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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41117 ***
+
+                                    DOROTHY
+
+                                   AT SKYRIE
+
+                               BY EVELYN RAYMOND
+
+    ILLUSTRATED
+
+    New York
+    THE PLATT & PECK CO.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "HOW MUCH AM I BID FOR THE BEAUTIFUL CALICO PONY?"]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER                                              PAGE
+
+        I. EARLY VISITORS                                   9
+
+       II. AN UNFORTUNATE AFFAIR                           22
+
+      III. ON THE ROAD TO SOUTH MEADOW                     41
+
+       IV. THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH                          56
+
+        V. AN ACCIDENT AND AN APPARITION                   69
+
+       VI. MORE PECULIAR VISITORS                          85
+
+      VII. AT THE OFFICE OF A JUSTICE                      96
+
+     VIII. A WALK AND ITS ENDING                          112
+
+       IX. A LIVE STOCK SALE                              127
+
+        X. AT MILKING-TIME                                143
+
+       XI. HELPERS                                        158
+
+      XII. SETH WINTERS AND HIS FRIENDS                   177
+
+     XIII. A BENEFICENT BEE                               195
+
+      XIV. AN ASTONISHING QUESTION                        210
+
+       XV. CONCERNING SEVERAL MATTERS                     227
+
+      XVI. THE FATE OF DAISY-JEWEL                        245
+
+     XVII. ON THE ROAD TO THE CIRCUS                      259
+
+    XVIII. THAT SOUTH MEADOW                              275
+
+      XIX. DOROTHY HAS ANOTHER SECRET                     293
+
+       XX. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL                      308
+
+
+
+
+DOROTHY AT SKYRIE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY VISITORS
+
+
+"Hello! How-de-do?"
+
+This salutation was so sudden and unexpected that Dorothy Chester
+jumped, and rising from the grass, where she had been searching for wild
+strawberries, beheld a row of pink sunbonnets behind the great stone
+wall.
+
+Within the sunbonnets were three equally rosy faces, of varying sizes,
+each smiling broadly and each full of a friendly curiosity. It was from
+the biggest face that the voice had come, and Dorothy responded with a
+courteous "Good-morning!" then waited for further advances. These came
+promptly.
+
+"I'm Alfaretta Babcock; this one's Baretta Babcock; and this other one,
+she's Claretta Babcock. The baby that's to home and can't walk
+yet--only just creep--she's Diaretta Babcock."
+
+Dorothy laughed. The alphabetical names attached to these several
+"Babcocks" sounded very funny and she couldn't help her amusement, even
+if it were rude. However, no rudeness was suspected, and Alfaretta
+laughed in return, then walked a few steps to the bar-way, with her
+sisters following. These she hoisted upon the rails, and putting her
+hands upon the topmost one vaulted over it with an ease that astonished
+the city-bred Dorothy.
+
+"Why! how well you did that! Like a regular gymnast!" she exclaimed,
+admiringly, and observing that this was a girl of about her own age
+though much larger and stronger in build, as the broad back now turned
+toward her showed.
+
+Alfaretta did not reply, except to bid the children on the other side of
+the bars to "hop over," and when they were too timid to "hop" without
+aid she seized their hands and pulled them across, letting them drop on
+the long grass in a haphazard way that made Dorothy gasp and exclaim:
+
+"Oh! you'll hurt them!"
+
+Alfaretta faced about and keenly scrutinized Dorothy's face, demanding:
+
+"You makin' fun, or not?"
+
+"Fun? I don't see anything funny in such tumbles as those, and I surely
+wasn't making fun of the way you sprang over that fence. I wish I was as
+nimble."
+
+"Pooh! That's nothing. I'm the best climber anywheres on the mounting. I
+can beat any boy 'round, even if I do wear petticoats. I'll learn you if
+you want me to," offered the visitor, generously.
+
+"Thank you," said Dorothy, rather doubtfully. She did not yet know how
+necessary climbing might be, in her new country life, but her
+aspirations did not tend that way. Then thinking that this trio of
+Babcocks might have come upon an errand to Mrs. Chester, she inquired:
+"Did you want to see my mother?"
+
+Alfaretta sat down on a convenient bowlder and her sisters did the same,
+while she remarked:
+
+"You may as well set, yourself, for we come to see you more'n anybody
+else. Besides, you haven't got any mother. I know all about you."
+
+"Indeed! How can that be, since I came to Skyrie only last night? And I
+came out to find some wild strawberries for my father's breakfast--we
+haven't had it yet."
+
+If this was intended for a polite hint that it was too early in the day
+for visiting it fell pointless, for Alfaretta answered, without the
+slightest hesitation:
+
+"We haven't, neither. We've come to spend the day. Ma she said she
+thought you might be lonesome and 'twasn't no more'n neighborly to start
+in to once. More'n that, she's glad to get us out the way, 'cause she's
+going down mounting to the 'other village' to 'Liza Jane's
+store--Claretta, stop suckin' your thumb! Dorothy Chester don't do that,
+and ma said she'd put some more that picra on it if you don't quit--to
+buy us some gingham for dresses. She heard 'Liza Jane had got in a lot
+real cheap and she's going to get a web 'fore it's all picked over."
+
+Tired of standing, Dorothy had also dropped down upon the bowlder and
+now was regarding her uninvited guests with much of the same curiosity
+they were bestowing upon her, and Alfaretta obligingly shoved her
+smallest sister off the rock to make more room for their hostess.
+
+"Don't do that! What makes you so rough with them? Besides, I must go.
+Mother will need me and I don't see any berries," said Dorothy,
+springing up. "Excuse me, please."
+
+As she stooped to pick up the tin pail she had left on the grass,
+Alfaretta snatched it from her grasp and was off down the slope, calling
+back:
+
+"Come on, then! I know where they're thicker 'n molasses in the winter
+time!"
+
+With their unvarying imitation of their elder sister the two little
+girls likewise scampered away, and fearing she would lose mother
+Martha's new "bucket" Dorothy followed also. Across a little hollow in
+the field and up another rise Alfaretta led the way and there fulfilled
+her promise, for the northern hillside was red with the fruit. With
+little outcries of delight all of them went down upon their knees and
+began to gather it; the younger ones greedily stuffing their mouths till
+their faces were as red as the berries, but Alfaretta scrupulously
+dropping all but a few extra-sized ones into the rapidly filling pail.
+But she kept close to Dorothy and laughingly forced these finer ones
+between her protesting lips, demanding once:
+
+"Ever go berryin' before, Dorothy C.?"
+
+"Not--this kind of 'berrying,'" answered the other, with a keen
+recollection of the "berrying" she had done for the truck-farmer,
+Miranda Stott. "But how happened you to call me that 'Dorothy C.' as
+only my own people do? Who told you about me?"
+
+"Why--everybody, I guess. Anyhow, I know all about you. See if I don't.
+You was a 'foundling' on the Chesterses' doorstep and they brought you
+up. You was kidnapped, and that there Barlow boy that Mis' Calvert's
+brought to Deerhurst helped you to get away. Mis' Calvert, she saw you
+in a lane, or somethin', and fetched you back to that Baltimore city
+where the both of you lived. Then she brought you here, too, 'cause Mr.
+Chester he's got something the matter with his legs and has had to come
+to the mounting and live on Skyrie farm. If he makes a livin' off it
+it'll be more'n anybody else ever done, ma says. The old man that owned
+it 'fore he gave it to Mis' Chester, he was crazy as a loon. Believed
+there was a gold mine, or somethin' like that, under the south
+medder--'D you ever hear such a thing! Ma says all the gold'll ever be
+dug out o' Skyrie is them rocks he put into his stone walls. The whole
+farm was just clear rocks, ma says, and that's why the walls are four
+five feet thick, some of 'em more. There wasn't no other place to put
+'em and besides he wanted it that way. The whole of Skyrie farm is
+bounded--Ever study jogaphy? Know how to bound the states? Course. I
+s'pose you've been to school more'n I have: but I can bound Skyrie for
+you all right. On the north by a stone wall, 'joining Judge Satterlee's
+place: on the south by a stone wall right against Cat Hollow--that's
+where I live, other side the mounting but real nigh, cut 'cross lots. On
+the east--I guess that's Mis' Calvert's woods; an' west--Oh!
+fiddlesticks--I don't know whose land that is, but it's kept off by more
+stone wall an' the thickest of the lot. Where the stone wall had to be
+left open for bar-ways, to drive through, he went to work and nailed up
+the bars. That's why I had to hop over, 'stead of letting 'em down.
+Say, our pail is filling real fast. Pity you hadn't a bigger one. After
+we've et breakfast we can come and get a lot for Mis' Chester to
+preserve. Ma she's done hers a'ready. Let's rest a minute."
+
+Dorothy agreed. She was finding this new acquaintance most attractive,
+despite the forwardness of her manner, for there was the jolliest of
+smiles constantly breaking out on the round, freckled face, and the blue
+eyes expressed a deal of admiration for this city girl, so unlike
+herself in manner and appearance. Her tongue had proved fully as nimble
+as her fingers, and now while she rested she began afresh:
+
+"Ma says I could talk the legs off an iron pot, if I tried, and I guess
+you're thinkin' so too. Never mind. Can't help it. Ain't it queer to be
+adopted? There was a power of money, real, good money, offered for you,
+wasn't there! My heart! Think of one girl bein' worth so much to
+anybody! It was all in the papers, but ma says likely we never would
+have noticed it, only Mis' Satterlee she showed it to ma, account of
+Mis' Chester moving up here an' going nigh crazy over losin' you. Ma she
+washes for the Satterlees, and they give us their old papers. Pa he
+loves to read. Ma says he'd rather set an' read all day than do a stroke
+to earn an honest livin'. Pa says if your folks had so many children as
+he has and some of 'em got away he wouldn't offer no reward for 'em, he
+wouldn't. But ma said: 'Now, pa, you hush! You'd cry your eyes out if
+Diaretta fell into the rain-barrel, or anything!' We ain't all ma's
+children. Four of 'em's named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're
+hired out to work, 'cause they're older 'n what I am, and three is dead.
+Say, that's awful fine stuff your dress is made of. Do you wear that
+kind all the time? and shoes, too?"
+
+"Yes, this is an everyday frock that dear Mrs. Calvert had made for me
+and gave me. She is my father's friend and is sorry for him, and does
+things for me, I reckon, just to help him. Of course, I wear shoes--when
+I have them!" laughed Dorothy, carefully refraining from looking at
+Alfaretta's own bare feet.
+
+"What you laughing at?" demanded that observant young person, already
+joining in the mirth without knowing its cause.
+
+"I was thinking how I was once allowed to buy a pair of shoes for myself
+and picked them out so small they nearly crippled me. And I have been
+barefooted, too, sometimes, when I was trying to escape from the
+truck-farm;" and once started upon the subject, Dorothy did not hesitate
+to complete the narrative of her adventures and, indeed, of all her
+short, simple life, as already related by me in another book called,
+"Dorothy Chester."--how she had been picked up on the doorstep by Mrs.
+Chester and brought up as that lady's own child--how she had been
+kidnapped and taken to the truck farm--how honest Jim Barlow had proved
+her best friend--and how at last the rich Mrs. Calvert had restored her
+to her foster parents at this picturesque if rather dilapidated home in
+the Highlands of the Hudson.
+
+Alfaretta was likewise confidential, and with each passing moment and
+each fresh remembrance the liking between the two little maids
+strengthened. Finally, with a trifle of gloom, the country girl
+disclosed the fact:
+
+"Pa he's the scolder to our house, but ma she's the licker. She says she
+ain't going to spoil her children by sparing rods when our 'upper lot'
+is full of 'em. The rods, I mean. She doesn't, neither. That's true as
+preachin'."
+
+"Why, Alfaretta! Are you ever whipped? A big girl like you?"
+
+"Huh! I may be bigger 'n you but I ain't much older. When's your
+birthday?"
+
+"The second of April."
+
+"My heart! If that don't beat the Dutch! Mine's the first. So we must be
+next door to twins. But lickin's! You just come to Cat Hollow any
+Saturday night, 'bout sundown, and you'll be in the nick of time to get
+a whack yourself. Ma says she's real impartial, 'cause she takes us in
+turn. One week she begins with me and the next time with Claretta.
+Diaretta ain't old enough yet to fall into line, and the boys were let
+off soon as they went to work and fetched in money. Ma says all of us
+need a lickin' once a week, anyhow, and she don't have time to bother
+with it only Saturday nights, after we all get washed. When do you get
+licked, yourself, Dorothy C.?"
+
+"When? Never! Never in my whole life has anybody struck me. I--I
+wouldn't bear it--I couldn't!" cried Dorothy, indignantly. "But I
+mustn't stop here any longer. We've more than enough berries for
+breakfast and I'm so hungry. Besides, we're out of sight of the house
+and my father John will worry. He said last night, when he had me in his
+arms again after so long and so much happening, that he meant to keep me
+right beside him for the rest of his life. Of course, he didn't mean
+that exactly, and he was asleep when I came out. I waked up so early,
+with all the birds singing round, and oh! I think this wonderful old
+mountain is almost too beautiful to be true! Seems as if I'd come to
+fairyland, sure enough! I'm going now."
+
+Dorothy said this with a faint hope that her visitors might depart
+without taxing Mrs. Chester to provide them a meal. She knew that no
+food was ever wasted in mother Martha's frugal household and but
+sufficient for three ever prepared, unless there was due warning of more
+to partake. Twice three would halve the rations and--at that moment,
+with appetite sharpened by early rising and the cool mountain air--the
+young hostess felt as if she could not endure the halving process.
+
+However, her hope proved useless, for with a shout and bound, Baretta
+started for the cottage and Claretta kept her a close second, both
+crying loudly:
+
+"I'm hungry, too! I'm hungry, too!"
+
+Alfaretta was off with a rush, carrying the pail of berries and bursting
+in upon the astonished Mrs. Chester, with the announcement:
+
+"We've come to spend the day! We're Mis' Babcock's children. See all the
+berries I've picked you? Is breakfast ready? 'Cause we are if it ain't!"
+
+"Where--is--Dorothy C.?" questioned the housemistress, recognizing the
+extended pail as her own, wondering how it had come into this girl's
+hands, and failing to see any sign of her daughter, no matter how
+closely she peered outward.
+
+"Why, sakes alive! Where is she?" echoed Alfaretta, with great surprise,
+also searching the landscape. "A minute ago she was tagging me, close,
+and now she isn't! My heart! What if she's gone and got herself
+kidnapped again!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+AN UNFORTUNATE AFFAIR
+
+
+But nothing so dire had happened. Crossing the grassy stretch before the
+cottage Dorothy had caught sight of Jim Barlow's familiar figure, coming
+along the tree-bordered lane which led to Deerhurst, and had hurried to
+meet him. The shrubbery hid her from view of Mrs. Chester and the
+Babcock girls, and for a moment mother Martha's heart sank with the same
+dread she had known while her beloved child had been absent from her.
+"Kidnapped!" If Alfaretta had tried she couldn't have hit upon a more
+terrifying word to her hearer.
+
+"O Jim! Did ever anybody see such a beautiful, beau-ti-ful spot as this?
+Let me hold Peter's chain--the darling dog! No, he won't get away from
+me! I shan't let him. You can lead Ponce--but why did you bring them?
+Did Mrs. Calvert know? How do you like Deerhurst? Are you going to be
+happy there? Shall you have a chance to study some? Must you work in the
+garden all the time? Oh! I want to know everything all at once and you
+are so slow to talk! But, Jim dear, just stop a minute and look--look!
+Isn't our new home lots prettier than the little brick house where we
+used to live--77 Brown Street, Baltimore! Do stop and look--please do!"
+
+Obedient Jim did pause, for this small maid could always compel him to
+her will, though he felt he was half-disobedient to his real mistress,
+Mrs. Cecil, in doing so. She had sent him with a basket of fruit from
+her own fine garden for the family at Skyrie and had bidden him take the
+Great Danes along to give them their morning exercise. They were wild
+with delight over the outing, and their vigorous gambols not only
+threatened to upset the basket hung on his arm but made him caution:
+
+"Look out, Dorothy Chester! That there dog'll get away, an' then what'll
+happen?"
+
+"Why--he'll get away, silly! You just said so yourself! But I won't let
+him--Quiet, Peter, bad dog! Down, sir, down! No, I'm not one bit afraid
+of you now, even if once you did nearly kill me and scared me out of my
+senses! O Jim! I'm so happy--so happy! Almost too happy to live. If my
+precious father were only well! That's the one thing isn't just
+perfect."
+
+In her joy Dorothy gave her tall friend a rapturous pat on the shoulder,
+and though a swift flush rose to his sunburned cheek he shook off her
+caress as he would the touch of a troublesome insect. In his eyes this
+little maid whom he had rescued from her imprisonment on Mrs. Stott's
+truck-farm was the most wonderful of human beings, with her dainty,
+graceful ways and her lovely, mobile face. All the same--she was a girl,
+and for girls, as such, James Barlow had a boyish contempt.
+
+But she did not resent his action, indeed scarcely noticed it as,
+whirling about to suit her movements to those of Peter, she still
+pointed to her new home:
+
+"They say the man who built that house was queer, but seems to me he was
+very wise. All of stone, so, it looks almost like a big rock and part
+of the mountain itself. Such cute little, tiny-paned windows! Such a
+funny stairway going up to the second floor on the outside! There's a
+little one inside--so narrow and twisted, Jim, that even I can hardly
+walk straight up it but have to go sidewise. Then the back of the house
+is even with the ground. I mean that the biggest, best room of all,
+which is father John's, opens right on the garden. Two stories and a
+cellar in front, only a wee low story behind! Like a piece of the
+hillside it's on. Then the vines! Did you ever see such beauties? Oh! I
+love it, I love it, already, and I've only been here one night. What
+will it be when I've lived a long time there!"
+
+"Huh! You'll get sick enough of it--'fore long too. S'pose you hain't
+heard it's _haunted_--but I have, an' 'tis!"
+
+"Jim Barlow! How ridiculous and--how delightful! What sort of a 'haunt'
+is it? Masculine, feminine, or neuter?" demanded Dorothy C., clapping
+her hands.
+
+"Look out! Don't you let go that dog! You hold him tight, I tell you!"
+returned the lad, as her sudden action loosened the chain attached to
+Peter's collar. But she caught it again, deftly, and faced her friend,
+vexed that she saw in his face no answering enthusiasm to her own over
+the "loveliness" of Skyrie cottage.
+
+"I haven't let go--yet, Master 'Fraid-cat! And you _shall_ say my home
+is pretty!" she protested, imperatively. "Say it quick, too, 'cause I
+haven't had my breakfast and I have company waiting to eat it with me.
+Say it, Jim, say it!"
+
+The boy laughed. He was very happy himself, that sunshiny morning, and
+felt more at ease than he had done for many days, because, at last, he
+was once more clad in blouse and overalls and knew that he had a busy
+day of congenial work before him. True, these working garments were new
+and of the best quality, provided by his new employer, but like in cut
+and comfort to those he had always worn. His feet alone bothered him,
+for a barefooted person could not be permitted about Deerhurst and his
+shoes were stiff and troublesome. Now there's nothing more trying to
+one's temper than feet which "hurt," and it was physical discomfort
+mostly that made the lad's tongue sharp and his mood unsympathetic; and
+thus goaded to an enthusiasm he did not feel he retorted:
+
+"Well, it's purty enough, then, but that ruff must leak like a sieve."
+
+"It's all mossy green on one side----"
+
+"Where the shingles is rotten."
+
+"And the dear little window-panes are like an old-fashioned picture!"
+
+"A right smart of 'em is cracked or burst entirely."
+
+"O Jim! How very unromantic you are! But you cannot say but that the
+vines are beautiful!"
+
+"I've heard they're fust-class for givin' folks the rheumatiz."
+
+Dorothy's enthusiasm ebbed. Rheumatism was the one malady that sometimes
+affected mother Martha's health. But she was not to be dashed by
+forebodings, and pointing to the garden declared:
+
+"You cannot say a thing against our garden, anyway. Think of all that
+room for roses and posies and everything nice!"
+
+"Garden? I call it a reg'lar weed-patch."
+
+Dorothy heaved a sigh which seemed to come from her very shoes.
+
+"You're--you're perfectly horrid, Jim Barlow. But I heard you say, once,
+while we were working on that truck-farm, that the thing you most longed
+for--after your education--was to own land. Look yonder, all that
+ground, inside those big stone walls, is ours, _ours_! Mr. Barlow.
+Behold and envy! Even on that untilled land flowers grow. See them?"
+
+"Pshaw! Them's mullein. Ain't no surer sign o' poor soil than a passel
+o' mullein stalks. Stuns and mullein--Your pa's got a job ahead of him!
+Now I'm goin' on. I was told to give this basket to Mis' Chester and
+this note I've got in my jumper pocket to Mr. I'd ruther you'd take 'em,
+only I was _told_; and we've stood here foolin' so long, I've got to
+hurry like lightnin'. Take care that dog!"
+
+With that Jim set his aching feet once more in the path of duty and
+Dorothy C. marched along beside him, her head held high in disdain but
+with a twinkle in her eye and mischief in her heart. Jim didn't like
+girls! Well, there was Alfaretta Babcock waiting for him, and he should
+be made to go through a formal introduction in punishment for his want
+of sympathy! She managed that he should precede her through the narrow
+doorway, into the very presence of the unknown, and chuckled in delight
+over his sudden, awkward pause, his flustered manner, and his attempt to
+back out of the little kitchen.
+
+Mrs. Chester had gone up the stairs, to help her husband around the
+corner of the house and down the slope to the kitchen where breakfast
+was waiting and the three Misses Babcock with it. They sat in a row on
+the old lounge, their pink sunbonnets folded upon their blue-print laps,
+alert with the novelty of their situation and for "what next."
