"You know what I mean, well enough," retorted Warren. "Confabs, +music--being inside a home." + +Richard was silent. He knew. + +"Mother says she asked you to write to her," broke in Rosemary. "She +says we'll never forget this dear little house at Rainbow Hill and the +friends we've made this summer." + +"Have you found your pot of gold, Rosemary?" asked Richard, watching +the light which threw the outline of the girl's pretty head into relief. + +Rosemary laughed a little. Early in the summer Mrs. Hildreth had +explained that the name "Rainbow Hill" had been given the farm by Mrs. +Hammond because the first time she had seen the house its roof had been +spanned by a beautiful rainbow. The Willis girls had waited hopefully +two months for a glimpse of a rainbow, but none had been vouchsafed +them. Sarah, for one, believed the rainbow to be as mythical as the +pot of gold Mrs. Hildreth had told her was always to be found at its +end. + +"I don't believe I've found any pot of gold," said Rosemary wistfully. + +"Oh, yes, you have," contradicted Warren. "Look at the Gays--you +helped them find their pot of gold; look at Miss Clinton--you gave her +many happy hours; look at Mrs. Hildreth--she says she never knew a +summer to go so quickly and it's all because she has had someone +cheerful to talk to her. Look at Rich and me--" + +"Oh, Warren!" Rosemary protested. "Sarah did more for the Gays than +ever I did. And Mother and Winnie talked to Mrs. Hildreth. I haven't +done anything." + +"It's your pure joyousness, I think," went on Warren as though he had +not heard her. "I don't believe enough people are simply happy in this +world. That's your pot of gold, Rosemary--happiness. And you share it +with everyone you meet. It makes a fellow feel--well, as though he +were standing on a mountain top in the morning, just to look at you." + +"Oh!" said Rosemary softly, astonished at quiet Warren and yet oddly +pleased, too. "Oh!" + +"You're even glad to go back to school, aren't you, Rosemary?" asked +Richard with a half unconscious sigh. Going back to school for him, +and for Warren, meant much hard work and more anxiety. + +The dreamy light went out of the girl's eyes. Her lovely, vivid face +glowed with characteristic enthusiasm. It might be said of Rosemary +that no future was ever else than rosy to her ardent gaze. + +"Of course I'll be glad!" she answered eagerly. "It will be my last +year in grammar school, you know. And it's sure to be exciting--in +spots. Besides I just love going ahead!" + +Across his lowered paper, Doctor Hugh smiled at the two boys in the +swing. + +"And that," he said whimsically, "explains why Rosemary is Rosemary." + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rainbow Hill, by Josephine Lawrence + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAINBOW HILL *** + +***** This file should be named 26533.txt or 26533.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/5/3/26533/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/26533.zip b/26533.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b62f55 --- /dev/null +++ b/26533.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28c7124 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #26533 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26533) |