+
+"Miss Alfaretta Babcock--Mr. James Barlow, of Baltimore. The Misses
+Baretta and Claretta Babcock--Mr. Barlow," announced Dorothy with
+perfect gravity, yet anticipating a funny, awkward scene. But she was
+unprepared for what really did happen, as Alfaretta promptly left the
+lounge, swept a most remarkable courtesy before the bashful lad, and
+seizing both his hands--dog-chain and all--in her own plump ones,
+exclaimed:
+
+"Oh! Ain't I glad I come! You're the 'hero' that Mis' Judge Satterlee
+calls you! I meant to get to know you, soon's ever I could, but this
+beats the Dutch! I saw you in Mis' Calvert's carriage, last night all
+dressed up, and I was scared of you, but I ain't now. You might be just
+Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, though you're too tall for John. He's my
+littlest brother. Pshaw! To think any plain kind of a boy, same's them,
+could be a 'hero.' Ain't that queer? Did you come to breakfast, too? You
+fetched yours in a basket, didn't you? I would, too, but ma she hadn't
+nothing nice cooked up, and she was sort of scared offerin' city folks
+country victuals. My! Here comes Mis' Chester and her man. Won't they be
+tickled to see you!"
+
+For a moment, after Alfaretta seized him, Jim looked full as flustered
+as Dorothy had desired: then all his awkwardness vanished before the
+hearty good will of the girl and he found himself shaking her hands with
+a warmth of cordiality equaling her own. She was as honest and
+simple-natured as himself, and instead of being amused by their meeting
+Dorothy soon felt something much nearer envy of Alfaretta's power to
+win liking and confidence.
+
+Then she saw through the window father John limping down the path on his
+crutches, and hurried out to meet him; also to ask of the housemistress:
+
+"Isn't there something I can do to help? How can we feed so many people?
+for, mother dear, Jim's come, too!"
+
+"Oh! that's all right, deary. I cooked a lot of stuff, yesterday; made a
+feast for your homecoming. We'll have to use for breakfast what was
+meant for dinner. I was dismayed by those children coming, but I'm more
+than glad to have that boy here. We all owe him much, Dolly darling;"
+and mother Martha caught her restored child in a grateful embrace.
+
+Poor Jim was far more ill at ease in the presence of Mr. and Mrs.
+Chester than he had been with Alfaretta: fidgeting under their thanks
+and praises, which they had vainly tried to express during their brief
+interview of the night before, and honestly astonished that anybody
+should make such ado over so trifling a matter.
+
+"'Twan't nothin'. Not a mite. Anybody'd ha' felt sorry for a girl was
+coaxed away from her folks, that-a-way. Pshaw! Don't! No. I've had my
+breakfast a'ready. I couldn't. Mis' Calvert, the old lady, she sent me
+to fetch this basket o' garden sass to Mis' Chester: an' this letter was
+for you, sir. I was to give it to you an' nobody elst. I'm obleeged to
+ye, ma'am, but I couldn't. I couldn't, nohow. I'm--I'm chock-full!"
+
+With this rather inelegant refusal, Jim turned his back on the
+neatly-spread table and fled through the doorway, dragging Ponce with
+him, overturning the too curious Claretta upon the floor, and making a
+vain effort to loosen Peter's chain from the arm of the chair where
+Dorothy had hastily fastened it.
+
+The result was disaster. Both dogs jerked themselves free and gayly
+dashed forward toward the road leading down the mountain to the villages
+at its foot, instead of that leafy lane which would have brought them
+home to their own kennel. Their long chains dangled behind them, or
+whirled from side to side, catching in wayside obstructions, but in no
+wise hindering their mad rush.
+
+Scarcely less mad was poor Jim's speed following in pursuit, and the day
+that had begun so joyously for him was destined to end in gloom. Only
+the week previous there had been an alarm of "mad dog" in the twin
+villages, "Upper" and "Lower" Riverside, and local authority was keen to
+corral any unmuzzled canines; and when these formidable Great Danes of
+Mrs. Calvert tore wildly through the street, people hastily retreated
+indoors, while the two constables with pistols, joined by a few brave
+citizens, gave Peter and Ponce a race for their lives.
+
+To them it was all fun. Never, in their city restricted career, had they
+dreamed of such wide stretches over which to exercise their mighty
+limbs; and, heretofore, during their summer stays at Deerhurst they had
+been closely kept within bounds. They were so big that many people were
+frightened by that mere fact of size and it had been useless for their
+doting mistress to assure her neighbors that:
+
+"They are as gentle as kittens unless they are interfered with. They
+always recognize the difference between honest persons and tramps."
+
+The argument was not convincing. Even a "tramp" might be honest and, in
+any case, would certainly object to being bitten; therefore the
+beautiful creatures had lived their days out at the end of a chain and
+now, for the first, tasted the sweets of liberty.
+
+The affair ended by the dogs escaping and finally making their way home
+almost unobserved, very weary, and reposing with an air of great
+innocence before their kennel door, where Ephraim the colored coachman
+discovered them and ejaculated in great surprise:
+
+"Fo' de lan' o' love! How come dese yeah dogs done gone got dey chains
+broke? 'Peahs lak somebody gwine a spite my Miss Betty fo' keepin' 'em,
+anyhow. Mebbe"--here Ephraim's black face turned a shade
+paler--"mebbe--somepin's gwine to happen! Dere sholy is! Mebbe--mebbe
+some dem burgaleers I'se heerd of gwine--gwine----"
+
+Visions of disasters too dire to be put into words cut short the old
+man's speech, and hastily fetching pieces of rope he proceeded to
+refasten the dogs to the kennel staples, and was much surprised that
+they submitted so quietly. Then, being as wise as he was faithful, he
+resolved to say nothing, at present, to the lady of Deerhurst about this
+incident, reflecting that:
+
+"My Miss Betty she ain' sca'ed o' nobody, burgaleers er nothin'. Ef ol'
+Eph done tol' her erbout dis yeah succumstance she's boun' to set up de
+whole endurin' night a-lookin' out fo' trouble, wid dat dere
+pistol-volver in her han's, all ready fo' to shoot de fust creachah puts
+foot on groun'. Lak's not shoot de wrong one too. She's done got a
+pow'ful quick tempah, my Miss Betty has, same's all my Somerset family
+had, bein' fust quality folks lak dey was. No, suh! Dere's times fo' to
+talk an' dere's times fo' to keep yo' mouf shut. Dis yeah's one dem
+times, shuah ernuf."
+
+So, fully satisfied which of these "times" the present chanced to be,
+the old coachman departed stableward to attend upon his beloved bays and
+to make ready for his mistress's morning drive.
+
+Meanwhile, on the street of Lower Riverside, Jim Barlow had come to
+fresh grief. In his frantic chase of the runaway dogs he had almost
+caught up with Ponce, who suddenly darted into an open doorway of the
+post-office just as a gentleman emerged from it, carrying a pile of
+letters and papers just arrived in the early mail. A collision of the
+three was inevitable, and Ponce was the only one who came out from it
+intact.
+
+With outstretched arms, believing that he had already captured one of
+the Great Danes, poor Jim threw himself headlong upon the gentleman, who
+staggered under the unexpected blow and fell backward upon the floor,
+with the lad atop. In the ensuing struggle to rise they forgot the dog,
+the animal rushing out of doors again as swiftly as he had rushed
+within.
+
+Instantly there was great commotion. The postmaster hurried to the
+rescue, as did the crowd of other persons awaiting the distribution of
+the mail; but the assaulted gentleman proved as agile as he was furious
+and, as he gained his own feet, Jim found himself being shaken till he
+lost his balance again and went down at the stranger's side.
+
+"You unmannerly lubber! How dare you? I say, how dare you knock me down
+like that? Set your dog on me, would you? Do you know who I am?"
+
+The lad was slow to anger, but once roused could be as furious as the
+other. His natural impulse was greater than his knowledge of the world,
+and his answer was to send a telling blow into the gentleman's face.
+This was "assault" in truth, and oddly enough seemed to restore the
+victim to perfect coolness. With a bow he accepted the return of the
+eyeglasses which had been knocked from his nose during the mêlée and
+turned to the perturbed postmaster, saying:
+
+"Mr. Spence, where is the nearest justice of the peace?"
+
+"Why--why, Mr. Montaigne, sir, I think he----"
+
+"Simmons is out of town. He and Squire Randall have both gone to
+Newburgh on that big case, you know," interposed a bystander.
+
+"Sure enough. Well then, Mr. Montaigne, the nearest justice available
+this morning is Seth Winters, the blacksmith, up-mountain. Right near
+your own place, sir, you know."
+
+"Thanks. Do you know this boy?"
+
+"Never saw him before," answered Mr. Spence. Then, as Jim started to
+make his way outward through the crowd, he laid a firmly detaining hand
+upon his shoulder and forced him to remain or again resort to violence.
+"But I'll find out, sir, if you wish."
+
+"Do so, please. Or I presume a constable can do that for me. As for you,
+young ruffian--we shall meet again."
+
+With that the gentleman flicked off some of the dust which had lodged
+upon his fine clothing, again carefully readjusted his glasses, and
+stepped out to the smart little trap awaiting his convenience.
+Everything about the equipage and his own appearance betokened wealth,
+as well as did the almost servile attentions of his fellow townsmen;
+though one old man to whom he was a stranger inquired:
+
+"That the fellow who's built that fine house on the Heights, beyond
+Deerhurst?"
+
+Mr. Spence wheeled about and demanded in surprise:
+
+"What? _you_ here, Winters? And don't you know your own mountain
+neighbors? Did you see the whole affair?"
+
+"I do not know that gentleman, though, of course, I do know his
+employees, who have brought his horses to me to be shod. Nor do I call
+anybody a 'neighbor' till I've found him such. The accident of living
+side by side can't make neighbors. My paper, please? We're going to have
+a glorious day."
+
+It was noticeable that while the roughly clad old man was speaking, the
+excited voices of the others in the office had quieted entirely, and
+that as he received his weekly paper--his "one extravagance"--they also
+remembered and attended to the business which had brought them there.
+
+As Mr. Winters left the place he laid his hand upon Jim's shoulder and
+said:
+
+"Come with me, my lad. Our roads lie together."
+
+The boy glanced into the rugged yet benignant face turned toward him and
+saw something in it which calmed his own anger; and without a word he
+turned and followed.
+
+"Goodness! If the young simpleton hasn't gone off with the Squire of his
+own accord!" remarked one they had left behind.
+
+But untutored Jim Barlow knew nothing of law or "justices." All he knew
+was that he had looked into the eyes of a friend and trusted him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ON THE ROAD TO SOUTH MEADOW
+
+
+For a moment the group in the kitchen at Skyrie were dismayed by Jim
+Barlow's sudden departure and the escape of the dogs. Then Dorothy, who
+knew him best, declared:
+
+"He'll catch them. Course. Jim always can do what he wants to do;
+and--shall we never, never, have our breakfast? Why, Alfaretta, you
+thoughtful girl! Why didn't I know enough to do that myself? Not leave
+it to you, the 'company'!"
+
+Mrs. Chester turned back from the doorway, where she had been trying to
+follow the dogs' movements, and saw that their guest had quietly
+possessed herself of a colander from the closet and had hulled the
+berries into it; and that she was now holding it over the little sink
+and gently rinsing the fruit with cold water.
+
+The housemistress smiled her prompt approval, though she somewhat
+marveled at this stranger's assured manner, which made her as much at
+home in another's house as in her own.
+
+"Why, Alfaretta, how kind! Thank you very much. How fragrant those wild
+berries are! You must have a good mother to have been taught such
+helpful ways."
+
+"Yes, ma'am. She's smarter'n lightnin', ma is. She's a terrible worker,
+too, and pa he says she tires him out she's so driv' all the time. Do
+you sugar your strawberries in the dish? or let folks do it theirselves,
+like Mis' Judge Satterlee does? She's one the 'ristocratics lives
+up-mounting here and a real nice woman, even if she is rich. Pa he says
+no rich folks can be nice. He says everybody'd ought to have just the
+same lot of money and no difference. But ma says 't if pa had all the
+money there was he'd get rid of it quicker'n you could say Jack
+Robinson. She says if 'twas all divided just the same 'twouldn't be no
+time at all 'fore it would all get round again to the same hands had it
+first. She says the smart ones 'd get it and the lazy ones 'd lose
+it--Claretta Babcock! Wipe your nose. Ma put a nice clean rag in your
+pocket, and come to breakfast. It's ready, ain't it, Mis' Chester?"
+
+The greatly amused Mr. Chester had taken a chair by the window and drawn
+Dorothy to his side; whence, without offering her own services, she had
+watched the proceedings of mother Martha and Alfaretta. The one had
+carefully unpacked the basket which Jim had brought, and found it
+contained not only some fine fruit but a jar of honey, a pan of "hot
+bread"--without which no southern breakfast is considered complete--and
+half a boiled ham. For a moment, as the mistress of Skyrie surveyed
+these more substantial offerings she was inclined to resent them. A bit
+of fruit--that was one thing; but, poor though she might be, she had not
+yet arrived at the point of being grateful for "cold victuals"!
+
+Yet she was almost as promptly ashamed of the feeling and remembered a
+saying of her wiser husband's: "It takes more grace to accept a favor
+than to bestow one." Besides, with these three hungry visiting children,
+the addition to her pantry stores would be very timely.
+
+"Such a breakfast as this is! I never laughed so much at any meal in my
+life!" cried Dorothy, at last finding a chance to edge in a word of her
+own between Alfaretta's incessant chatterings. "But, Alfaretta, do they
+always call you by your whole, full name?"
+
+"No, they don't. Most the time I'm just Alfy, or Sis. Baretta she's
+mostly just Retty; and Clary's Clary. Saves time, that way; though ma
+says no use having high-soundin' names without using 'em, so she never
+clips us herself. Pa he does. He says life's too short and he ain't got
+time to roll his tongue 'round so much. But ma she tells him 't a man 't
+never does anything else might as well talk big words as little ones. Pa
+he's a Nanarchist. Ever see one? They're awful queer-lookin'; least pa
+is, an' I s'pose the rest is just like him. His hair's real red and he
+never combs it. He'd disdain to! And he's got the longest, thickest
+whiskers of anybody in Riverside, Upper or Lower, or Newburgh either.
+He's terrible proud of his whiskers, but ma don't like 'em. She says
+they catch dirt and take away all his ambition. She says if he'd cut 'em
+off and look more like other men she'd be real proud of him, he's such
+a good talker. Ma says I'm just like him, that way," naïvely concluded
+this entertaining young person, who saw no reason why her own family
+affairs should not become public property. Then without waiting for her
+hostess to set her the example she coolly pushed back from the table,
+announcing with satisfaction: "I'm done: and I've et real hearty too.
+Where's your dishpan at, Mis' Chester? I'll wash up for you, then we can
+all go outdoors and look 'round. I s'pose you've been down to the gold
+mine, ain't you?"
+
+"Gold mine? Is there one on these premises? Why, that's the very thing
+we need!" laughed father John, working his chair backward from leg to
+leg and taking the crutches Dorothy brought him. Even yet she could not
+keep the look of pity from her brown eyes whenever she saw the once
+active postman depend upon these awkward, "wooden feet," as he jestingly
+called them.
+
+But he had become quite familiar with them now, and managed to get about
+the old farm with real alacrity, and had already laid many ingenious
+plans for working it. He had a hopeful, sunny nature, and never looked
+upon the dark side of things if he could help it. As he often told his
+wife, she "could do enough of that for both of them:" and though he had
+now fallen upon dark days he looked for every ray of sunshine that might
+brighten them.
+
+Not the least of these was the safe return of his adopted daughter, and
+with her at hand he felt that even his lameness was a mere trifle and
+not at all a bar to his success. Succeed he would--he must! There was no
+other thing left possible. What if his feet had failed him? Was he not
+still a man, with a clear head and infinite patience? Besides, as he
+quoted to Martha: "God never shuts one door but He opens another."
+
+Now as he rose to go outdoors with Dorothy he remembered the letter Jim
+Barlow had brought him. Letter? It appeared rather like some legal
+document, with its big envelope and the direction written upon it:
+"_Important._ Not to be opened until after my death, unless I personally
+direct otherwise. (Signed), Elisabeth Cecil Somerset-Calvert." The
+envelope was addressed to himself, by his own full name, and "in case
+of his death," to his wife, also by her full title. The date of a few
+days previous had been placed in an upper corner, and the whole matter
+was, evidently, one of deliberate consideration.
+
+Calling Mrs. Chester aside he showed it to her and they both realized
+that they had received some sort of trust, to be sacredly guarded: but
+why should such have been intrusted to them--mere humble acquaintances
+of the great lady who had bestowed it? and where could it be most safely
+kept?
+
+After a moment's pondering mother Martha's face lost its perplexity and,
+taking the paper from her husband's hand, she whispered:
+
+"I know! I've just thought of a place nobody would ever suspect. I'll
+hide it and tell you--show and when----"
+
+Then all at once they perceived the too bright eyes of Alfaretta Babcock
+fixed upon them with a curiosity that nothing escaped. In their interest
+concerning the letter they had forgotten her, busy at her task in the
+rear of the room, and the others had already gone out of doors; yet even
+in the one brief glimpse she caught of that long, yellow envelope, she
+knew its every detail. Of course, she was too far away to distinguish
+the words written upon it, but she could have described to a nicety
+where each line was placed and its length. Nor did she hesitate to
+disclose her knowledge, as she exclaimed:
+
+"My! That was a big letter that 'hero' boy brought, wasn't it? Have you
+read it yet? Ain't you going to? Pshaw! I'd like to know what it's all
+about. I would so, real well. Ma she likes to hear letters read, too,
+and once we got one from my aunt who lives out west. My aunt is my pa's
+sister, an' she wanted him to move out there an' make a man of himself;
+but ma she said he couldn't do that no matter what part of the country
+he lived in, so he might's well stay where he was, where she was raised
+and folks 'round knew _she_ was the right sort if _he_ wasn't. So we
+stayed: but ma she carried that letter round a-showin' it to folks till
+it got all wore to rags, and Diary got it in her mouth an' nigh choked
+to death, tryin' to swaller it. So that was the end o' that!" concluded
+Miss Babcock, giving her dishcloth a wring and an airy flirt, which
+would have annoyed the careful housemistress had she been there to see.
+
+However, at the very beginning of Alfaretta's present harangue, she had
+perceived that it would be a lengthy one and had slipped away without
+explaining to her husband where she would put the letter. Mr. Chester
+also drew himself up on his crutches and swung across the floor and out
+of doors. Alfaretta's gossip, which had at first amused him, now bored
+him, and he was ashamed for her that she had so little respect for her
+parents as to relate their differences to strangers. Unconsciously, he
+put into his usual friendly manner a new sternness: but this had no
+further effect upon the talkative girl than to make her probe her memory
+for something more interesting. Following him through the doorway she
+laid her hand on his shoulder and begged:
+
+"Say, Mr. Chester, let me fetch that big wheel-chair o' yours an' let me
+roll you down through the south medder to the mine. To where it's
+covered, I mean. I can do it first-rate. I'm as strong as strong! See my
+arms? That comes from helpin' ma with the wash. Once I done it all
+alone and Mis' Judge Satterlee she said 'twas 'most as good as ma 'd
+have done. Do let me, Mr. Chester! I'd admire to!"
+
+The ex-postman looked around and whistled. There was no use in trying to
+oppose or frown upon this amazing little maid, whose round face was the
+embodiment of good-nature, and whose desire to help anybody and
+everybody was so sincere. Besides, there was in her expression an
+absence of that "pity" which hurt his pride, even when seen upon his
+darling Dorothy's own face. She seemed to accept his crutches and
+rolling chair as quite in the natural order of things, like her own
+sturdy bare feet and her big red arms.
+
+"Well, my lass, certainly you are kindness itself. I thought I had
+hobbled over nearly the whole of this little farm, but I chanced upon no
+'mine' of any sort, though if there's one existing I'd mightily like to
+find it. But I don't think you could roll me very far on this rough
+ground. Wheel-chairs are better fitted to smooth floors and pavements
+than rocky fields."
+
+Alfaretta paid no attention to his objection, except to spin the chair
+out from its corner of the kitchen, or living-room, and to place it
+ready for his use. She was as full of delight and curiosity concerning
+this helpful article as over every other new thing she saw, and promptly
+expressed herself thus:
+
+"I'm as proud as Punch to be let handle such an elegant chair. My heart!
+Ain't them leather cushions soft as chicken feathers! And the wheels go
+round easy as fallin' off a log. I'd admire to be lame myself if I could
+be rid around in such a sort o' carriage as this. Must have cost a pile
+of money. How much was it, Mr. Chester?"
+
+"I don't know. It was a gift from my old comrades at the post-office:
+but don't, child, don't 'admire' to possess anything so terrible as this
+helplessness of mine! With your young healthful body you are rich beyond
+measure."
+
+For the first time she saw an expression of gloom and almost despair
+cloud the cheerful face of her new acquaintance, and though she thought
+him very silly to consider health as good as wealth she did not say so;
+but with real gentleness helped him to swing his crippled body into the
+chair and set off at a swift pace across the field.
+
+All the others had preceded them; even Mrs. Chester having joined the
+group, determined not to lose sight of her Dorothy again, even for a few
+moments: and also resolved that, for once, she would forego her usual
+industry and make a happy holiday.
+
+For a time all went well. The ground near the house was not so very
+rough and the slope southward was a gentle one. The chair rolled easily
+enough and, for a wonder, Alfaretta's tongue was still. Not since he had
+arrived at Skyrie had father John had so comfortable a chance to look
+over the land; and whatever gloom he had for a moment shown soon gave
+way before the beauty of the day and the delight of feasting his eyes
+upon Dorothy's trim little figure, skipping along before him.
+
+Presently she came running back to join him and with her own hand beside
+Alfy's, on the handle of his chair, to start that talkative body on a
+fresh topic.
+
+"Tell us about the ghost Jim Barlow said 'haunts' dear Skyrie, Alfy,
+please. You've heard of it, too, course."
+
+"Heard? I should say I had! Why, everybody knows _that_, an' I can't
+scarce believe you don't yourself. Pshaw! Then maybe you wouldn't have
+moved up-mounting if you had ha' known. When she heard you was comin' ma
+she said how 't you must be real brave folks. She wouldn't live here if
+you'd give her the hull farm. _I--I seen--it once--myself!_" concluded
+Alfaretta, dropping her voice to an awestruck whisper and thrusting her
+head forward to peer into father John's face and see if he believed her.
+
+He laughed and Dorothy clapped her hands, demanding:
+
+"What was he like? Was it a 'he' or a lady 'haunt'? How perfectly
+romantic and delightful! Tell, tell, quick!"
+
+Alfaretta's face assumed a look of great solemnity and a shiver of real
+fear ran over her. These new people might laugh at the Skyrie ghost, but
+to her it was no laughing matter. Indeed, she had such a dread of the
+subject that it had been the one her loquacious tongue had abjured,
+leaving it to the newcomer, Jim Barlow, to introduce it. But now--Well!
+If they wanted to hear about the dreadful thing it might be wise to
+gratify them.
+
+"He's a--'he.' Everybody says that who's seen 'him,'" began the
+narrator, still in an unnaturally subdued tone.
+
+"Good enough!" ejaculated Mr. Chester, gayly, entering into the spirit
+of fun he saw shining on Dorothy's face, and glad indeed that his
+impressionable child did not take this statement seriously. "Good
+enough! He'll be company for me, for I greatly miss men companions."
+
+"I guess you won't like _him_ for no companion, Mr. Chester. Why, the
+very place he stays the most is in--_that very--room you--come out of to
+your breakfast_--where you stay, too!" cried Alfaretta, impressively.
+"But other times he lives in the gold mine."
+
+Father John looked back at Dorothy and merrily quoted a verse--slightly
+altered to fit the occasion:
+
+    "I never saw a Skyrie Ghost,
+      I never hope to see one;
+    But I can tell you, anyhow
+      I'd rather see than be one."
+
+Dorothy as merrily and promptly joined in this remodeled ditty of the
+"Purple Cow," but they were destined never to complete it; because,
+absorbed in her own relation and astonished at their light treatment of
+it, Alfaretta ceased to observe the smoothness or roughness of their
+path and inadvertently propelled the wheel-chair into a wide, open
+ditch, whose edge was veiled by a luxurious growth of weeds.
+
+An instant later the wheels were uppermost, the two girls had been
+projected upon them, and poor father John buried beneath the whole.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH
+
+
+As the old man called Winters left the post-office he struck out for the
+mountain road, a smooth macadamized thoroughfare kept in perfect order
+for the benefit of the wealthy summer residents of the Heights, whither
+it led: but he soon left it for a leafy ravine that ran alongside and
+was rich with the sights and sounds of June.
+
+Whether he did this from habit, being an ardent lover of nature, or
+because he knew that all anger must be soothed by the songs of birds and
+the perfume of flowers, can only be guessed. Certain it is that if he
+sought to obtain the latter result for his disturbed companion, who had
+as silently followed him into the shady by-way as he had from the
+crowded office, he fully succeeded.
+
+The ravine, like the road, climbed steadily upward, and the noisy little
+stream that tumbled through it made a soothing accompaniment to the
+bird songs: and in his own delight of listening the old man almost
+forgot his fellow traveler. Almost, but not quite; for just at a point
+where the gully branched eastward and he paused to admire, a sigh fell
+on Seth Winters's ear, and set him face backward, smiling cheerily and
+remarking:
+
+"This is one of my resting-spots. Let's stop a minute. The moss--or
+lichen--on this bowlder must be an inch thick. Dry as a feather cushion,
+too, because the sun strikes this particular place as soon as it rises
+above old Beacon, across the river. Sit, please."
+
+He seated himself as he spoke, and Jim dropped down beside him.
+
+"Beautiful, isn't it, lad? And made for just us two to appreciate, it
+may be: for I doubt if any others ever visit this hidden nook. Think of
+the immeasurable wealth of a Providence who could create such a wonder
+for just two insignificant human beings. Ah! but it takes my breath
+away!" and as if in the presence of Deity itself, the blacksmith
+reverently bared his head.
+
+Unconsciously, Jim doffed his own new straw hat; though his companion
+smiled, realizing that the action was due to example merely, or even to
+a heated forehead. But he commended, saying:
+
+"That's right. A man can think better with his head uncovered. If it
+wouldn't rouse too much idle talk I'd never wear a hat, the year round."
+
+To this the troubled lad made no reply. Indeed, he scarcely noticed what
+was said, he was so anxious over the affair of the morning; and, with
+another prodigious sigh, he suddenly burst forth;
+
+"What in the world 'll I do!"
+
+"Do right, of course. That's easy."
+
+"Huh! But when a feller don't know which is right--Pshaw!"
+
+"You might as well tell me the whole story. I'm bound to hear it in the
+end, you know, because I'm the justice of the peace whom that angry
+gentleman was in pursuit of. If his common sense doesn't get the better
+of his anger, you'll likely be served a summons to appear before me and
+answer for your 'assault.' But--he hasn't applied to me yet; and until
+he does I've a right to hear all you have to say. Better begin at the
+beginning of things."
+
+Jim looked up perplexed. He had only very vague ideas of justice as
+administered by law and, at present, he cared little about that. If he
+could make this fine old fellow see right into his heart, for a minute,
+he was sure he would be given good advice. He even opened his lips to
+speak, but closed them again with a sense of the uselessness of the
+attempt. So that it was with the surprise of one who first listens to a
+"mind reader" that he heard Seth Winters say:
+
+"I know all about you. If you can't talk for yourself, my lad, I'll talk
+for you. You are an orphan. As far as you know there isn't a human being
+living who has any claim to your services by reason of blood
+relationship. You worked like a bond slave for an exacting old woman
+truck-farmer until pity got the better of your abnormal sense of 'duty,'
+when you ran away and helped a kidnapped girl to reach her friends. In
+recognition of your brave action my neighbor, Mrs. Betty Calvert, has
+taken you in hand to give you a chance to make a man of yourself. She is
+going to test your character further and, if you prove worthy, will give
+you the education you covet more than anything else in life. She
+brought you here last night and this morning trusted you with two
+important matters: the delivery to a certain gentleman, whom as yet I do
+not know, of a confidential letter: and the care of her Great Danes,
+creatures which she looks upon as almost wiser than human beings and
+considers her stanchest friends. The latter safely reached Mr. Chester's
+hands; but--the Danes? What shall we do about the Danes, Jim Barlow?"
+
+"Thun--der--a--tion! You must be one them air wizards I heerd Mis' Stott
+tell about, 't used to be in that Germany country where she was raised.
+Why--pshaw! I feel as if you'd turned me clean inside out! How--how come
+it?"
+
+"In the most natural way. The men who print newspapers search closely
+for a bit of 'news,' and so your simple story got into the columns of my
+weekly. Besides, Mrs. Betty Calvert and I are lifelong friends. Our
+fathers' estates in old Maryland lay side by side. She's a gossip, Betty
+is, and who so delightful to gossip with as an old man who's known your
+whole life from A to izzard? So when she can't seat herself in my
+little smithy and hinder my work by chattering there, she must needs
+put all her thoughts and actions on a bit of writing paper and send it
+through the post. Now, my lad, I've talked to you more than common. Do
+you know why?"
+
+"No, I don't, and it sounds like some them yarns Dorothy C. used to make
+up whilst we was pickin' berries in the sun, just to make it come easier
+like. She can tell more stories, right out her plain head 'n a feller 'd
+believe! She's awful clever, Dorothy is--and spell! My sakes! If I could
+spell like her I'd be sot up. But I don't see how just bein' befriended
+by Mis' Calvert made you talk to me so much."
+
+The blacksmith laughed, and answered:
+
+"Indeed, lad, it wasn't that. That big-hearted woman has so many
+protégés that one more or less scarcely interests me. Only for something
+in themselves. Well, it was something in yourself. Down there in the
+office, while I stood behind a partition and nobody saw me--I would hide
+anywhere to keep out of a quarrel!--I saw you, the very instant after
+Mr. Montaigne had shaken you and you'd struck back, lift your foot and
+step aside because a poor little caterpillar was crawling across the
+floor and you were in danger of crushing it. It was a very little thing
+in itself, but a big thing to have been done by a boy in the terrific
+passion you were. It was one of God's creatures, and you spared it. I
+believe you're worth knowing. But I'd like to have that belief confirmed
+by hearing what you are going to do next. Let us go on."
+
+They both rose and each carrying his hat in his hand, the better to
+facilitate "thinking," went silently onward again. It was a long climb,
+something more than two miles, but the ravine ended at length in a
+meadow on the sloping hillside, which Seth Winters crossed by a tiny
+footpath. Then they were upon the smooth white road again. Before them
+rose the fine mansions of those residents designated by Alfaretta as the
+"aristocratics," and scattered here and there among these larger estates
+were the humbler homes of the farmer folk who had dwelt "up-mounting"
+long before it had become the fashionable "Heights."
+
+Not far ahead lay Deerhurst, the very first of the expensive dwellings
+to be erected amid such a wilderness of rocks and trees: its massive
+stone walls half-hidden by the ivy clambering over them, its judiciously
+trimmed "vistas" through which one might look northward to the Catskills
+and downward to the valley bordering the great Hudson.
+
+Just within the clematis-draped entrance-pillars stood the picturesque
+lodge where the childless couple lived who had charge of the estate and
+with whom Jim was to stay. He had been assigned a pleasant upper
+chamber, comfortably fitted up with what seemed to its humble occupant
+almost palatial splendor. Best of all, there hung upon the wall of this
+chamber a little book-rack filled with well-selected literature. And,
+though the boy did not know this, the books had been chosen to meet just
+his especial case by Seth Winters himself, at the behest of his old
+friend, Mrs. Calvert, immediately upon her decision to bring Jim to
+Deerhurst.
+
+Even now, one volume lay on the window ledge, where the happy lad had
+risen to study it as soon as daylight came. He fancied that he could
+see it, even at this distance, and another of his prodigious sighs
+issued from his lips.
+
+"Well, lad. We have come to the parting of the ways, at least for the
+present. My smithy lies yonder, beyond that turn of the road and behind
+the biggest oak tree in the country. Behind the shop is another mighty
+fellow, known all over this countryside as the 'Great Balm of Gilead.'
+It's as old, maybe, as 'the everlasting hills,' and seems to hold the
+strength of one. I've built an iron fence around it, to protect its bark
+from the knives of silly people who would carve their names upon it,
+and--it's well worth seeing. Good-by."
+
+"Hold on! Say. You seem so friendly like, mebbe--mebbe you could give me
+a job."
+
+"No, I couldn't," came the answer with unexpected sharpness, yet a tinge
+of regret.
+
+"Why not? I'm strong--strong as blazes, for all I'm kind of lean 'count
+of growin' so fast. And I'm steady. If you could see Mirandy Stott,
+she'd have to 'low that, no matter how mad she was about my leavin'.
+Give me a job, won't ye?"
+
+"No. I thought you were going to do right. Good-morning;" and, as if he
+wholly gave up his apparent interest in the lad, Seth Winters, known
+widely and well as the "Learned Blacksmith," strode rapidly homeward to
+his daily toil, feeling that he had indeed wasted his morning; and he
+was a man to whom every hour was precious.
+
+Jim's perplexity was such that he would far rather run away and turn his
+back on all these new helpful friends than return to Deerhurst and
+confess his unfaithfulness to his duty. He fancied he could hear Mrs.
+Cecil saying:
+
+"Well, I tried you and found you wanting. I shall never trust you again.
+You can go where you please, for you've had your chance and wasted it."
+
+Of course, even in fancy, he couldn't frame sentences just like these,
+but the spirit of them was plain enough to his mind. The dogs--One
+thought of these, at that moment, altered everything. It had been
+commented upon by all the retainers of the house of Calvert that such
+discriminating animals had made instant friends with the uncouth farm
+boy. This had flattered his pride and his fondness for all dumb
+creatures had made them dear to him beyond his own belief. Poor Ponce!
+Poor Peter! If they suffered because of his negligence--Well, he must
+make what atonement he could!
+
+His doubts sank to rest though his reluctance to follow the dictates of
+his conscience did not; and it was by actual force he dragged his
+unwilling feet through the great stone gateway and along the driveway to
+that shady veranda where he saw the mistress of Deerhurst sitting, ready
+waiting for her morning drive and the arrival of Ephraim. As Jim
+approached she looked at him curiously. Why should he come by that road
+when he was due from another? and why was he not long ago transplanting
+those celery seedlings which she had directed him should be his first
+day's labor?
+
+As he reached the wide steps he snatched off his hat again; not, as she
+fancied, from an instinctive respect to her but to cool his hot face,
+and without prelude jerked out the whole of his story:
+
+"Mis' Calvert, ma'am, I've lost your dogs. I've been in a fight. I'm
+going to be arrested an' took afore a judge-blacksmith. Likely I'll be
+jailed. 'Tain't no sort o' use sayin' I'm sorry--that don't even touch
+to what I feel inside me. You give me a chance an'--an'--I wasn't worth
+it. I'll go, now, and--and soon's I can get a job an' earn somethin'
+I'll send you back your clothes. Good-by."
+
+"Stop! Wait! _You lost my dogs!_" cried Mrs. Cecil, springing up and in
+a tone which brooked no disobedience: a tone such as a high-born dame
+might sometimes use to an inferior but was rarely heard from this real
+gentlewoman; a tone that, despite the humility and self-contempt he felt
+at that moment, stung the unhappy youth like a whip-lash. "Explain. At
+once. If they're lost they must be found. That you've been foolish
+enough to fight and get arrested--that's your own affair--nothing to me;
+but my dogs, my priceless, splendid, irreplaceable Great Danes! Boy, you
+might as well have struck me on my very heart. Where? When? Oh! if I had
+never, never seen you!"
+
+Poor Jim said nothing. He stood waiting with bowed head while she
+lavished her indignation upon him, and realizing, for the first, how
+great a part of a lonely old life even dumb animals may become. When,
+for want of breath, or further power to contemn, she sank back in her
+stoop chair, he turned to go, a dejected, disappointed creature that
+would have moved Mrs. Cecil's heart to pity, had she opened her eyes to
+look. But she had closed them in a sort of hopeless despair, and he had
+already retraced his footsteps some distance toward the outer road when
+there sounded upon the air that which sent her to her feet again--this
+time in wild delight--and arrested him where he stood.
+
+At once, following those joyful barks, that both hearers would have
+recognized anywhere, came the leaping, springing dogs; dangling their
+broken chains and the freshly gnawed and broken ropes--with which old
+Ephraim had unwisely reckoned to restrain them from the sweets of a once
+tasted liberty.
+
+But even amid her sudden rejoicing where had been profound sorrow, the
+doting mistress of the troublesome Great Danes felt a sharp tinge of
+jealousy.
+
+"They're safe, the precious creatures! But--they went to that farm boy
+first!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+AN ACCIDENT AND AN APPARITION
+
+
+The screams of Dorothy and Alfaretta brought Mrs. Chester hurrying back
+to them and as she saw what had happened her alarm increased, for it
+seemed impossible that a helpless person, like her husband, should go
+through such an accident and come out safe.
+
+For a moment her strength left her and she turned giddy with fear,
+believing that she had brought her invalid here only to be killed. The
+next instant she was helping the girls to free themselves from the
+tangle of wheels, briars, and limbs; and then all three took hold of the
+heavy chair to lift it from the prostrate man.
+
+"John! John! Are you alive? Speak--do speak if you love me!" cried poor
+mother Martha, frantic with anxiety.
+
+But for a time, even after they had lifted him to the bank above, Mr.
+Chester lay still with closed eyes and no sign of life about him. There
+was a bruise upon his forehead where he had struck against a rock in
+falling; and, seeing him so motionless, poor Dorothy buried her face in
+her hands and sobbed aloud:
+
+"Oh! I've killed him! I've killed my precious father!"
+
+"There is a bridge across the ditch just yonder!--Why didn't you see it!
+How could you--" began Mrs. Chester; yet got no further in her
+up-braidings, for father John opened his eyes and looked confusedly
+about him.
+
+Either the sound of voices or the liberal dash of cold water, which
+thoughtful Alfaretta had rushed away to bring and throw upon him, had
+restored him to consciousness, and his beclouded senses rapidly became
+normal. It had been a great shock but, more fortunately than his
+frightened wife at first dared to believe, there were no broken bones,
+and it was with intense thankfulness that she now picked up his crutches
+and handed them to him at his demand.
+
+"Well, I reckon wooden feet are safest, after all! I've never--I'll
+never go without them. Good thing I brought them--No, thank you!
+Walking's good!" he cried, with all his usual spirit though in a weak
+voice.
+
+They had managed to get the chair into position and found it as
+uninjured as its owner. A few scratches here and there marred the polish
+of the frame and one cushion had sustained an ugly rent. It had been a
+very expensive purchase for the donors and an ill-advised one. A
+lighter, cheaper chair would have been far more serviceable; and, as
+father John tried to steady himself upon his crutches, he regarded it
+with his familiar, whimsical smile that comforted them all more readily
+than words:
+
+"The boys might as well have given me an automobile! Wouldn't have been
+much more clumsy--nor dangerous!" he declared, trying to swing himself
+forward from the spot where he stood, striving to steady himself upon
+his safer "wooden feet."
+
+"O John! how can you joke? You might be--be dead!" wailed mother Martha,
+weeping and unnerved for the first time, now that all danger was past.
+
+"And that's the best 'joke' of all. I might be but I'm not. So let's all
+heave--heave away! for that pleasant shore of a wide lounge and
+a--towel! With the best intentions--I've been ducked pretty wet!"
+
+"That was my fault! I'm awful sorry but--but--that time John Babcock he
+fell off the barn roof ma she flung a whole pail of water right out the
+rain-barrel onto him and that brung him to quicker'n scat. So I
+remembered and I'm real sorry now," explained Alfaretta, more abashed
+than ordinarily: and in her own heart feeling that the guilt of
+carelessness which caused the accident had been more hers than
+Dorothy's. "And nobody needn't scold Dolly C. 'Cause she didn't know
+about the bridge over an' I did, and----"
+
+"No, no! My fault, my very own!" interposed Dorothy hastily.
+
+"Let nobody blame nobody! All's well that ends well! Alfaretta mustn't
+regret her serviceable memory nor my drenching, for she's a wise little
+maid and I owe my 'coming to,' to her 'remembering.' As for you, Dolly
+darling, let me see another tear in your eye and I will 'scold' in
+earnest. Now, Martha, wife, I'll give it up. I'm rather shaky on my pins
+yet and the chair it must be, if I'm to put myself in connection with
+that lounge. I shan't need the towel after all. I've just let myself
+'dreen,' as my girl used to do with the dishes, sometimes!"
+
+He talked so cheerily and so naturally that he almost deceived them into
+believing that he was not a whit the worse for his tumble, and as they
+helped him to be seated and began to push him up the slope toward the
+cottage, he whistled as merrily as he had used to do upon his postal
+route.
+
+"And you ain't goin' to the gold mine after all?" asked Alfy, much
+disappointed. It was a spot she had hitherto shunned on account of its
+ghostly reputation, but was eager to visit now in company with these
+owners of it, who scoffed at the "haunt." She wanted to show them she
+was right and see what they would say then.
+
+"Gold mine? Trash! If there had been such a thing on this farm, a man as
+clever as my uncle Simon Waterman would have used some of the 'gold' to
+keep things in better shape. I don't want to hear any more of that
+nonsense, nor to have you, Dorothy, go searching for the place. Our
+first trip to hunt for gold has been a lesson to us all," said mother
+Martha, with such sharpness that Alfaretta stared and the others, who
+knew her better, realized that this was a time to keep silence.
+
+More than once that day was the good housewife tempted to send the three
+visiting Babcocks home, but was too courteous to do so. She longed to
+have her daughter to herself, and to discuss with her not only the
+happenings of the past but plans for the future. Besides this desire,
+she also saw, at last, how badly shaken by his fall her husband was and
+that he needed perfect quiet--a thing impossible to procure with
+Alfaretta Babcock in the cottage.
+
+However, the day wore away at length. The girl showed herself as useful
+in the dinner-getting and clearing away as she had done at breakfast
+time; also, she and her sisters brought to it as keen an appetite, so
+that, after all, the clearing away was not so great a matter as might
+be.
+
+Dorothy kept the smaller girls out of doors, helping them to make a
+playhouse with bits of stones, to stock it with broken crockery and
+holly-hock dolls, and to entrance them with her store of fairy tales to
+such a degree that Baretta decided:
+
+"I'm comin' again, Dorothy Chester. I'm comin' ever' single day they
+is."
+
+"Oh, no! You mustn't do that!" gasped the surprised young hostess. "I
+will have to work a great deal to help my mother and I shan't have time
+for visiting."
+
+"Me come, too, Do'thy Chetter," lisped Claretta. "Me like playhouth
+futh-rate. Me come to-mowwow day, maybe."
+
+Dorothy said no more, but found a way to end their plans by getting a
+book for herself, and becoming so absorbed in it that they ceased to
+find her interesting and wandered off by themselves to rummage in the
+old barn; and, finally, to grow so tired of the whole place that they
+began to howl with homesickness.
+
+Dorothy let them howl. She had recently been promoted to the reading of
+Dickens, and enthralled by the adventures of Barnaby Rudge she had
+wandered far in spirit from that mountain farm and the disgruntled
+Babcocks. Curled up on the grass beneath a low-branched tree she forgot
+everything, and for a long time knew nothing of what went on about her.
+
+Meantime, to keep Alfaretta's tongue beyond reach of her husband's ears,
+Mrs. Chester had gone down into the cellar of the cottage which, her
+visitor informed her, had once been the "dairy." Until now, since her
+coming to Skyrie, the housemistress had occupied herself only in getting
+the upper rooms cleaned and furnished with such of her belongings as she
+had brought with her, and in attendance upon father John. She had not
+attempted any real farm work, though she had listened to his plans with
+patient unbelief in his power to accomplish any of them.
+
+"If Dorothy should be found," had been his own conclusion of all his
+schemes, during the time of their uncertainty concerning her; and
+afterward, when news of her safety and early coming had reached them, he
+merely changed this form to: "Now that Dorothy is found."
+
+Everything had its beginning and end in "Dorothy." For her the garden
+was to be made, especially the flower beds in it; the farm rescued from
+its neglected condition and made a well-paying one, that Dorothy might
+be educated; and because of Dorothy's love of nature the whole property
+must be rendered delightfully picturesque.
+
+Now Dorothy had really come; and, unfortunately, as Mrs. Chester
+expressed it:
+
+"I can see to the bottom of our pocket-book, John dear, and it's not
+very deep down. Plans and talk are nice but it takes money to carry them
+out. As for your doing any real work yourself, you can't till you get
+well. 'Twould only hinder your doing so if you tried. We'll have to hire
+a man to work the ground for us and clear it of weeds. If we can get him
+to do it 'on shares,' so much the better; if he won't do that--Oh! hum!
+To think of folks having more dollars than they can spend and we just
+enough to starve on!"
+
+This talk had been on that very day before, while they sat impatiently
+awaiting her arrival, and it had made John Chester wince. While his life
+had been in danger, even during all their time of doubt concerning their
+adopted child, Martha had been gentleness and hopefulness indeed. She
+had seemed to assume his nature and he hers: but now that their more
+serious fears were removed, each had returned to his own again; she
+become once more a fretter over trifles and he a jester at them.
+
+"Don't say that, dear wife. I don't believe we will starve; or that
+we'll have to beg the superfluous dollars of other people," he had
+answered, hiding his regret for his own lost health and comfortable
+salary.
+
+But the much-tried lady was on the highroad toward trouble-borrowing and
+bound to reach her end.
+
+"I might as well say it as think it, John. I never was one to keep
+things to myself that concern us both, as you did all that time you knew
+you was going lame and never told me. Besides the man, we must have a
+horse, or two of them. Maybe mules would come cheaper, if they have 'em
+around here. We'll have to get a cow, of course. Milk and butter save a
+lot of butcher stuff. Then we must get a pig. The pig will eat up the
+sour milk left after the butter's made----"
+
+"My dear, don't let him eat up the buttermilk, too! Save that for
+Dorothy and me, please. Remember how the little darling used to coax for
+a nickel to run to the 'corner' and buy a quart of it, when we'd been
+digging extra hard in our pretty yard. And don't forget, in your
+financial reckonings, to leave us a few cents to buy roses with. I've
+been thinking how well some climbing 'Clothilde Souperts' would look,
+trained against that barn wall, with, maybe, a row of crimson 'Jacks,'
+or 'Rohans' in front. Dorothy would like that, I guess. I must send for
+a new lot of florists' catalogues, since you didn't bring my old ones."
+
+"I hadn't room; and I hope you won't. We've not one cent to waste on
+plants, let alone dollars. Besides, once you and Dorothy get your heads
+together over one those books you want all that's in it, from cover to
+cover. There's things I want, too, but I put temptation behind me. The
+whole farm's run to weeds and posies, anyhow. No need to buy more."
+
+Father John had thought it wise to change the subject. Martha was the
+best of wives, but there were some things in which she failed to
+sympathize. He therefore remarked, what he honestly believed:
+
+"I think it's wonderful, little woman, how you can remember so much
+about farming, when you haven't lived on one since you were a child."
+
+"Children remember better than grown folks. I don't forget how I used to
+have to churn in a dash-churn, till my arms ached fit to drop off. And I
+learned to milk till I could finish one cow in a few minutes; but it
+nearly broke my fingers in two, at first. I wonder if I can milk now!
+I'll have to try, anyway, soon as we get the cow. I guess you'd better
+write an advertisement for the _Local News_, and I'll go to Mrs.
+Calvert's place and ask her coachman to post it when he goes down the
+mountains to meet the folks. Just to think we shall have our blessed
+child this very night before we sleep!" ended the housemistress, with a
+return of her good spirits.
+
+Father John laughed with almost boyish gayety. Dorothy was coming!
+Everything would be right. So he hobbled across to his own old desk
+which Martha had placed in the cheeriest corner of the room assigned to
+him, looking back over his shoulder to inquire:
+
+"Shall it be for a cow, a horse, or that milk-saving pig? Or all three
+at one fell swoop? Must I say second-hand or first-class? I never lived
+on a farm, you know, and enjoyed your advantages of knowledge: and, by
+the way, what will we do with the creatures when we get them? I haven't
+been into that barn yet, but it looks shaky."
+
+"John Chester! Folks don't keep pigs in their barns! They keep them in
+pens. Even an ex-postman ought to know enough for that. And make the
+thing short. The printers charge so much a word, remember."
+
+"All right. 'Brevity is the soul of wit.' I'll condense."
+
+Whistling over his task, Mr. Chester soon evolved the following "Want
+Ad.":
+
+"Immediate. Pig. Cow. Horse. Skyrie."
+
+This effusion, over which he chuckled considerably, he neatly folded and
+addressed to the publisher of the local newspaper and left on his desk
+for his wife to read, then hobbled back to his bed to sleep away the
+time till Dorothy came, if he could thus calm his happy excitement. But
+it never entered his mind that his careful wife would not read and
+reconstruct the advertisement before she dispatched it to its
+destination.
+
+However, this she did not do. She simply sealed and delivered it to old
+Ephraim, just as he was on the point of starting for his mistress at the
+Landing: and the result of its prompt appearance in the weekly sheet,
+issued the next morning, was not just what either of the Chesters would
+have desired.
+
+After all, Alfaretta was good company down in that old cellar-dairy,
+poking into things, explaining the probable usage of much that Martha
+did not understand. For instance:
+
+"That there great big wooden thing in the corner's a dog-churn. Ma says
+'twas one more o' old Si Waterman's crazy kinks. He had the biggest kind
+of a dog an' used to make him do his churnin'. Used to try, anyhow. See?
+This great barrel-like thing is the churn. That's the treadmill
+'Hendrick Hudson'--that was the dog's name--had to walk on. Step, step,
+step! an' never get through! Ma says 'twas no wonder the creatur' 'd
+run away an' hide in the woods soon's churnin' days come round. He knew
+when Tuesday an' Friday was just as well as folks. Then old Si he'd
+spend the whole mornin' chasing 'Hudson'--he was named after the river
+or something--from Pontius to Pilate; an' when he'd catch him, Si'd be a
+good deal more tuckered out an' if he'd done his churnin' himself."
+
+Martha laughed, and rolling the big, barrel-churn upon its side was more
+than delighted to see it fall apart, useless.
+
+"How could he ever get cream enough to fill such a thing? Or enough
+water to keep it clean? And look, Alfy! what a perfect rat-hole of dirt
+and rubbish is under it. That old dog-churn must come down first thing.
+I've a notion to take that rusty ax yonder and knock it to pieces
+myself," she remarked and turned her back for a moment, to examine the
+other portions of her future dairy.
+
+Now good-natured Alfaretta was nothing if not helpful, and quite human
+enough to enjoy smashing something. Before Mrs. Chester could turn
+around, the girl had caught up the ax and with one vigorous blow from
+her strong arm sent the dog-churn, already tumbling to pieces with age,
+with a deafening rattle down upon the stone floor.
+
+The sound startled John Chester from his restful nap, silenced the
+outcries of the little Babcocks, and sent Dorothy to her feet, in
+frightened bewilderment. For there before her, in the flesh, stood the
+hero of the very book she dropped as she sprang up--Barnaby Rudge
+himself!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MORE PECULIAR VISITORS
+
+
+"Barnaby Rudge! Fiddlesticks! That ain't his name nor nothing like it.
+He's Peter Piper. He's out the poorhouse or something. He ain't like
+other folks. He's crazy, or silly-witted, or somethin'. How-de-do,
+Peter?" said Alfaretta, as Dorothy, closely followed by the little
+Babcocks and the "apparition" himself, dashed down into the dust-clouded
+dairy where Mrs. Chester stood still, gazing in bewilderment at the
+demolished dog-churn.
+
+Anybody might have easily been startled by the appearance of the
+unfortunate creature who had, also, come into the cellar; especially a
+girl whose head was already filled with the image of another storied
+"natural," as Dorothy's was. He was tall and gaunt, with an unnaturally
+white face and a mass of hair almost as white in color, though not from
+age. His narrow, receding forehead was topped by a hat bestowed upon
+him by some parading political band of the autumn previous, and was gay
+with red cock feathers and a glittering buckle polished to the last
+degree. His clothing was also, in part, that of a parader: a
+brilliant-hued coat worn over his ordinary faded suit of denim. In one
+hand he carried the same burnt-out torch bestowed upon him with his hat,
+and by the other he led a cow that might once have been a calf. He did
+not speak, though he evidently heard and understood Alfaretta's
+greeting, for he turned his protruding eyes from Dorothy to her and
+answered by a foolish smile.
+
+"Why, Peter Piper, what you bringin' old Brindle up here for? Who told
+you to?"
+
+Again Peter grinned and answered nothing, but he turned his gaze from
+Alfaretta to Mr. Chester, who had come to the window above, and stared
+until the gentleman fidgeted and broke the spell by saying:
+
+"Good-afternoon, lad. 'Peter Piper,' are you? Well, I'm glad to see
+you;" then added in a voice only Dorothy, who had run in to stand beside
+him, could overhear. "Wonder if he's any relation to the man who
+pricked his fingers picking pickled peppers!"
+
+"Looks as if he might be, doesn't he? Only, Dad, I feel so sorry for
+him."
+
+"Oh! I'm sorry for him, too. I am sincerely. But--I'm a trifle sorry for
+myself, as well. I wonder--is this the beginning of things! What a power
+the press certainly is, if one little advertisement--Why, Martha,
+Martha! Come up here, please! Come right away."
+
+Mrs. Chester promptly obeyed, surprised by the mingled mirth and
+vexation expressed by her husband's face. And came not only Martha but
+the trio of Babcocks, behind her. At which father John frowned and
+observed:
+
+"I was speaking to Mrs. Chester."
+
+"Yes, I heard you," answered Alfaretta, coolly: at which all the
+Chesters laughed, and she joined heartily in, not dreaming that what her
+host afterwards called her "perfect ease of manner" was the cause of the
+fun.
+
+"Well, John, what is it? You seemed to want me."
+
+"My dear, I always do. Never more than now when I wish you to tell
+me--Did you rewrite that advertisement sent to the local newspaper
+yesterday?"
+
+"Rewrite it? No, indeed. Why should I? You understand such things better
+than I. So I just sealed it, with money inside to pay--By the way, there
+should be considerable change due us. I don't believe one advertisement
+in a country paper would cost a whole dollar: do you?"
+
+Mr. Chester laughed now in earnest.
+
+"No, I do not. Not that I sent, anyway. Martha, why didn't you look? Why
+didn't you? My dear, you wanted it brief and I made it so. But if such
+brevity brings such an answer, so soon, why--it will fairly rain cows
+before we're many hours older. Cows! _And_ horses! _And_ pigs! But worst
+of all, I've made the new Skyrie folks ridiculous in the eyes of their
+future townsmen."
+
+"Tell it, John. Tell it exactly as you wrote it."
+
+So he did; and though the lady was dismayed she couldn't help smiling
+under her frown, and it was a momentary relief to hear Alfaretta calmly
+explaining:
+
+"That there cow don't belong to nobody. All her folks are dead. I mean
+all the folks she belonged to. She's a regular pest, ma says, an'
+'twould be a real kindness to kill her. But nobody won't. She's too old
+for beef, or the butcher would; and she makes out to get her livin'
+without botherin' nobody _much_. She goes onto folkses' lawns an'
+nibbles till she's driv' off--summer times an' in winter, why 'most
+anybody 't has a barnyard and fodder give her a little. Pa he says she's
+a relict of a glorious past and is due her keep from a--a kermune--ity
+she's kep' in hot water as many years as she has. Ma she says she can
+recollect that old Brindle ever since she was a little girl, an' that
+cow has got more folks into lawsuits than any other creatur', beast or
+human, in Riverside villages--Upper or Lower.
+
+"Last one took her in an' done for her was Seth Winters, that lives
+up-mounting here, an' goes by the name o' 'Learned Blacksmith.' He's
+another crank; but ma she says he's a practical Nanarchist, 'cause he
+lives up to his idees. He's rich, or he was; but he's give his money
+away an' just lives in his old shop an' the woods, same as poor folks.
+He treats Peter Piper same as he does old Brindle. Keeps 'em both to his
+place, if they want to stay; an' don't hinder 'em none when they clear
+out. Pa an' him both say how 'freedom' is the 'herintage' of every
+livin' thing, an' they both take it. Ma she says there's consid'able
+difference in their ways, though; 'cause Seth he works, constant, an' pa
+he never does a stroke. Say, Peter, did Seth Winters send you an'
+Brindle up here?"
+
+Peter did not answer. As if the question had roused some unsettled
+matter in his clouded mind, he frowned, studied the earth at his feet,
+and slowly walked away. A pitiable object in the sunset of that fair
+summer day, with his bedraggled scarlet feathers, and his scarlet
+leather uniform that must have been uncomfortably burdensome in the
+heat.
+
+But Brindle tarried behind and foraged for her supper by nibbling the
+grass from the overgrown dooryard.
+
+Suddenly, remembered Alfaretta:
+
+"Ma she said I was to come home in time to get the cows in from pasture
+and milk 'em. She 'lowed she wouldn't get back up-mounting till real
+dark: 'cause she was goin' to stop all along the road, and get all the
+news she could an' tell what she knows, back. Ma she's a powerful hand
+to know what's doin', 'round. So, Baretta Babcock! Claretta Babcock! Put
+your toes together; even now, an' make your manners pretty, like I
+showed you teacher learned _me_, and say good-by."
+
+With that the amusing girl drew herself up to her tallest, squared her
+own bare feet upon a seam of the carpet, and bent her body forward with
+the stiffest of bows. Then she took a hand of each little sister, and
+said--with more courtesy than some better trained children might have
+shown:
+
+"I've had a real nice visit, Mis' Chester, an' I enjoyed my victuals.
+I'll come again an' you must let Dorothy C. come to my house. I'm sorry
+I tipped Mr. Chester into the ditch an' that I couldn't done more toward
+cleanin' up that cellar that I did. Good-night. I hope you'll all have
+nice dreams. Too bad Peter Piper went off mad, but he'll get over it.
+Good-night. Come, children, come."
+
+So the three Babcocks departed, and the silence which succeeded her
+deluge of words was soothing to her hosts beyond expression. They sat
+long on the west veranda of the little cottage, resting and delighting
+in the beauty of nature and in the presence of each other. Then Dorothy
+slipped away and after a little absence returned with a tray of bread
+and butter, a big pitcher of milk, and the jar of honey Mrs. Calvert had
+sent.
+
+"Bread and honey! Fare fit for a prince!" cried father John, as the food
+appeared. "And princes, indeed, we are to be able to sit and feast upon
+it with all this glorious prospect spread out before us."
+
+He seemed to have entirely recovered from the shock of his fall and on
+his fine face was a look of deep content. He had suffered much and he
+must still so suffer--both pain of body and of mind. Poverty was his,
+and worse--it was the lot of his dear ones, also. To live at all, he
+must run in debt; and to his uprightness debt seemed little less than a
+crime.
+
+However, the present was theirs. They had no immediate needs; there was
+food for the morrow, and more; and leaning back in the old rocker Martha
+brought for him, he let his fancy picture what Skyrie should be--"Some
+time, 'when my ship comes in'! Meanwhile--Sing to us, Dolly darling! I
+hear a whip-poor-will away off somewhere in the distance, and it's too
+mournful a sound for my mood. Sing the gayest, merriest songs you know;
+and, Martha dear, please do let Dorothy bring another rocker for
+yourself. Don't sit on that hard bench, but just indulge yourself in
+comfort for once."
+
+When they were quite settled again Dorothy sang; and in listening to her
+clear young voice both her parents felt their spirits soothed till they
+almost forgot all care. Indeed, it seemed a scene upon which nothing
+sordid nor evil would dare enter; yet, just as the singer uttered the
+last note of her father's beloved "Annie Laurie," there sounded upon the
+stone pathway below a heavy footstep and, immediately thereafter, an
+impatient pounding upon the kitchen door.
+
+Since their arrival at Skyrie none of their few visitors had called so
+late in the day as this, and it was with a real foreboding that Mrs.
+Chester rose and went to answer the summons. At a nod from her father,
+Dorothy followed the housemistress and saw, standing on the threshold,
+a rather rough-looking man, whose impatience suddenly gave place to
+hesitation at sight of the pair before him.
+
+"Good-evening," said Martha, politely, though still surprised. Then, as
+he did not at once reply and she remembered the absurd advertisement in
+the _Local_, she asked: "Did you come to see about work, or selling us a
+horse, or anything?"
+
+"H'm'm. A--Ahem. No, ma'am. 'Twasn't no horse errand brought me, this
+time, though I might admit I _be_ ruther in the horse-trade myself,
+being's I keep livery in Lower village. 'Twas a dog--a couple of
+dogs--sent me away up-mounting, this time o' day, a-foot, too, 'cause
+all my critters have been out so long they wasn't fit to ride nor drive,
+neither. Been two summer-boarder picnics, to-day, an' that took 'em.
+'Shoemakers go barefoot,' is the old sayin', and might as well be 't
+liverymen use shanks-mares. I----"
+
+By this time the housemistress had perceived that though the man was
+rough in appearance he was not unkindly in manner and that he was
+reluctant to disclose his errand. Also, if he had walked up the
+mountain he must be tired, indeed; so she fetched a chair and offered
+it, but only to have the courtesy declined:
+
+"Thank ye, ma'am, but I--I guess you won't care to have me sit when I've
+told my job. 'Tain't to say a pleasant one but--Well, I'm the constable
+of Lower Riverside, and I've come to serve this summonses on that there
+little girl o' yourn. You must see to it that she's on hand at Seth
+Winterses' blacksmith shop an' justice's office, to-morrow morning at
+ten o'clock sharp. Here, ma'am, is the writ of subpoeny 't calls for
+her to be a witness in a case of assault an' battery. Leastwise, to
+bein' known to the critters what assaulted and battered."
+
+Before Mrs. Chester could really comprehend what he was saying or doing,
+the man had thrust a paper into her hand, and had vanished. He had never
+performed an official act of which he was more ashamed; nor can words
+properly express her amazement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AT THE OFFICE OF A JUSTICE
+
+
+Fortunately the distance to the blacksmith's was not great, for Mr.
+Chester could not be dissuaded from accompanying his wife and daughter
+thither, in answer to that astounding "summons." That the document was
+legal and not to be ignored, he knew well enough, though mother Martha
+protested vigorously against paying any attention to it.
+
+"It's some absurd mistake, John. How in the world could our Dolly be a
+witness in any such affair? No, indeed. Not a step will any of us take
+toward that shop-office! A pretty justice of the peace a blacksmith must
+be, anyway! I never was so insulted in my life. Instead of going there,
+I'm going down cellar to clean it up and made ready for our
+butter-making."
+
+"First--catch your cow, wife dear! A better one than that old Brindle
+who has deserted us already. And as for your going, why, of course,
+_you_ needn't. Dorothy C. is the important person in this case, and I'm
+as much her guardian as you."
+
+"John, you mustn't! You couldn't walk so far on your crutches----"
+
+"Oh! I must learn to walk long distances, and 'up-mounting' must be
+comparatively near. I remember that Alfaretta said it was 'next door to
+Cat Hollow,' and Cat Hollow's just beyond Skyrie. Dorothy'd better run
+over to Mrs. Smith's, where you get your milk, and ask directions. No
+use to waste any strength hobbling over the wrong route----"
+
+"Maybe the grocer's wagon will be up before ten o'clock and he might
+carry you," suggested Mrs. Chester.
+
+"He ought not to go out of his way, that clerk; besides, it would be as
+difficult for me to climb into his high cart as to trot along on my own
+wooden feet. Shall Dolly inquire?"
+
+So Dorothy was dispatched upon the errand, duly warned not to inform the
+Smith household of its cause, though there was small danger of that.
+The girl had never been so angry in her life. "Arrested," was the way
+she put the matter to herself, yet why--why! She had never done anything
+wicked in her life! and this man, "Archibald Montaigne," what did she
+know about such a person or any dogs which might have run into him? Nor
+was she prepared for the evident curiosity with which Mrs. Smith
+regarded her; a curiosity greater than that her kidnapping adventures
+had provoked, and which angered her still more.
+
+"The way to Seth's shop? Sure. I know it well's I know the road to my
+own barnyard. You go out your gate and turn toward the river and walk
+till you come to the corner of two roads. Take the upper road, right
+into the woods, and there you'll be. Don't you be afraid, Sis. Nobody
+can do anything to just a witness, so. The boy'll be the one'll catch
+it, and heavy. That Mr. Montaigne looks like a regular pepper-pod, and
+is, too. Why, he sent his man down here, t'other day, to warn me to keep
+my hens shut up and off his property. _My hens!_ That was never shut up
+in their lives, nor found fault with before. But----"
+
+"Good-morning. Thank you," interrupted Dorothy, rather rudely, but too
+impatient to be back at home to think about that. Arrived there she
+found that, like a good many other people, once given her own way mother
+Martha did not care to take it. Instead of ignoring the summons to
+court, she arrayed herself in her best street costume and duly appeared
+at Seth Winters's home with her crippled husband and indignant child.
+
+There is no need to describe the "trial" which followed. It was almost
+farcical in its needlessness, and poor Dorothy's part in it of the
+slightest import. She had to tell that she did know the dogs, Peter and
+Ponce, and that once she had been run against and knocked down by one of
+them. Also, that on the morning of the "assault" these dogs had called
+at Skyrie and that she had lost hold of one of them, and that they had
+run away with one James Barlow in pursuit. Then she was dismissed; but
+at a nod from Mrs. Calvert, crossed the room to where that lady sat and
+nestled down beside her, surprised to find her in such a place and,
+apparently, so much amused by the scene.
+
+The outcome of the affair was simple. Mr. Montaigne's anger had had time
+to cool and he was a snob. It was one thing to prosecute a helpless lad
+but quite another to find that the "ferocious" dogs belonged to his
+aristocratic neighbor, whose acquaintance he had not heretofore been
+permitted to make, although he had endeavored so to do. Mrs. Cecil was,
+practically, the very center and queen of that exclusive circle which
+had "discovered" the "Heights" and was the most bitterly opposed to
+"outsiders" possessing property thereon.
+
+"This man Montaigne, Cousin Seth, may have much more money than brains,
+but we don't want him up here on our hill," she had once said to her old
+friend, and giving him that title of "Cousin" from real affection rather
+than because he had any right to it.
+
+He had laughed at her in his genial, hearty way, which could give no
+offence, and had returned:
+
+"My good Betty, you need humanizing. We can't all be old Maryland
+Calverts, and I like new people. Don't fancy that a man who has made
+millions--_made it_, understand--is brainless, and not well worth
+knowing. You know I can _spend_ money----"
+
+"None better, man!"
+
+"But the gift of _making_ it was denied me. I intend that you and I
+shall know this Mr. Montaigne and--like him. I shall make it my business
+to accomplish that fact even though, at present, he thinks a country
+blacksmith beneath his notice. That time will come. I have infinite
+patience, I can wait, but I shall hugely enjoy the event when it
+arrives."
+
+This conversation had taken place the summer before, when the newcomer
+had begun the building of his really palatial residence, and Seth
+Winters had waited a whole year, little dreaming that the acquaintance
+he had determined upon should begin in his own office, with him as
+arbiter in a case between a rich man and a penniless boy.
+
+"The complaint is withdrawn," declared the complainant, as soon as he
+had discovered the real state of affairs, and that now was his chance to
+become acquainted with Mrs. Cecil. "I--I was offended at the time,
+but--it's too trivial to notice. I beg to apologize, Madam Calvert, for
+the annoyance I've given you. Of course, the lad----"
+
+"Don't mention it; an amusement rather than an annoyance," replied the
+lady, graciously. "So little of moment happens up here on our mountain
+that an episode of this kind is quite--quite refreshing. My Great Danes
+will not trouble you again. My 'Cousin' Winters, here--allow me to make
+you acquainted in a social as well as business way--my 'Cousin' Winters
+is almost as much attached to the beautiful animals as I am, and he has
+this very morning presented me with a pair of wonderful chains,
+warranted not to break. Fortunately, he had them already waiting my
+arrival, as a gift, and never gift more opportune."
+
+"My 'Cousin' Winters!"
+
+Archibald Montaigne felt as if the boards beneath his feet were giving
+way. That this old gentlewoman whose blood was of the bluest--and he
+adored "blue blood"--should claim relationship with an obscure farrier
+was a most amazing thing. Well, then, the next best step for himself to
+take in this affair was to foster the acquaintance with the smith; and
+thereby, it might be, gain entrance for his family and himself into
+"Society."
+
+For his family first. That credit was due him. Personally, he loved
+better a quiet corner in his own great mansion, where he might study the
+fluctuations of the "market" and scheme to increase the wealth he had
+already compassed. And with the shrewdness which had enabled him to take
+advantage of mere money-making "chances," he now seized upon the social
+one presented.
+
+"My dear Madam Calvert, my wife and daughter are without in my carriage.
+They have been a little--little lonely up here, for it's quiet, as you
+say. Do allow me to present them, call them in, or--if you will be so
+kind, so very kind, our precious Helena is an invalid, you know, you
+might step out to them with me. If I might appeal to your kindness for
+my daughter, who's heard so much about you and will be so delighted."
+
+What could Mrs. Cecil do? Nobody had ever appealed to her "kindness"
+without receiving it, and though she positively hated to know these
+"new, upstart people," she was too well bred to show it. But as Mr.
+Montaigne bowed the way outward she flashed a look toward the smiling
+smith, which said as plainly as words:
+
+"You've caught me in this trap! The consequences are yours!"
+
+The glance he telegraphed back meant, as well:
+
+"Good enough! I'm always glad to see a prejudice get its downfall. The
+time I waited for came, you see."
+
+Almost unconsciously, Mrs. Cecil still retained in her own soft hand the
+clinging one of Dorothy C., which she had taken when she called the girl
+to her side; so that she now led her out of the office to the carriage
+before its door and to what Dorothy thought was the loveliest person she
+had ever seen.
+
+This was Helena Montaigne, a blonde of the purest type, whose great blue
+eyes were full of a fine intelligence, but whose perfect features were
+marred by an expression of habitual discontent. This little lady made
+Dorothy think of the heads of angels painted upon Christmas cards and,
+also, for an instant made her stare rather rudely. The next she had
+recovered herself and acknowledged Mr. Montaigne's introduction with a
+natural grace and ease which delighted Mrs. Cecil beyond words. She was
+always gratified when "Johnnie's" adopted daughter proved herself worthy
+of the interest she had taken in her; and she now mentally compared the
+beauty of the two girls, with no disparagement to Dorothy C.
+
+Indeed, the dark eyes, the tumbled curly head,--where the brown hair was
+just recovering from the rough shearing Miranda Stott had given it,
+while her young prisoner was ill with the measles,--and the trim, erect
+little figure, had already become in the eyes of this childless old lady
+a very dear and charming picture.
+
+Helena's manner was that of a grown young lady, which, indeed, she quite
+fancied herself to be. Was she not fourteen and, on state occasions,
+promoted to the dignity of having her abundant hair "done up" by her
+mother's own hairdresser? And as for skirts, they had been lengthened to
+the tops of her boots: and by another year she would have her dinner
+frocks made _en train_. Her own manner was rather disdainful, as if the
+people she met were not her equals; yet this contempt was for their
+"general stupidity." She had not her father's love of money nor her
+mother's timidity concerning her own behavior; for the fear that she
+should not conduct herself according to the "best usages of polite
+society" was the bane of gentle Mrs. Montaigne's existence. By nature
+extremely simple and sweet, she tormented herself by her efforts to be
+haughty and "aristocratic"--not quite understanding the true meaning of
+the latter term.
+
+Money had come to her too late in life for her to become accustomed to
+the use of, and indifferent to, it; and, though she revered her husband
+on account of his ability to make it, their wealth was a burden for her,
+at times almost too heavy to bear.
+
+On the other hand, Helena and Herbert, her brother, two years older,
+could not remember when they had not more money at their command than
+they knew how to use. The boy was not as clever as his sister, but he
+was more generally liked, though his insolence, sometimes, was most
+offensive. He rode up, at this moment, upon a spirited black horse, and
+called out, noisily:
+
+"Well, dad! How'd the trial go? Hope you walloped that lumpkin good;
+and the old woman owns the dogs----"
+
+"Herbert! _Herbert!_" warned Mr. Montaigne, in distress. Whereupon his
+son came round from the corner of the shop, which had hidden him from
+sight of all the party save his father, and found himself in the
+presence of the very "old woman" herself. He had none of his parents'
+ambition to know her or any other of the "exclusives" of the Heights,
+being quite sufficient unto himself; but he had been trained in the best
+schools and knew how to conduct himself properly. Besides, he was more
+frank by nature than the others of his family and, having found himself
+"in a box," escaped from it by the shortest way possible.
+
+"Hello! I've done it now, haven't I? I beg your pardon, Mrs. Calvert,
+and dad's and everybody's;" saying which, the lad pulled his hat from
+his head, and checked his horse to a standstill beside the carriage
+where his mother and sister sat.
+
+He was a handsome boy, of the same fair type as Helena, but much more
+rugged in strength; and his blue eyes danced with merriment instead of
+frowning with the disdain of hers. He adored her yet quarreled with her
+continually, because she had so little interest in "sensible, outdoor
+things"; and his gaze now turned upon Dorothy with instant perception
+that here was a girl worth knowing and no nonsense about her.
+
+His gay debonair manner and his ready apology for his own blunder
+pleased Mrs. Calvert. She liked honesty and did not mind, in the least,
+having been termed an "old woman." This boy was worth all the rest of
+the Montaignes put together, she decided, and thereupon showed her good
+will by admiring his thoroughbred mount.
+
+"That's a fine beast you have there, lad. Needs a little exercise to get
+him into shape, but I reckon a few trips up and down this mountain will
+fetch him right."
+
+She had herself walked to her old friend's shop and now stepped forward
+to examine at closer range the good points of the horse, stroking his
+velvet nostrils with an affectionate touch, and patting his shoulder
+approvingly.
+
+Herbert stared and exclaimed:
+
+"Why, that's strange! Cephy hates women. Won't let mother nor sister
+come near him, or wouldn't if they tried--which only Helena has
+done--once! You must like horses, ma'am, and understand 'em a lot."
+
+"I ought to. I was brought up with them. They've been my best company
+many and many a time. I was put into a saddle when I was but a year and
+a half old. Held there, of course; but took to the business so well that
+by the time I was five I could take a fence with my father, any time he
+wanted to ride over the plantation. I'm glad to see you like them, too.
+But I must be going. I'm sorry, Mr. Chester, that I didn't drive over;
+then I could have taken you home, but. I didn't expect to have the
+pleasure of meeting you here. I----"
+
+As she paused this straightforward old lady looked at Mrs. Montaigne
+with a questioning glance; but receiving no comprehending glance in
+return addressed herself to her late opponent in law.
+
+"Won't you let Mr. Chester take your place in your carriage, Mr.
+Montaigne, and you walk alongside me? It's such a low, easy vehicle and
+it's a good bit of a way back to Skyrie. I'm going there myself, and
+there couldn't be a better time than this for all of us to call upon our
+new neighbors. I'm sure we're all delighted to have them among us."
+
+There was nothing for it but compliance. Though his face reddened and he
+would far rather have walked, or hobbled, twice the distance than become
+an enforced recipient of the Montaigne courtesy, John Chester felt that
+this old gentlewoman had been and was too true a friend for him to
+offend by not falling in with her proposal.
+
+On his own part, Archibald Montaigne winced at the picture of this
+crippled ex-postman riding in state beside his wife and daughter, yet
+dared not refuse, lest by so doing he would close the door to that
+future intimacy which he coveted. He felt that this intimacy with Mrs.
+Cecil, personally, might be anything but agreeable; yet in her old white
+hands lay the key to the social situation which was his latest ambition.
+
+There ensued but the briefest hesitation, during which there issued from
+Seth Winters's lips an amused, reproachful exclamation:
+
+"O Betty, Betty! Never too old for mischief!"
+
+But none heard the words save "Betty," who smiled as she did so. The
+others were helping Mr. Chester into the carriage and settling him
+comfortably there, with an ostentatious kindness on the part of Mr.
+Montaigne which the ex-postman inwardly resented. Then the coachman
+started his team forward, and the justice returned to his smithy,
+cheerily calling out:
+
+"Well, lad, we've come out of that business with flying colors! It was
+the presence of Mrs. Calvert which did the most for us, though the man
+has more sense than appeared, yesterday, else he wouldn't--Why, Jim?
+James? Jimmy?"
+
+There was no response. None but the office cat answered this summons.
+The defendant in this remarkable suit had vanished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A WALK AND ITS ENDING
+
+
+It was with great surprise that the dwellers in the houses along the way
+saw the contestants in a case of law returning from the trial in the
+most harmonious manner.
+
+First came the Montaigne equipage, with Mrs. Montaigne and Helena upon
+the back seat, the latter sitting stiffly erect and haughty, the former
+chatting most pleasantly with the cripple facing her. Behind the
+carriage walked Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Chester, both in the gayest of
+spirits and talking volubly of household matters; as mother Martha
+afterward described it:
+
+"Might have been plain Mrs. Bruce, or Jane Jones herself, Mrs. Cecil
+might, she was that simple and plain spoke. She's going to have her
+currant jell' made right away, even whilst the currants are half green.
+Says she's read it was better so, and though she's afraid her old
+cook'll 'act up' about it she's bound to try. She said that when a body
+gets too old to learn--even about cookin'--it's time to give up living.
+Land! She's not one that will give it up till she has to! I never saw
+anybody as full of plans as that old lady is. You'd think she was just
+starting out in life instead of being so nigh the end of it, and I guess
+she thought I was s'prised to hear her tell. Because she caught me
+looking at her once, right sharp, and she laughed and said: 'I'm one of
+the people who can't settle down, I'm so many years young!' Why, she
+might have been Dolly, even, she was so full of fun over the way that
+lawsuit ended. I know 'twas that that pleased her so, though she never
+mentioned it from the time we left the shop till we got back to Skyrie.
+Well, green currants _may_ make the jell' solider, but I shall wait till
+just before the Fourth, as I always have, to make mine: and I'm thankful
+for the few old currant bushes that still grow along that east wall.
+Almost any other kind of shrub'd have died long ago, neglected as things
+have been, but you can't kill a currant bush. More'n that, when I get my
+jell' done I'm going to send Mrs. Calvert a tumbler and compare notes.
+I reckon mine'll come out head, for I never was one to take up with
+everything one reads in the papers, nor cook books, either."
+
+Which shows that, despite her previous objections to it, that morning's
+excursion to the haunts of justice proved a very enjoyable one to the
+rather lonely little woman from the city, who found the enforced quiet
+of the country one of her greatest privations.
+
+Following their elders came also Dorothy C. and Herbert, who had slipped
+from his saddle to walk beside his new acquaintance, and she was already
+chatting with him as if they had always known each other. To both the
+world of "outdoors" meant everything. To him because of the gunning,
+fishing, riding, and rowing; to her because of its never-ending marvels,
+of scenery, of growing things, and of the songs of birds.
+
+"I tell you what--Steady, Bucephalus!" cried Herbert to the restless
+animal he led and whose prancing made Dorothy jump aside, now and then,
+lest she should be trampled upon. "I tell you what! The very next time I
+go out fishing in the _Merry Chanter_, my catboat, I'll coax sister to
+go, too, and you must come with us. If she will! But Helena's such a
+'fraid-cat and Miss Milliken--she's my sister's governess--is about as
+bad. There's some excuse for Helena because she is real delicate. Nerves
+or chest or something, I don't know just what nor does anybody else, I
+fancy. But the Milliken! Wait till you see her, then talk about nerves.
+Say, Miss Dorothy----"
+
+"I'm just plain Dorothy, yet."
+
+"Good enough. I like that. I knew you were the right stuff the minute I
+looked at you. I--you're not a goody-good girl nor a 'fraid-cat, now are
+you?" demanded Herbert, anxiously.
+
+"No, indeed! I'm not a bit good. I wish I were! And I'm not often afraid
+of--_things_. But I am of folks--some folks," she answered with a little
+shudder.
+
+"Yes, I know about that. Just like a story out of a book, your being
+stolen was. But never mind. That's gone by. Do you like to fish?"
+
+"I never fished," said Dorothy, with some decision.
+
+"You'll learn. The old Hudson's the jolliest going for all sorts of
+fish. There's an old fellow at the Landing generally goes out with me
+and the rest the boys. He's a champion oarsman, old as he is, and as
+for--Say! Ever taste a planked shad?"
+
+"No, never."
+
+"You shall! Old Joe Wampers shall fix us one the first time we go out on
+the river. He can cook as well as he can fish, and some of us fellows
+had a camp set up on the old Point, last year. I haven't been over there
+yet, this summer, but it's all mine anyhow. When it came fall and the
+others had to go back to school they--well, they were short on cash and
+long on camp, so I bought them out. You like flowers? Ever gather any
+water lilies?"
+
+"Like them? I just love them, _love them_! Of course, I never gathered
+water lilies, for I've always lived in the city. But I've often--I mean,
+sometimes--bought them out of pails, down by Lexington Market. Five or
+ten cents a bunch, according to the size. I always tried to save up and
+get a big bunch for mother Martha on her birthday. I used to envy the
+boys that had them for sale and wish I could go and pick them for
+myself. But--but I've seen pictures of them as they really grow,"
+concluded Dorothy C., anxious that Herbert should not consider her too
+ignorant.
+
+However, it was not the fact that she had never gathered lilies which
+had caught his attention; it was that one little sentence: "to save up."
+He really could scarcely imagine a state of things in which anybody
+would have to "save" the insignificant amount of five or ten cents, in
+order to buy a parent a bunch of flowers. Instantly, he was filled with
+keen compassion for this down-trodden little maid who was denied the use
+of abundant pocket money, and with as great an indignation against the
+parents who would so mistreat a child--such a pretty child as Dorothy C.
+Of course, it was because the niggardly creatures were only parents by
+adoption; and--at that moment there entered the brain of this young
+gentleman a scheme by which many matters should be righted. The
+suddenness and beauty of the idea almost took his breath away, but he
+kept his thought to himself and returned to the practical suggestion of
+planked shad.
+
+"Well, sir,--I mean, Dorothy,--a planked shad is about the most
+delicious morsel a fellow ever put in his mouth. First, catch your shad.
+Old Joe does that in a twinkling. Then while it's still flopping, he
+scales and cleans it, splits it open, nails it on a board, seasons it
+well with salt and pepper, and stands it up before a rousing fire we've
+built on the ground. U'm'm--Yum! In about half or three-quarters of an
+hour it's done. Then with the potatoes we've roasted in the ashes and
+plenty of bread and butter and a pot of coffee--Well, words fail. You'll
+have to taste that feast to know what it means. All the better, too, if
+you've been rowing for practice all morning. Old Joe Wampers coaches
+college crews even yet, and once he went over with Columbia to Henley.
+That's the time he tells about whenever he gets a chance. 'The time of
+his life' he calls it, and that's not slang, either. Say. What's to
+hinder our doing it right now? This very afternoon--morning, for that
+matter, though it's getting rather late to go before lunch, I suppose.
+I'll tell you! Just you mention to your folks that you're going on the
+river, this afternoon, and I'll coax mother to make Helena and the
+Milliken go, too. Then I'll ride right away down to the Landing and get
+old Joe warmed up to the subject. He's getting a little stiff in the
+joints of his good nature, but a good dose of flattery'll limber him up
+considerable. Besides, when he hears it's for that real heroine of a
+kidnapping story everybody was talking about, he'll be willing enough.
+I'll tell him you never tasted planked shad nor saw one cooked, and
+he'll just spread himself. 'Poor as a June shad,' he said yesterday,
+when I begged for one, though that's all nonsense. They're good yet.
+Will you?"
+
+He paused for breath, his words having fairly tumbled over each other in
+their rapidity, and was utterly amazed to hear Dorothy reply:
+
+"No, thank you, I will not. Nothing would tempt me."
+
+"Why, Dorothy Chester! What do you mean?" he asked, incredulous that
+anybody, least of all an inexperienced girl, should resist the tempting
+prospect that he had spread before her.
+
+"I wouldn't _touch_ to taste one of those horrible 'flopping' fish! I
+couldn't. I wouldn't--not for anything. I should feel like a murderer.
+So there!"
+
+"Whew! George and the cherry tree! You wouldn't? 'Not for anything?' Not
+even for a chance to sail along over a lovely piece of water, dabbling
+your hand in it, and pulling out great, sweet-smelling flowers? 'Course,
+_you_ needn't see the shad 'flop.' I only said that to show how fresh we
+get them. Why, I coaxed even dad over to camp once and I've always
+wanted Helena to go. Pshaw! I _am_ disappointed."
+
+"I don't see why nor how you can be much. You didn't know me till an
+hour ago--or less, even. And I'm disappointed too. You didn't look like
+a boy who would"--Dorothy paused and gave her new acquaintance a
+critical glance--"who would _kill_ things!"
+
+"Nor you like a silly, sentimental girl. 'Kill things!' Don't you ever
+eat fish? Or beef? or dear little gentle chickens?" demanded this
+teasing lad, as he quieted his horse and prepared to mount, though at
+the same time managing to keep that animal so directly in Dorothy's path
+that she had to stand still for a moment till he should move aside.
+
+She frowned, then laughed, acknowledging:
+
+"Of course I do. I mean I have; but--seems to me now as if I never would
+again."
+
+"Well, I'm sorry; and--Good-morning, Miss Chester!"
+
+Away he went, lifting his hat in the direction of the people ahead,
+looking an extremely handsome young fellow in his riding clothes, and
+sitting the fiery Bucephalus with such ease that lad and steed seemed
+but part and parcel of each other. Yet his whole manner was now one of
+disapproval, and the acquaintance which had begun so pleasantly seemed
+destined to prove quite the contrary.
+
+"He's a horrid, cruel boy! Kills birds and things just for fun! He isn't
+half as nice as Jim Barlow, for all he's so much better looking and
+richer. Poor Jim! He felt so ashamed to have made everybody so much
+trouble. I wish--I wish he'd come with us instead of that Herbert:"
+thought the little maid so unceremoniously deserted by her new friend.
+
+"She's just a plain, silly, 'fraid-cat of a girl, after all!" were the
+reflections of the young horseman, as he galloped away, and with these
+he dismissed her from his mind.
+
+Now it happened that Mrs. Calvert liked young folks much better than she
+did old ones, and the conversation which she had rendered so delightful
+to Mrs. Chester, during that homeward walk, was far less interesting to
+herself than the fragments of talk which reached her from the girl and
+boy behind her. So when the hoofs of Bucephalus clattered away in an
+opposite direction, she turned to Dorothy and mischievously inquired:
+
+"What's the matter, little girl? Isn't he the sort of boy you like? You
+don't look pleased."
+
+Dorothy's frown vanished as she ran forward to take the hand held toward
+her and she answered readily enough, as she put herself "in step" with
+her elders:
+
+"I would like him--lots, if he didn't--if he wasn't such a _killer_. I
+like his knowing so much about birds and animals--he says he can whistle
+a squirrel out of a tree, any time, and that's more than even Jim can
+do. At least I never heard him say he could. And Jim Barlow will not
+kill anything. He simply will not. Even old Mrs. Stott had to kill her
+own poultry for the market though she'd strap him well for refusing. All
+the reason he'd tell her was that he could not make anything live, so he
+didn't think he'd any right to make it die. Mrs. Calvert, have--have you
+forgiven poor Jim for letting the dogs get away? and me too? Because I
+know he feels terrible. I do, and it makes me sort of ashamed to have
+you so kind to me when it was part my carelessness----"
+
+"There, there, child! Have done with that affair. It was more amusing
+than annoying, for a time, and after I found my Danes were safe; but I
+hate old stories repeated, and that story is finished--for the present.
+There'll be more to come, naturally. One can't make a single new
+acquaintance without many unexpected things following. For instance:
+John Chester riding so familiarly in Archibald Montaigne's carriage and
+talking--Well, talking almost as his little daughter has been doing with
+her new friend. I overheard Mrs. Montaigne mention something about
+having once been a patient at a hospital in our city and that was the
+'open sesame' to 'Johnnie's' confidence. Oh! it's a dear old world,
+isn't it? Where enemies can change into friends, all in one morning: and
+where people whom we didn't know at breakfast time have become our
+intimates by the dinner hour. This is a glorious day! See. We are almost
+at the turn of the road that leads to Skyrie. Slowly as we have come it
+hasn't taken us long. I'm glad I walked. It has done me good and--given
+my neighbors yonder a chance to know one another."
+
+"I'm glad, too. I haven't enjoyed myself so much since we moved here,
+only, of course, when Dolly got home," responded Mrs. Chester. "Yet what
+an angry, disgusted woman I was when I went over this road before,
+lawsuit-wards, so to speak."
+
+They were almost at the corner when Dorothy cast a last glance backward
+and exclaimed:
+
+"I don't see Jim anywhere. Why do you suppose he didn't come? Where do
+you suppose he is?"
+
+"Well, little girl, my supposing is that he felt himself not one with
+any of our party. 'Neither hay nor grass' he would likely express it.
+That's for his not coming. As for where he is now I suppose, to a degree
+that is certainty, that he is--doing his duty! From my brief
+acquaintance with the lad I judge that to be his principal idea. His
+duty, this morning, would have been the transplanting of the celery
+seedlings, which yesterday's events delayed. If we could look through
+the trees between us and my vegetable garden I believe we should see him
+bending over the rows of little green plants, oblivious to all that's
+going on around him, so intent is he on making up for lost time and not
+cheating his employer by wasting it. Jim Barlow is all right. I was
+angry enough with him yesterday, for a while, but I can do him justice,
+to-day."
+
+Her guess at his whereabouts was correct. The lad had hurried away from
+Seth Winters's office and was already well along with his work while
+they were thus discussing him. But both his new mistress and Dorothy
+promptly forgot him when they came to that turn of the road they had
+been approaching and the view beyond lay open to them.
+
+For an instant everybody stopped, even the coachman checked his horses
+in amazement, though he as swiftly resumed his ordinary impassive
+expression and drove forward again at the risk of disaster.
+
+"What in the world! It looks like a--a funeral! Or the county fair!
+Whatever does that mean?" cried Mrs. Cecil, who was the first to voice
+her astonishment. Yet she wondered if she heard aright when, clasping
+her hands in dismay, Mrs. Chester almost shouted to her husband in
+front--riding backwards and thus unable to see at what they all so
+earnestly gazed:
+
+"John, John! That dreadful advertisement!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A LIVE STOCK SALE
+
+
+John Chester had prophesied that, in answer to his ill-advised jest of
+an advertisement, it would "rain horses."
+
+Apparently, it had. Not only horses but cows; and, trampled upon by the
+first, hooked by the latter, an assorted lot of pigs mingled with the
+other quadrupeds, squealing, twisting, doubling-and-turning upon their
+leading ropes with the perversity native to swine.
+
+These unlovely creatures frightened the high-bred team drawing the
+carriage, setting them to rearing and plunging till an accident was
+imminent. Their driver had made to pass directly through the assembly
+before Skyrie gate, leaving it for meaner turnouts to make way for him:
+with the result that the unmanageable pigs had set other horses into a
+tumult.
+
+Fortunately, the coachman was both cool and skillful, and with a
+dexterity that seemed wonderful he brought the Montaigne equipage around
+and began a retreat, over the way he had just come. This saved the
+situation, so far as an upset was concerned, and he did not again draw
+rein till well away from the scene. Then, all danger being past, Helena
+promptly fainted, and saved her equally frightened mother from doing so
+by rousing her maternal anxiety.
+
+John Chester never knew just how he managed to get out of that carriage.
+Certainly, with far less difficulty than he had found in entering it,
+for he was suddenly upon the ground, his crutches under his arms, and
+himself hobbling forward with tremendous swings into the very midst of
+things.
+
+"Come here, come here!" commanded Mrs. Calvert to Dorothy, withdrawing
+to the high bank bordering the road and that was topped by one of those
+great stone walls which Simon Waterman had built. Amusement, surprise,
+and anxiety chased one another across her mobile old features, and with
+a sudden movement she turned upon Mrs. Chester, crying excitedly: "Well,
+my friend, you can't deny that plenty of things happen in the country,
+as well as in the city you bewail. Match me this in Baltimore, if you
+please! And explain it--if you can!"
+
+For it was mother Martha and not her daughter who had obeyed Mrs.
+Cecil's imperative: "Come here!" and who could only gasp, through her
+astonishment: "It's that advertisement. A 'joke' of John's that he
+didn't mean to pass beyond our own doors. We need a horse, a cow, and
+pig to----"
+
+"Add hens! to scratch up your neighbors' flower beds and give
+completeness to your lives!" laughed Mrs. Betty, who felt and declared
+that: "I haven't had so much fun in a single morning since--I can't tell
+when. I wouldn't have missed this!"
+
+"Seems as if everybody in the whole town must have read and answered
+that foolish thing. I--_what shall we do_? How possibly get rid of all
+these people!" cried the mistress of Skyrie in real distress.
+
+As yet neither she nor Mrs. Cecil had observed Helena's faintness, for
+the back of the carriage was toward them now and some distance down the
+road. But they had observed Mr. Chester's swift departure houseward, and
+had seen Dorothy leap like a flash over the intervening wall, toward the
+kitchen door and the well which was near it.
+
+"Makes me think of the 'Light Brigade,' with horses for 'cannon.' That's
+shameful for me! though, there _are_ cows to the right of them, pigs
+underneath them, and horses--did anybody ever see such a collection?"
+asked Mrs. Calvert, clutching Mrs. Chester's arm to keep herself from
+slipping downward from the bank into the briars below. Then suddenly
+again exclaiming: "Look at that child! She's carrying water in a
+pitcher. She's making her way through those men out into the road again.
+Something has happened. Somebody is in trouble. Oh! it must be that
+frail-looking daughter of the Montaignes! See. Dorothy is running now
+straight toward the carriage."
+
+This was sufficient to banish all amusement from Mrs. Cecil's manner and
+she was instantly upon Dorothy's trail, moving with an ease and
+swiftness that amazed Mrs. Chester, active though she herself was.
+Indeed, the girl had to slacken her speed in order not to spill all the
+water from the pitcher, and so the pair reached the side of the
+carriage together; the old gentlewoman nodding approval for the presence
+of mind which Dorothy had shown.
+
+However, Helena was rapidly recovering from her brief swoon, and her
+mother looked askance at the cracked pitcher in which the water had been
+brought and the rusty tin cup in which it was offered; Dorothy having
+seized the utensils always left lying beside the well, for the
+convenience of passers-by, without waiting to secure more presentable
+articles.
+
+Still, it was Mrs. Calvert whose hand proffered the refreshing draught,
+and it was Mrs. Calvert's voice which was saying, in its most
+aristocratic yet kindest accents:
+
+"I did not at once see that your daughter was ill. Your husband left us
+at the very first crossroad toward your place and I was absorbed with my
+new-old neighbors' affairs. Deerhurst is nearer than the Towers. Why not
+drive there first and let Miss Helena rest awhile before going further?"
+
+Now the invitation was given in all sincerity, though the mistress of
+Deerhurst was inwardly smiling at the pictured face of Seth Winters, had
+he been there to hear her thus cordially soliciting for guests the
+people she had once declared she would never willingly know. Only the
+slightest reluctance accompanied her words. She had intended calling
+upon the Chesters in their home and upon having a plain business talk
+with "Johnnie." However, from all appearances at the cottage beyond,
+this was not an opportune time for such an interview and one that could
+easily be postponed. At present, the Skyrie family had their hands
+sufficiently full of more pressing affairs.
+
+Helena Montaigne shared her father's social ambition, so it was with a
+wan, sweet smile that she accepted from the mistress of Deerhurst the
+battered tin cup that she would have rejected had Dorothy held it
+upwards. Also, after graciously sipping a few drops of the refreshing
+water, she accepted for herself and mother--it was always Helena who
+settled such matters--that most gratifying invitation to the mansion.
+More than that she rose from her place on the wide back seat of the
+carriage and offered it to Mrs. Cecil, rather than that lady should be
+forced to ride backwards. But this sacrifice was declined:
+
+"No, indeed, thank you. I will finish my trip as I begin it, by walking.
+It will take you as long to drive around by the entrance as for me to go
+across lots, through the woods. I will meet you at the door. Good-by,
+Dorothy. I trust you'll all come well out of your present predicament
+and I shall be anxious to hear results."
+
+Mrs. Cecil was not prone to outward expressions of affection and the
+little girl was surprised to receive a kiss, as the pitcher was handed
+back to her, and this surprise was fully shared by the occupants of the
+carriage. But, having bestowed this light caress, the nimble old lady
+gathered up her skirts and struck into a footpath running beneath the
+trees, where every woodland creature was gay with the gladness of June.
+Yet as she passed among them, none seemed more glad than she; nor,
+maybe, in the sight of the Creator of them all was she alien to them.
+
+Let alone, Dorothy sped backward to her home, and to the side of her
+parents, who stood together before the kitchen door, vainly endeavoring
+to hear what a half-dozen different men were saying at once. Her keen
+eyes scanned the odd collection of beasts with an ever increasing
+amusement, though she lifted her feet with a little shriek of fear as a
+mighty hog, which had long outgrown its "pig" days, broke from its
+owner's grasp and waddled up the path.
+
+"I saw it in the _Local_, and if a man's goin' to start in farmin'----"
+began one.
+
+"Pooh; neighbor! this feller's hoss ain't no kind o' use to a lame man
+like you! That hoss? Why, that hoss has run away and smashed things more
+times 'an it's years old--and that's sayin' consid'able!" interrupted a
+second trader, as the first one edged into the dooryard leading a gaunt
+black steed, himself dragging through the gateway a sorrel mare which
+had also reached the years of discretion.
+
+At which number one retorted with fine scorn:
+
+"Why, if that ain't Bill Barry! Huh! Lemme tell you, neighbor, a man
+that trades hosses, or buys one outright, off _Bill_ gets left every
+time. That there sorrel? Why, she's twenty-odd if she's a day!"
+
+Amid the laugh that followed this sally a third man called over the wall
+from the road beyond:
+
+"Hello, mister? Advertised for a cow, didn't you? Well, just step a-here
+and take a peek at this fine Alderney o' mine. New milker with a calf
+still beside her--purty as a picture, the pair of 'em, and dirt cheap.
+Reason I sell, I've got more stawk 'an my land 'll keep. Come this way,
+won't you, Mr.--Mr.--'Skyrie,' is it?"
+
+Poor father John scratched his perplexed head, shifted his weight upon
+his crutches, and would fain have answered each and all at once as each
+demanded; but the affair was too much for him, who was always so ready
+to see the funny side of things. He cast one bewildered glance into
+Dorothy's laughing, sympathetic face and, also, began to laugh aloud.
+
+The trader nearest, he of the gaunt black steed, caught the infection of
+merriment and augmented it by a hoarse guffaw. Already, while waiting
+for the prospective purchasers, the many who had come to sell had seen
+the absurdity of the situation, and each new arrival of pig, cow, or
+horse, had caused an outburst of momentary mirth. Yet, hitherto, under
+this passing amusement, had lain a half-angry resentment. Each had
+climbed the mountain, or traveled across it, for the sole purpose of
+"making a good trade," and none was pleased to find his chances
+forestalled.
+
+Now, however, personal feelings gave way before this good-natured
+acceptance of an annoying state of things; and, before another moment
+passed, the laughter which the master of Skyrie had started was echoed
+from man to man till Dorothy clapped her hands to her ears and mother
+Martha ran into the house, to escape the uproar.
+
+The fun conquered, for a time at least, all ill feeling, but it had not
+settled more important matters. The buying and selling had yet to come,
+and John Chester fairly groaned as he whispered to Dorothy:
+
+"What shall I do with them! However get out of this mess! I know no more
+about the good points of a horse or a cow than a babe unborn, and your
+mother who does--or should, for she's a farmer's daughter--has
+ignominiously fled!"
+
+Seeing the pair in apparent consultation, the visiting owners of the
+various animals held their momentary peace, till Dorothy answered quite
+seriously:
+
+"Well, whether you do or do not know which is good and which is bad, you
+did advertise for them, you know, and you ought to take one of each
+kind, I s'pose. That is--have you got the money ready, to pay right
+now?"
+
+"Oh, yes! The money's all right. Martha has that in her cupboard."
+
+"Well, then, let's try it this way. Ask her to come out again; then
+let's begin with the pigs. They act the meanest of all the creatures and
+I hate them! _Must_ we have a pig, father John?"
+
+"So your mother says. To eat up the milk!"
+
+"Then I do think she ought to select it. I'll go and ask her, myself.
+Let everybody bring up his pig, one after another, like standing in line
+at the post-office, you know; and let mother look them all over and
+choose the one she wants. When we get through the pigs the rest of the
+pig-men will go away, and the cow-men show us their cows. Oh! it would
+be just jolly to do it that way! Mother buy the pig, you the horse, and
+I the cow! I'll go and see if she will."
+
+Either Dorothy's arguments were convincing or Mrs. Chester had repented
+her retreat, thus leaving her more inexperienced husband to the mercy of
+possibly unscrupulous traders, for she promptly reappeared in the
+dooryard and announced:
+
+"We will buy just what we advertised for: one cow, one horse, one pig.
+We will examine the pigs first, and in order, with lowest price stated
+at once. We will not dicker at all, but will buy as cheaply as we can.
+Now, begin."
+
+The little woman had placed herself upon the doorstep, with an air of
+practical business which caused her husband to silently clap his hands
+and as silently applaud; nodding his head and saying, by his expression:
+
+"Good enough, madam! Couldn't have done better if you'd been in
+continual practice!"
+
+The only difficulty of the proceeding was that each "pig-man" had grown
+weary of waiting and now crowded to the fore, intent upon selling _his_
+pig before another had a chance. Result: seven specimens of swine, in
+varying degrees of fatness, were forced into the inclosure; where each
+immediately proceeded to entangle himself with his neighbor and to run
+in a direction diametrically opposed to his owner's will.
+
+"Oh! how glad I am our flower beds haven't been made yet!" cried
+Dorothy, flying up the outside stairs of the cottage, where she felt
+quite safe, although one inquisitive porker did plant its fore-legs on
+the lower step, intent to follow. Thence it was jerked back by its
+owner, with the remark:
+
+"Drat a hog, anyhow! They're plaguyest critters to drive of any that
+lives. Next time I have a pig to sell I'll do it on my own premises--or
+not at all!"
+
+In mercy to the animals and to their owners Mrs. Chester made a quick
+selection and one that others, wiser than herself, knew to be a
+fortunate one. Her choice fell upon a half-grown creature, whose body
+had received a good scrubbing before being taken to Skyrie, and whose
+skin looked pink and clean beneath its white bristles. She was asked a
+larger price than was quite just, as all the other dealers knew, but as
+all likewise considered "city folks" legitimate prey nobody enlightened
+her, and she handed out the money at once; merely requesting its late
+owner to take the animal to the corner of the old barn and securely
+fasten it there.
+
+Then there followed what father John remarked was "quite a lull in the
+hog market," and Dorothy begged:
+
+"Let's buy the cow next! There's a lovely one yonder! A soft, fat,
+écru-colored one, with the cutest little calf tied to it! Oh! do let's
+have the calf any way even if we don't the cow. It's a perfectly
+adorable little thing! see how it cocks its head and kicks up its
+heels--the sweet!"
+
+The swine and their owners having departed the dooryard was
+comparatively clear; and it was noticeable that nobody crowded forward
+when, at a nod from Mr. Chester, the proprietor of the "écru-colored"
+cow and "adorable calf" led them up for closer inspection.
+
+They certainly were attractive specimens of their race, and the Quaker
+miller who offered them had a most benignant countenance. He seemed to
+possess the respect and confidence of his neighbors and his words had
+the ring of truthfulness as he stated:
+
+"Thee will go much further and fare much worse before thee has a cow
+like Hannah offered thee, friend Martha. She is of good pedigree, as I
+can show thee if thee will step over to my mill and look at my ledger.
+Her yield is ten quarts at a milking, twice a day, and her price is
+fifty dollars."
+
+Martha Chester caught her breath. She had not anticipated paying more
+than half that sum for "just a cow"; even the price of the pig had
+startled her, remembering the small amount of cash she had in her purse.
+But alas! The demon of possession had seized her! The fact that the
+porcine "beauty" already tied to her barn was her own roused all her old
+farm-born instinct for "stock," and though she hesitated she did not say
+"No." Besides, her own half-forgotten grandsire had been a Friend and
+this man's speech carried her back to childhood's days and a roomy
+farmhouse, with its rich abundance of good things. Was ever a Quaker
+really poor?
+
+Now nobody, in his senses, could have compared honest Oliver Sands to a
+tempter; yet his very next words proved temptation to John and Martha
+Chester, whose Christian names he had somehow acquired and now used so
+naturally.
+
+"If thee buys Hannah thee will not regret it. Moreover, because I have
+heard the surprising tale of the little maid yonder, I will bind the
+bargain by giving her the calf, free of charge. I do not like to
+separate mother and child, even among brute creatures, unless from
+necessity; and, Dorothy Chester, thee may have my calf."
+
+Of the astonishment of her parents and Dorothy's wild, almost
+incredulous delight, there is no need to tell. It can be easily
+surmised. Sufficient to state that very shortly afterward the
+broad-brimmed hat of Oliver Sands was disappearing down the road, while
+Hannah and her offspring had joined the squealing pig beside the barn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+AT MILKING-TIME
+
+
+As if by mutual consent the owners of the rejected cattle slowly
+departed. They had awaited the outcome of the Sands-Chester transaction
+rather from curiosity than any doubt as to the result.
+
+Oliver Sands was an upright Friend. He was, also, locally known as a
+"slick trader." What he set out to do he generally did. Moreover, though
+he dwelt in a plainly furnished farmhouse, his farm comprised the
+richest acres of the table-land crowning the mountain, and his flocks
+and herds were the largest in the county. His flour mill did a thriving
+business. Some said that its thrift was due, in part, to the amount of
+toll extracted from his neighbors' grists; but this, of course, was a
+heresy unproved. Nor did many of even these disgruntled folk grumble
+openly. They dared not. Oliver "held them in his hand," as the saying
+went, having mortgages upon almost all the smaller farms adjacent to his
+own--intent upon sometime adding them to his, at that dreaded day when
+he should see fit to "foreclose."
+
+With the miller's departure from the scene the horse-owners had their
+chance, and took it promptly; but the prices asked for the several
+steeds which were now "put through their paces" were far and away beyond
+the balance left in the Chesters' power to pay. Therefore, short work
+was made of this part of the memorable sale and the grounds were rapidly
+deserted of nearly all.
+
+Bill Barry lingered to the last, and finding himself still unsuccessful,
+relieved his disappointment by a parting fling:
+
+"Well, neighbor, after all I dunno as you will _need_ a hoss--ary kind
+of one, seein's you've got Hannah! That creatur's a repytation for speed
+'at puts my sorrel here out of the runnin'. Lively, Hannah is, an' no
+mistake. Old Olly's head's leveler than this mountain-side, even if his
+mouth is mealier 'n his own flour bags. Well, good-day. If you
+shouldn't get suited, lemme know. I'll drive right up."
+
+The silence that fell upon Skyrie then seemed intense, but most
+delightful; and for a few moments all its household felt the need of
+rest. They sat without speaking, for a time, till a low from the
+barnyard reminded them that their "family" had increased and might need
+attention. Who was to give it?
+
+With a smile, half of vexation, mother Martha suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"We've begun at the wrong end of things! 'Put the cart before the
+horse.' We needed a pig, a cow, a horse, and a man. Well, the man should
+have been our first to secure. Then he could have looked after the other
+things. Oh! hum! What a day this has been!"
+
+"Yes. Country life _does_ seem to be rather exciting," agreed Mr.
+Chester, idly poking the end of his crutch among the weeds along the
+wide stone where his chair had been placed. "A lawsuit, a stock-sale,
+and an introduction to 'Society'--all in one morning."
+
+"But we didn't get the horse!" said Dorothy C., who liked matters to be
+completely finished, once they had been undertaken; and whose fancy had
+been unduly stirred by the sight of Bucephalus. She had then and there
+decided that she, too, would become a finished equestrian as soon as
+possible; though she had seen none among the horses just exhibited that
+compared with Herbert's mount.
+
+"The horse can wait," returned Mrs. Chester, in a tone of relief. "Yet,
+for your sake, John, it should have been our first purchase."
+
+"After that necessary 'man,' my dear!"
+
+But Mrs. Chester was in no mood for joking. The reaction from excitement
+had set in, and she let her husband's jest fall to the ground where it
+belonged. If only that unfortunate advertisement had done the same! They
+would not then have been so annoyed by an overflow of traders nor been
+rendered the laughing-stock of the community. Besides it was now past
+noon and dinner must be prepared; so she rose to go indoors, suggesting
+to Dorothy:
+
+"It might be well to see if Hannah and the calf need water. You can take
+that old pail I use to scrub from and carry them a drink. Take but a
+half-pailful at a time. You're too young to lift heavy things, yet."
+
+"All right: but, mother, that generous old man didn't say what the
+calf's name was. And isn't Hannah the oddest for--a cow? Real Quakerish
+it sounds to me. What shall you name your dear little pig? May I call my
+darling calf Jewel? Just to think! I never, never dreamed I should have
+a real live little calf for my very, very own!"
+
+"May your Jewel prove a diamond of the first water!" cried father John,
+always sympathetic.
+
+But mother Martha was carefully counting the contents of her depleted
+pocket-book and her tone was rather sharp as she answered:
+
+"It's a poor pig that can't live without a name: and--I'm afraid that
+old Quaker gentleman was not--was not quite so generous as he seemed. A
+calf requires milk. A calf that 'runs with its mother' generally gets
+it; and----" She paused so long that her husband added:
+
+"What becomes of the family that owns the calf? Is that what you were
+thinking, my dear? No matter! So long as that lowing mother and child
+were not cruelly 'separated' everything is right. May I come and peel
+the potatoes for you?"
+
+For helpless to do great things for his household the crippled man had
+insisted upon his right to do small ones; but it always hurt his wife's
+pride to see her once stalwart husband doing "woman's work," so he never
+attempted it without permission.
+
+This time she nodded consent, and promptly brought him a basin of them,
+while she sat down to shell a measure of pease procured that morning
+from a passing huckster. She felt that they could talk as they worked,
+and indeed there was much to discuss. Until her return everything had
+been absorbed by Dorothy's fortunes; and even still it was thought of
+Dorothy which lay closest to both their hearts.
+
+"But Dolly brought down to a real bread-and-butter basis! We are
+compelled to make our living and hers out of this run-down farm. Now,
+how to begin? Shall I sit by the roadside and ask every man who passes
+by if he wants to hire himself out 'on shares'? Or will you risk
+another advertisement, compounded by yourself?" inquired Mr. Chester.
+"Help we must have."
+
+"Yes, we must. If I could only get hold of some of the strong, idle,
+colored men loafing the streets of Baltimore! They, or he, would be just
+what we need."
+
+"Maybe not, my dear. In any case we haven't one, nor time to import one.
+Probably he would be discontented if we got one. We'll have to depend on
+'local talent' and--hear that cow 'Moo!' Sounds as if she were
+homesick."
+
+"Poor thing! probably she is. I am--a little, myself," returned mother
+Martha, rising to put her vegetables on to boil. "Also, I consider that
+we have accomplished sufficient for one morning. Let's rest on it and
+wait what may turn up; fortunately Hannah can live upon grass--the whole
+farm is grass, or weeds----"
+
+"And the calf can live upon Hannah! My dear, country life is making you
+a philosopher: and here comes our girl as ready for her dinner as I am.
+I'll take a bit of a nap while she sets the table, and the sooner I'm
+called to it the better. No trouble with our appetites since we came to
+Skyrie," rejoined the ex-postman, crossing to the lounge and settling
+himself, not for the "nap" he had mentioned but to best consider that
+farming question, almost a hopeless one to him.
+
+The afternoon passed quietly, varied by frequent visits on the part of
+mother Martha and Dorothy to their respective possessions of live stock,
+tethered by the barn. All seemed going well. Hannah had ceased to low
+and lay upon the grass contentedly chewing her cud, while her festive
+offspring gamboled around as far as its rope-length would permit.
+
+As for the unnamed pig, it had rooted for itself a soft muddy bed, and
+from having been well fed, earlier in the day, was contented to lie and
+slumber in the sunshine.
+
+Contemplation of the creatures gave Martha great pleasure, till Dorothy
+suddenly propounded the question:
+
+"Who's going to milk Hannah? That nice Quaker man said 'twice a day,'
+and 'ten quarts at a time.'"
+
+For a moment Mrs. Chester did not answer; then she looked up and, as if
+in reply to her own perplexity, beheld Jim Barlow.
+
+"O my lad! Never anybody more welcome. You can milk, of course?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I should say so. Mis' Calvert she sent me over to see if
+you needed anything. She said as how none your folks was used to farmin'
+and she's got a right smart o' curiosity over how you came out with your
+advertisement. More'n that, here's a letter she had Ephraim fetch
+up-mounting, when he druv down for her mail. She said I was to tell you
+'t all your letters could be put with her'n if you wanted; so's to save
+you or Dorothy walking way to the office."
+
+"All our letters won't be many and she is very kind. Please thank her
+for us and tell her that--that--Jim, would you like to change 'bosses'
+and come to work for us at Skyrie?" asked Mrs. Chester with sudden
+inspiration.
+
+"No, ma'am, I wouldn't," answered the lad, with unflattering promptness.
+"I mean--you know----"
+
+"Oh! don't try to smooth that over, pray. It was a mere thought of mine,
+knowing how fond you were, or seemed to be, of our girl. But, of
+course, you wouldn't. The comforts and conveniences of our little home
+can't compare with Deerhurst. Only----" said the lady, somewhat
+sarcastically, and on the point of adding: "It's better than Miranda
+Stott's." But she left her sentence unfinished and it was kinder so.
+
+Poor Jim saw that he had offended. Even Dorothy's brown eyes had
+flashed, perceiving her mother's discomfiture, but though his face
+flushed to find himself thus misunderstood he did not alter, nor soften,
+his decision. He merely stated the case as he regarded it:
+
+"If I could make two of myself I'd be glad to. I'd just admire to take
+hold this job an' clear the weeds an' rubbidge offen Skyrie. Not 't I
+think it'll ever be wuth shucks--for farmin': the land's all run to
+mullein an' stun. But I could make it a sight better 'n it is an' it
+might grow plenty of them posies Dorothy's so tickled with. If it could
+be stocked now--Mis' Stott used to say that keepin' lots o' cattle was
+to be looked at both ways; what they leave on the land in manure fetches
+it up, an' what they eat offen it fetches it down. She kep' more calves
+an' yearlin's than 'peared like she'd ought to, but she raised a power
+of stuff for market, 'count of 'em. If I was you folks I'd put my money
+into yearlin's fust thing," said this young farmer, rendered talkative
+by his novel position as adviser.
+
+Dorothy was disgusted. This didn't seem like the old, subservient Jim
+she was familiar with and she disliked his plainness of speech. She
+improved the occasion by calling his attention to Jewel:
+
+"See my calf? That's my very own! She was a present to me this very day,
+Jim Barlow, and I've named her Jewel. Maybe, though, I'll change that to
+'Daisy.' I've read stories where cows were called 'Daisies,' and she'll
+be a cow sometime, and I shall sell her milk to get money."
+
+"Pshaw! Looks like good stock, that calf does; 's if 't might make a
+nice steer, but 'twon't never be a _cow_ to give milk. 'Tain't that kind
+of a calf; and after all, raisin' young cattle is a power of work. They
+run over fences an' fall into hollers, an' Mis' Stott she used to say,
+sometimes, she didn't know but they did eat their own heads off;
+meanin' their keep cost more than they was wuth--time they was ready for
+killin'. If I was you, Dorothy, I'd fat that calf up, quick's I could,
+then sell him to the butcher for veal," further advised this practical
+youth.
+
+"O you horrid boy! You--you--I never saw anybody who could dash cold
+water on people's happiness as you can! You--you're as hateful as you
+can be!" cried Dorothy, venting all her disappointment in anger against
+him.
+
+Now it happened that that same morning, at Seth Winters's office, the
+untutored farm boy had seen and envied the ease of manner with which
+handsome Herbert Montaigne had won his way into the favor of Mrs.
+Calvert and had instantly made friends with Dorothy. Then and there,
+something sharp and bitter had stolen into Jim's big heart and had sent
+him speeding out of sight--eager to hide himself and his uncouthness
+from these more fortunate folk, whose contrast to himself was so
+painful. Dorothy--why, even Dorothy--had, apparently, been captivated by
+the dashing Herbert to the utter neglect of her former friend; and,
+maybe, that was what had hurt the most. Incipient jealousy had stung
+Jim's nobler nature and now made him say with unconscious wistfulness:
+
+"I'm sorry, girlie. You--you didn't think so--always."
+
+The girl had turned her back upon him, in her indignation, but at the
+altered tone she faced about, while a swift recollection of all that she
+owed to him sent the tears to her eyes and her to clasp her arms about
+his neck and kiss him soundly, begging:
+
+"O Jim! forgive me! I didn't mean--I forgot. _You_ never can be horrid
+to me. I don't like to have my things made fun of--I never was given a
+calf before--I--Kiss me, Jim Barlow, and say you do!"
+
+To the bashful lad this outburst was more painful than jealousy. His
+face grew intensely red and he did not return the kiss. On the contrary
+he very promptly removed her clinging arms, with his protesting:
+
+"Pshaw! What ails you, Dorothy?"
+
+Then he forced himself to look towards Mrs. Chester and to return to the
+real business of the moment. Fortunately, that lady was not even
+smiling. She was too accustomed to her child's impulsiveness to heed it,
+and she had resolved to act upon the principle that "half a loaf is
+better than no bread." In other words, she would improve this chance of
+getting some fit quarters for the pig, which had roused and begun to
+make its presence evident. She scarcely even heard Jim's attempted
+explanation:
+
+"You see, Mis' Chester, 'twas Mis' Calvert that took me up an' set out
+to make a man of me. I disappointed her fust time she trusted me, and
+I've got to stay long enough to show I ain't so wuthless as I seemed.
+_I've got to._ More'n that, the gardener she's had so long is so old an'
+sot in his ways he don't get more'n half out the soil 't he'd ought to.
+I'm goin' to show him what Maryland folks can do! That truck o' his'n?
+Why, bless your heart, he couldn't sell it to Lexington Market, try his
+darnedest: nor Hollins', nor Richmond, nor even Ma'sh Market--where poor
+folks buy. Huh! No, I can't leave. But I'll come work for you-all every
+minute I can get, without neglectin' Mis' Calvert."
+
+"O Jim! That's lovely of you, but you mustn't do that. It would be too
+great a sacrifice. You planned to study every minute you were not
+working or sleeping, and you must. It's your chance. You must, Jim dear.
+You know you're to be President--or something big--and you're to make me
+very, very proud of you. Some way, somebody will be found,--to farm poor
+Skyrie!" returned Dorothy, eagerly, yet unable to resist the last
+reproach.
+
+"Now, Mis' Chester, I can, an' ought, to get that pig into a pen 'fore
+dark. Is there any old lumber 'round, 't you can spare?" asked the lad,
+rolling up his blouse sleeves, preparatory to labor.
+
+"There's an old dog-churn in the cellar, that Alfaretta Babcock knocked
+to pieces the time----"
+
+"Speaking of Babcock, ma'am, that is my name: and I've come to hire
+out," said a queer unknown voice, so near and so suddenly that mother
+Martha screamed; then having whirled about to see whence the voice came,
+screamed again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+HELPERS
+
+
+The man who had come so noiselessly over the grass, from Cat Hollow,
+might well have been the "Nanarchist" his daughter had termed him, were
+one to judge from tradition and appearance; and it is small wonder that
+Mrs. Chester had cried out so unexpectedly, beholding this specimen of
+the "Red Brotherhood."
+
+Tall beyond the average, "Pa Babcock"--he was rarely spoken of
+otherwise--had a great head covered by a shock of fiery hair which
+proved Alfaretta truthful in her statement that "he'd disdain to comb
+it." The hair was stiff and bristly, and stood out in every direction,
+while the beard matched it in growth and quantity. He wore a faded red
+flannel shirt, and denim overalls that had once been red, while his
+great hairy feet were bare and not too clean. He wore no hat and
+scarcely needed one, and while his physique was that of a mighty man
+his face was foolishly weak and vain. His voice perfectly suited the
+face: and, altogether, he was a most unprepossessing candidate for the
+position of "hired man" at Skyrie.
+
+"You wish to hire out?" asked the mistress of the farm, repeating
+incredulously his statement. "But I thought--Alfaretta said----"
+
+"I do not doubt it. The reputation I have won at the hands of my own
+household is part of the general injustice of society--as it exists.
+Nothing can convince my labor-loving spouse that I am preparing for her
+and her children a future of--Stay, lad: are you, also, a member of this
+establishment?"
+
+"I'm goin' down suller after lumber. Come along an' help. If we hustle
+right smart we can get a pen done 'fore dark, let alone gettin' them
+cattle into a shed. Strange critters need shuttin' up, a spell, else
+they'll make tracks for home--wherever 'tis," answered Jim, leading the
+way toward the house and the door he judged must lead to the cellar. His
+own voice sounded very strong and masterful by contrast with the high,
+thin falsetto of the "Nanarchist," and Mrs. Chester smiled, while
+Dorothy cried out:
+
+"Alfy's father may be a _giant_, but my Jim is a _man_!"
+
+They were no longer afraid of "Pa Babcock." His outward appearance
+wholly belied his nature, and they instinctively recognized that here
+was an easy-going, lazy fellow, who might impress his own household with
+a sense of his importance but could not overawe outsiders. They sat down
+on the barn doorsill to wait and watch events, and presently there
+returned Pa Babcock carrying an enormous quantity of the heavy, cobwebby
+planking that had formed the framework of the old churn. Behind him was
+Jim, rolling the treadmill part of the affair and as profoundly
+engrossed by the task in hand as by all he undertook. He had evidently
+assumed the direction of matters and his big assistant was amusingly
+obedient.
+
+Mr. Chester, also, came out to the spot and was made comfortable with an
+old horse-blanket for cushion of a low chopping-block near. Dorothy
+found the blanket in the barn and also triumphantly asserted that there
+was a lot of "real nice hay" in one part of it. But Jim scoffed at this
+statement, declaring that hay kept as long as Skyrie had been closed
+wouldn't be "wuth shucks."
+
+"James, James! Don't become a pessimist!" warned father John, yet
+smiling, too.
+
+"Say it again, please, sir, an' I'll look it out in that little
+dictionary Mis' Calvert she's put in my room. Hurry up, man! Wish to
+goodness I had some decent tools! Nothin' but a rusty ax to work
+with--an' look yonder at that sky!"
+
+All looked and mother Martha grew frightened. She was timid during any
+thunder shower and this was worse than a shower which threatened--a
+tornado seemed imminent. To retreat indoors and help John to get there
+was her first impulse, but Pa Babcock held up a protesting hand and she
+hesitated, curiously observing his movements. Moistening his fingers he
+let the rising wind blow over them, then calmly resumed his task of
+nailing a board to a post in the cattle-shed still left standing beside
+the barn.
+
+"It will not come on to rain till midnight. Then look out for a deluge.
+You are perfectly and entirely safe here, ma'am, until our undertaking
+is accomplished and it is always well to have the eye of the master--I
+would say, mistress--upon----"
+
+"Hand over that scantlin', old step-an'-fetch-it!" ordered Jim, with
+scant reverence and--the scantling was handed. Furthermore, Pa was set
+to searching the barn for a possible crowbar, pick-ax, or, "Any plaguy
+thing a feller can bore a post-hole with."
+
+Thus rudely interrupted, the "Nanarchist" calmly surveyed his companion
+in labor, then squeaked out:
+
+"There is no occasion for such remarkable activity, young man, but----"
+
+"Hurry up! 'Twon't be no midnight 'fore that 'gust' strikes us!" ordered
+Jim Barlow.
+
+Anger is a wonderful incentive to action--sometimes. At last Pa Babcock
+was angry--as much so as it was in his nature ever to be. The result was
+that he fell to work with a vigor and skill that almost distanced Jim's
+own; to the great advantage of the Chesters and their live stock.
+
+By the time darkness had come a pig-pen had been constructed in one end
+of the cattle-shed; a milking-stool had been nailed into shape and
+Hannah milked--with a remarkable shrinkage in the amount Oliver Sands
+had accredited to her: she and "Daisy-Jewel" put under cover for the
+night: and the rickety barn-doors nailed here and there as a precaution
+against the coming "gust."
+
+This seemed long delayed; yet Jim was wise enough to button his blouse
+tightly across his heated chest and to take his prompt departure the
+moment his self-imposed tasks were finished; Mrs. Chester calling after
+him:
+
+"Don't forget to thank Mrs. Calvert for her kindness about the mail and
+tell her, please, that this letter held the change due us after the
+printing of that advertisement And thank _you_, James Barlow, for all
+your helpfulness in everything."
+
+The lad went onward, with a comfortable sense of having been extremely
+useful and with all his slight jealousy allayed; reflecting, also:
+
+"There ain't one that lot got any more sense about farmin' than a spring
+chicken! Not so much, either; 'cause a chicken _will_ stir round an'
+scratch a livin' out the ground, sooner 'n starve. Dorothy, she--Well,
+she's got some ideas, kind of dull ones, but might answer once she gets
+'em sharpened by tryin' an' failin'; but--Pshaw! I wish to goodness she
+was a boy an' not a girl! Then there'd be some show. As 'tis--shucks!"
+
+The day may come, Master James, when you'll be very glad that your wish
+could not be gratified! Meanwhile, as you plod along beneath the trees,
+sighing and moaning overhead--in seeming terror of the coming storm--the
+family at Skyrie have re-entered the cottage: and with the ease of one
+who belongs, Pa Babcock has entered with them.
+
+"Will you stay for supper, Mr. Babcock, or shall we take some other time
+for talking about business?" asked Mr. Chester, as their new
+acquaintance coolly settled himself in the invalid's own rocker by the
+window and began to sway lazily to and fro, while the host himself took
+a straight chair near by.
+
+"O father John! Don't sit there. I'm sure Mr. Babcock will----" began
+Dorothy, indignant at the stranger's selfishness.
+
+But her father stopped her by a shake of his head and a smile of
+amusement which neither she nor Martha shared: though the latter did
+say, politely enough:
+
+"I never knew anybody to come at a time they were more needed, for
+without your help Jim could never have fixed things so nicely. We owe
+you many thanks and some money. How much you will have to say, for we
+know little about wages here in the North."
+
+Pa waited for her to finish, then ejaculated:
+
+"I should say I did help! Done it all, if you'll recall the
+circumstances again. Furnished all the brain power anyway, and skilled
+labor outranks muscle at any time. He means well, that boy: but--I
+wonder if he realizes his own position in society! A poor, down-trodden
+member of the lower class. I must see him again. I must uplift him!
+Ennoble him! Rouse his slumbering ambition--Make a man of him! I----"
+
+"You couldn't! I don't mean to be rude, but you mustn't talk about my
+Jim that way. He _isn't_ down-trodden. He _is_ uplifted. He's going to
+make a man of himself, for himself, by himself--without you or even dear
+Mrs. Cecil interfering. She'll help, of course, for she's rich and has
+the chance, but a boy like Jim Barlow--Huh!" cried Dorothy in valiant
+defense of her faithful friend, and with a contemptuous glance at this
+great man whom she had disliked on the instant.
+
+"Dorothy! Dorothy C.!" reproved Mrs. Chester in her sternest accents,
+yet not far behind her daughter in the matter of dislike. The man seemed
+such a sham, but--"Praise the bridge that carries you safe over!" He was
+willing to be hired and they needed him.
+
+Pa Babcock paid no more attention to the girl's outbreak than he did to
+the fly perambulating his frowsy forehead and which he was too indolent
+to brush aside; and indignant at this, also, Dorothy went about bringing
+food from the pantry and depositing dishes upon the table with most
+unnecessary decision. She hoped, oh! how she hoped that her parents
+would refuse to employ this "Anarchist"; or, if they did so, that they
+would prohibit his coming to the family table.
+
+However, here he was and supper was ready, and he was invited to draw
+near; yet to the surprise of all, with the provision stipulated for by
+the host:
+
+"To-night, Mr. Babcock, we consider you our guest: but should you engage
+to work for us I would like to arrange that you should board yourself.
+Mrs. Chester has no servant."
+
+"Sir, I admire her for it! Let every member of society serve himself and
+the reign of equality begins. My wife is a fine cook and there will be
+no difficulty in our arrangements. Oliver Sands is my good friend, and
+it is by his suggestion that I am here. He is a man as is a man! There
+is no giving of titles by him. A plain man, Oliver, though not--not
+quite as fully imbued with the doctrines of universal equality and
+brotherhood as I should desire. Sir, are you a--Socialist?"
+
+Certainly this strange man was what his daughter had described him, "a
+good talker," judging from the ready flow of language, and of better
+quality than is commonly found in men of his class. Though this may be
+accounted for by the fact that he was a greedy reader--of any and every
+thing which came his way. But to this suddenly propounded inquiry Mr.
+Chester answered, with his own merry smile:
+
+"No, indeed! Nothing half so 'uplifted' or ambitious. Just a poor,
+afflicted fellow out of work and anxious to make a living for his
+family. Let us get through our meal and come to business."
+
+Fortunately, while Pa Babcock was eating he could not well talk, and he
+was one, as Alfaretta had said, "could always relish his victuals." He
+now relished so many of prudent mother Martha's that her heart sank,
+knowing that food costs money and money was unpleasantly scarce in that
+cottage; but, at last, he seemed satisfied and pushed back from the
+table, saying:
+
+"Now, let's settle things. I was sent here, first off, by my friend
+Oliver Sands, to negotiate a loan for him--for your benefit. He's a
+forehanded fellow, Oliver is, and always ready to help those along who
+are in trouble or--He's wanted to put a mortgage on my place in Cat
+Hollow, so's to give me time and opportunity--meaning cash--to
+promulgate the principles of----"
+
+"Yes," said John impatiently.
+
+"Of course, you understand. All sensible persons do and I shall
+eventually convert you to my ideas----"
+
+"Possibly, possibly! But return to your errand from the miller, please.
+It's growing late and we've had a fatiguing day."
+
+"I was just coming to it. He was so pleased by you and your family, so
+delighted to find your wife, here, such a woman of business, that he
+wished me to say that in case you were in need of funds, a little ready
+money, you know, he would feel perfectly safe in advancing it: securing
+it, of course, by the necessary documents."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Chester exchanged glances, which Dorothy did not see. She
+had escaped the obnoxious presence of this man by simply going to bed,
+meaning to get up again, as soon as he should depart, and bid her
+parents good-night. Then said the ex-postman, after this brief
+telegraphing of opinions:
+
+"Mr. Sands has guessed correctly. We are in need of ready money--to get
+things into running order; but the property is my wife's and, like your
+friend, I have the fullest confidence in her business ability. She will
+do as she thinks best."
+
+Now what a cruel thing is jealousy! It had embittered the honest heart
+of Jim Barlow, earlier in the day, and now attacked the tender one of
+Martha Chester. It was quite true--they did need money. True, also, that
+they had expected to raise it by a mortgage on Skyrie, at present free
+and clear. They knew that this money would be forthcoming from the
+mistress of Deerhurst, simply upon application, and upon the most
+favorable terms. She had already delicately hinted at the matter, and
+had her visit to the cottage been made that morning, as she intended, it
+would doubtless have been settled.
+
+But Martha Chester disliked to be beholden to the old gentlewoman who
+"made so much of Dorothy" and who, the mother fancied, was superseding
+herself in the child's heart. It had become a habit of Dorothy's to
+quote Mrs. Cecil as a paragon of all the virtues, and the child's
+ambition was to form her own manners and opinions upon her "fairy
+godmother's."
+
+Now offered a chance for independence which Mrs. Chester eagerly seized,
+without protest from her husband, though inwardly he disapproved putting
+themselves in the power of a stranger when there stood ready to take
+his place a tried, true friend.
+
+"Shall you see Mr. Sands again, to-night?" she asked.
+
+"No, ma'am. I'm due to deliver an oration in the 'Sons of Freedom' Hall,
+Upper Village, eight o'clock sharp, tickets twenty-five cents. Oliver
+directed me to say that if you would send your little daughter to
+Heartsease, his place, to-morrow morning he would make it his pleasure
+to call and arrange everything. He's a sort of lawyer, himself. And, oh
+yes! If you should need anything in the way of feed or fodder he is
+always ready to supply his customers, at the ruling prices and with
+dispatch.
+
+"Which brings me, ma'am and sir, to the subject of wages between
+ourselves; and if it's handy, to the payment for my services in erecting
+a pig-pen and repairing a cow-manger. Let me see. Two hours, at a dollar
+an hour--Two dollars, I make it. Do you find me right?"
+
+Well! Pa Babcock might look like a simpleton, but he could use his queer
+voice to his own advantage!
+
+John Chester shrugged his shoulders and Martha replied with considerable
+crispness:
+
+"A dollar an hour! I never heard of such a thing. In Baltimore----"
+
+"We are not in Baltimore, much as I should admire to visit that city.
+Skilled labor, you know----"
+
+"But the _skill_ was poor Jim Barlow's, and the lumber _mine_. At such a
+rate your farm services would be worth a fortune, and far more than I
+could pay. I hoped to get somebody to work 'on shares'; or at least,
+very cheaply."
+
+"For the present, ma'am, there wouldn't be any 'shares.' The ground is
+absolutely profitless. But I am not exorbitant, nor would I grind the
+face of the poor. I am a poor man myself. I glory in it. I think that
+two dollars and a half a day would be fair to both sides."
+
+With this the high, thin voice subsided and John Chester took up the
+theme, like his wife quoting their old city as a unit of measurement:
+
+"In Baltimore, or its suburbs, a day or farm laborer would not earn more
+than a dollar and a half, or even so low as a dollar and a quarter."
+
+"Per day, working on every consecutive day?" asked this would-be
+employee, leaning back in the rocker and folding his arms. It seemed he
+never could form a sentence without putting into it the largest words at
+his command, and listening to him, Martha almost hoped that their
+present discussion would prove fruitless. However could they endure his
+wordiness!
+
+"Yes. Of course it would be every day," she answered.
+
+But his next remark came with an originality worthy none other than
+himself:
+
+"Very well. I have my price and my opinion--you have yours. Let us meet
+one another halfway. I will work only every other day--I can do as much
+as two ordinary men, anyway--and thus you will be called upon for no
+more than you would have had to pay some assistant from privileged
+Baltimore."
+
+"But we could not board you!" protested John Chester. "I cannot have
+extra labor imposed upon my wife."
+
+Pa Babcock rose, stretching all his mighty limbs as if he would convince
+these strangers that he could, indeed, accomplish the work of two
+ordinary men per day; then, waving the trivial matter of board aside
+with an airy lightness which his recent exhibition of appetite scarcely
+warranted, announced:
+
+"We will consider the affair closed. I will work every other day,
+Sundays excluded, at two dollars and a half per day and find myself. I
+will enter upon my duties to-morrow morning, and I now wish you
+good-night. I go to establish the rule of equality in this unenlightened
+neighborhood."
+
+So saying he slipped out of the house, a fearsome-looking but wholly
+harmless "crank," who seemed rather to have left his shadow behind him
+than to have taken it with him. As he departed the roar of thunder, the
+brilliant flash of lightning, filled the room; and, forestalling a
+remonstrance she feared might be forthcoming, mother Martha exclaimed:
+
+"The storm is coming at last. I must go see to all the windows."
+
+"I'll limp around and help you; and, wife dear, I can't help feeling we
+should think twice before we take up with that miller's offer. He's too
+sweet to be wholesome and I know that Mrs. Calvert----"
+
+"The matter is settled, John. You reminded me that Skyrie was my
+property. I claim the right to use my own judgment in the case. I will
+send Dorothy to see that kind old Quaker early to-morrow."
+
+She did. But as her husband went about with her that evening, making all
+secure against the tempest, the shadow that Pa Babcock had left behind
+him--the shadow of almost their first disagreement--followed her light
+footsteps and the tap-tap of his crutches from room to room.
+
+Till at last they came to the little upper chamber which they had both
+vied in making attractive for Dorothy's homecoming and saw her sleeping
+there; her lovely innocent face flushed in slumber and dearer to them
+both than anything else in life.
+
+"It was for her, else I'd have let John have his way and ask Mrs. Cecil.
+But I cannot have her drawn away from me--and she's being drawn, she's
+being drawn," thought mother Martha, stopping to straighten a moist
+curl and kiss the pretty cheek.
+
+"Oh! if only for that darling's sake we had trusted Mrs. Cecil. She has
+trusted us: but Martha--Well, women are kittle cattle. I don't
+understand them, but somehow I'm sorry," was his reflection.
+
+So they went down again, he limping, she skipping almost like a girl,
+but with a division of thought which saddened both.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SETH WINTERS AND HIS FRIENDS
+
+
+Seth Winters was known as the best blacksmith in the country. The horses
+he shod never went lame, the tires of the wheels he repaired rarely
+loosened: consequently his patronage was extensive and of the best.
+Better than that, his patrons liked the man as well as his work and they
+were more than willing to grant him a favor--almost the first he had
+ever asked of them.
+
+First, he visited Mrs. Cecil and counseled with her concerning the
+scheme he had formed: and she having most heartily approved it, he lost
+no time in mentioning it to each and all who came to his shop. The
+result was that on a sunny morning, not long after Dorothy's homecoming,
+there gathered before the little smithy an assemblage of all sorts and
+conditions of men and vehicles, which filled the road for a long
+distance either way, and even strayed into the surrounding woods for a
+more comfortable waiting-place.
+
+In the wagons were also many women, farm-wives mostly, all gay with the
+delight of an unexpected outing and the chance to bestow a kindness.
+
+"Amazing! How it warms the cockles of one's heart to be good to
+somebody!" cried Seth, his benign face aglow with the zest of the thing,
+as one after another team drew near and its occupants bade him a smiling
+"Good-morning!" "The very busiest time of all the year for farmer
+folk--haying, crop-raising, gardening--yet not a soul I asked has failed
+to respond, in some shape or other."
+
+"Of course not! It's as good as a county fair or a Sunday-school picnic,
+Cousin Seth! I wouldn't have missed it for anything!" cried a merry old
+voice behind him, and he turned to see Mrs. Calvert nodding her handsome
+head in this direction and that, with that friendly simplicity of manner
+which had made her so generally liked. For, though she could be most
+austere and haughty with what she called "common and presumptuous
+people," she had an honest liking for all her fellow-creatures who were
+honest and simple themselves.
+
+"Now, Betty! But I might have known you would come--you're always on
+hand for any 'doin's.' Though don't you dare to give your own generosity
+free rein. This is strictly a case 'of the people, by the people, for
+the people.' Blue-blooded aristocracy and full purses aren't 'in it,'"
+warned the smith, in an alarm that was more real than feigned, knowing
+that his impulsive old friend could spoil the pleasure of many by
+exceeding them in giving.
+
+"Oh! I shall take care. I've only sent one team, a couple of men--one
+the gardener, the other a carpenter who was working on the place,
+and--Do you know, Seth Winters, you barrier-destroying old
+'Socialist!'--that the man positively refused to take pay for his day's
+labor, even though he can ill afford to lose his time? 'No, ma'am,' said
+this aristocrat of the saw and plane, 'I claim the right to do a decent
+turn to a neighbor, same as another.' Rich or poor it doesn't appear to
+make a bit of difference--give them a chance at this sort of thing and
+they all lose their heads."
+
+Seth laughed. Such "Socialistic" principles as these were the ones he
+advocated, not only by word but by his whole noble life. For him wealth
+had but one purpose--the bettering of these other folk to whom wealth
+had not been given. Then he asked:
+
+"What of Jim Barlow? Is he one of the 'men' you furnished for the day?"
+
+"Will you believe me--he is not? When that young Herbert Montaigne rode
+around this morn-thing, before breakfast, to say that his father was
+sending two men with a mowing machine and that he, Herbert, was going to
+ride on the horse-rake himself, Jim was talking to me. He was full of
+enthusiasm and earnest to explain that nothing in our own home garden
+should suffer because of his taking this day off. He would work overtime
+to make up--as if I would let him! But as soon as Herbert came, just as
+enthusiastic himself, down goes my James's countenance to the very
+bottom of despair. What I love about that boy is his naturalness!"
+exclaimed this lively old lady, irrelevantly.
+
+"Keep to the subject in hand, please, Cousin Betty. The reason of Jim's
+gloom perplexes me. I should have thought he would have been----"
+
+"Oh! he was; he did; he must have been, he should have been, he would
+have been--all the tenses in the grammar you choose. If it hadn't been
+for my precious little Dorothy. That small maid----"
+
+She paused so long and seemed so amused that again he spoke:
+
+"For her sake alone I should think he would be pleased to find others
+ready to befriend her."
+
+"In a way, of course, he is, though man-like, or boy-like, he'd very
+much rather _do_ the befriending than have such a handsome young fellow
+as Herbert take it out of hand. That lad was just fetching! He'd dressed
+the part to perfection. Had on a loose white flannel blouse knotted with
+a blue tie--his color: his denim knickers might have been the finest
+riding trousers; and his long boots--I fancy there was more money went
+to the cost of them than you'd spend on yourself in a year. And all to
+make himself fair in the eyes of a little maid like Dorothy. But blood
+will tell. My Dolly----"
+
+"Remember, she _isn't_ your Dolly, Elizabeth Somerset Cecil Calvert,
+however you may now love and covet her. She's a charming small woman, as
+many another lad than poor Jim or gay Herbert will find some day. But I
+didn't dream that jealousy began so early in life, or that such a
+matter-of-fact person as young James Barlow could be jealous."
+
+"He is. He is intensely so, though probably he doesn't know it himself.
+I fancy it is about the first time he has been brought into contact with
+other lads of his own age, and he is keen enough to see his own
+disadvantage. Herbert's nod to Jim was wholly friendly, I thought, but
+Jim resented it as patronizing. Silly fellow! And so he promptly changed
+his mind about affairs and decided that not for any consideration could
+he leave his garden and his 'duty' till the day's work was done. Then,
+if he had any time, my lord of the potato-crop may condescend to appear
+at Skyrie. Also by that time, he doubtless thinks, a white-handed
+aristocrat like Herbert will have tired of the affair and betaken
+himself back to the Towers where he belongs. Oh! I do love young folks!
+They are so transparent and honest in showing their feelings that
+they're wonderfully interesting. As for my Dolly C.--Seth Winters, I
+believe that I will really have to ask those Chesters to let me have her
+for 'keeps,' as the children say."
+
+"No, no, dear friend. Don't. You must not. It were most unwise. Leave
+the girl to grow up in the station to which God has assigned her, no
+matter by whose human hands the deed was done. At present she is fair,
+affectionate, simple, and womanly. To be suddenly transplanted into a
+wealthy home would spoil her. For once, put your generous impulses aside
+and leave Dorothy Chester alone, to be a comfort to those who have
+devoted their lives to her. And now, that sermon's ended! Also, I
+believe that all have come who promised, which is a remarkable thing in
+itself. You're walking, I suppose? So am I; and we'll start on together,
+while I signal the rest to follow."
+
+So they set forth, a worthy pair of white-haired "children," who could
+not grow old because they lived so very near that Heaven whence they had
+come to earth: and behind them fell into line all the motley assortment
+of carts and wagons, with the clattering mowing machine from the Towers
+bringing up the rear.
+
+Mother Martha was in what purported to be a garden, trying to persuade
+Pa Babcock to plant things that would yet have time to mature that
+season, and was at her wits' end to find arguments to stem his eloquent
+reasons why he should do otherwise. Quoth he:
+
+"Now, of all the satisfactory vegetables grown, asparagus, or
+sparrowgrass, as the unenlightened around here call it--asparagus
+contains more nourishment and the properties----"
+
+"But, Mr. Babcock, please don't dig any longer in that trench. It will
+have to be four or five feet deep and so much labor. My husband was
+reading all about it in one of his catalogues that he's just sent for,
+and it would take at least three years for asparagus to grow strong
+enough to begin cutting. Besides the roots are too expensive. And that
+terrible trench, so big, filled with stones----"
+
+"Excuse me, ma'am, there's plenty of stone at Skyrie to fill the
+asparagus beds of the nation: or if not quite that----"
+
+"But I must insist, since you've refused to listen to John about it,
+that you stop fooling with this trench and plant some late potatoes. We
+bought some seed ones from Mrs. Smith and my little girl is cutting them
+into pieces already. We were shown that by leaving one or two 'eyes' the
+pieces would grow just as well as whole tubers. Everybody needs potatoes
+and they can do without asparagus!" and too exasperated for further
+speech poor mother Martha folded her arms and brought her sternest
+glances to bear upon her hired man.
+
+He had kept his word and appeared upon the morning following his
+engagement, and for a time he had been left to his own devices: his
+inexperienced employers judging that any man who had been brought up in
+the country must be wiser in farming matters than they. Besides, the
+storm that had threatened on the night of his first visit had proved a
+most disastrous one. The roof had "leaked like a sieve," as pessimistic
+Jim Barlow had declared it would, "give it storm enough to try it":
+rusty-hinged shutters had broken loose, stopped-up drains had
+overflowed, the cellar had become a pool of water, and the cherished
+furniture brought from the little home in Baltimore had, in several
+rooms, been ruined by the moisture. Moreover, father John had taken a
+severe cold and been kept in bed in his own more sheltered apartment;
+where he consoled himself with the gardening catalogues he had written
+for and whence he endeavored to direct their hired man.
+
+"Did Pa Babcock bring his dinner, Martha?" he had asked on that first
+morning, when she was running distractedly about, trying to dry the
+damaged furniture and undo the storm's havoc.
+
+"No, dear. He said--just this once it didn't happen to be convenient.
+His wife hadn't any cold meat on hand."
+
+"Neither have you, I believe! Well, I will not board him. I will not!
+The farm may go to rack and ruin first!" cried Mr. Chester, indignantly.
+"The idea! Here are Dorothy and I trying to put our appetites into our
+pockets, just to save you labor, and this great, squeaking lout of a
+man----"
+
+"John, John! Why, John, I never knew you to be so unjust! If I, with my
+quick temper, can have patience, you certainly should."
+
+"But, mother, he's just been doing nothing at all, all this morning!"
+cried Dorothy, seconding her beloved father's opinion. "Just 'sort of
+nudgin' 'round,' Jim used to call it when I worked that way to the
+truck-farm, and I only a little girl. Why, I know I could have pulled
+more weeds myself in this time if I hadn't had to help you indoors, even
+if I did take that long walk to Heartsease farm. The ground is soaking
+wet, weeds would pull just beautifully, I know, 'cause we used to love
+to work after a rain, in our little garden at home! Oh! dear! this is
+very pretty, but--I wish we hadn't come!"
+
+Alas! This regret was in all their hearts, in that early time at Skyrie.
+Views were beautiful but they didn't support life, and though they had
+secured a modest sum of ready money to tide them over these beginnings
+it had been at the cost of "debt," a burden which the Chesters hated to
+bear. But, fortunately, they had scant time for repining, and there is
+nothing like active occupation to banish useless brooding.
+
+Hannah herself could well keep one person busy and, of course, her youth
+and fleetness ordained that this person should be Dorothy. Bill Barry's
+statement that the écru-colored bovine was "lively" and could outrun his
+sorrel mare was, at least founded upon fact. Among cattlemen she was
+what is known as a "jumper"; and though her behavior upon her first day
+of residence at Skyrie was most exemplary her sedateness forsook her on
+the next and forever after.
+
+With the best intentions, after having tried her own hand at milking and
+succeeding better than she had expected, Mrs. Cheater kindly turned
+Hannah "out to grass"--with most unlooked-for results.
+
+"All cattle graze, you know, John; and she really nibbled that bit of
+ground clean where she was tied yesterday. Dorothy and I--we won't
+hinder our 'man' for a trifle like that--Dolly and I will prop up that
+sagging gate, so Hannah won't be tempted to stray away, and give her the
+run of this first lot. She might almost mow it for us in time."
+
+"Thus cutting short her winter supply of fodder. Let her have one day
+at the 'mowing,' if you choose, then she'd better be put into that old
+pasture and left there. I know a good farmer wouldn't let even a
+well-trained Quaker cow into his best meadow; even _I_ know that! As for
+the pig, since we can't possibly drink all that milk and, as yet, have
+no pans in which to store it, he may as well consume it sweet as wait
+for it to sour. That will keep him quiet, anyway, and a squealing pig--I
+shouldn't like one."
+
+Martha was delighted to find even thus much farm knowledge on her
+husband's part, and exclaimed:
+
+"However you guessed that much about things, that meadows are meant for
+hay and pigs are raised on sour milk, I don't see! Only, of course, it's
+as you often say to Dolly: 'Anybody can use his head for anything he
+chooses.' I suppose you've chosen to study farming and so I know we
+shall succeed. By the way, Mrs. Smith has sent word over by her little
+boy that she is going up to Newburgh this afternoon to do what she calls
+'trading.' She sells poultry, and eggs, and butter, and such things,
+that she raises on her farm, and takes in exchange all sorts of staple
+goods. She said she'd be pleased to have me go along and learn how to
+'trade,' 'cause if I was going to be a farmer I'd have to know. I shall
+have to take some of that money, too, and buy a churn, some milk pans,
+and--Well, so many things it doesn't seem as if we really had a single
+necessary article to start with! But it's all the same, of course, in
+the end. When we get the loan from Friend Oliver Sands it will be all
+right. You and Dorothy will be comfortable while I'm gone, I think, for
+our man is right on hand in the garden to----"
+
+"Then, if you love me, keep him there!" pleaded father John, in his
+whimsical way. "If he forsakes the garden for the house--Well, _I_ shall
+be asleep! As for poor Dolly, if he catches her and tries to convert her
+to his ideas, the child has nimble feet and can run. I shall advise her
+so to do. But I'm glad you're to have that nice long ride, though I
+can't imagine you as ever becoming a good 'trader.'"
+
+It was during this brief absence that the écru-colored Hannah first
+returned to her natural ways, and that Dorothy had to prove herself
+"nimble," indeed. Despite the fact that she stood in the midst of the
+most luxurious vegetation the dissatisfied cow knew that there was
+better in the field beyond. Regardless of the appealing cries of
+Daisy-Jewel, this careless mother gave one airy flick to her heels and
+leaped the intervening wall; and though her child essayed to follow it
+could not, but set up such a bawling that Mr. Chester hobbled out to see
+what was amiss.
+
+"Remarkable!" cried Pa Babcock, improving this opportunity to rest from
+his not too arduous weeding. "Remarkable how the qualities of a race
+horse will sometimes inhabit the bosom of a creature----"
+
+"Dorothy! Dorothy! I guess you'll have to put Dickens down and go get
+Hannah back out of that lot. She's made a--a little mistake! Your mother
+wants her to graze on the home-piece and mother's our farmer, you know.
+Do run drive her back, but look out for her hoofs. She'd take a hurdle
+better than any horse I ever saw," called Mr. Chester, laughing; yet
+regretting to disturb Dorothy, who had worked industriously beside her
+mother to get things into good condition after the drenching of the
+rain. She had taken tacks from carpets, carried wet cushions and
+blankets out into the sunshine to dry and carried them back again when
+fit, and she wanted to rest and read.
+
+"Oh, dear! I don't see anything to laugh at in this! Why couldn't Hannah
+stay where she belonged! And just hear that poor little calf! I--I wish
+it hadn't been given to me!" fretted the tired girl, yet obediently set
+off in pursuit.
+
+Now the former master of Skyrie had divided it into many fields. He had
+called these "building lots," and had confidently expected to sell them
+at high prices to the rich people who had begun to settle on the
+mountain. These dividing walls were stone, like all the others, but
+sufficiently narrow to admit of Hannah's leaping them easily. She did
+leap them, running from one to another in a manner confusing to herself
+and doubly so to Dorothy, pursuing. Fortunately, the wide walls
+bordering the square outline of the farm were impassable even to her:
+and gradually, pursued and pursuer made their way back to that
+home-field whence the race had started.
+
+After all it was the voice of nature conquered, not Dorothy's fleetness.
+Daisy-Jewel's bleating and bawling accomplished the return of the
+runaway; though not till that too active creature had blundered into the
+wrong fields so many times that Dorothy was in despair.
+
+Thereafter, Hannah was always most securely tethered or kept shut up in
+her stall within the barn; her mistress finding it easier to cut the
+grass and feed her there than to allow her to do it for herself. But
+these performances did not endear the creature to anybody: nor was it
+comforting to have Pa Babcock--who took no part in any of these
+"chasings"--inform them that:
+
+"Of course, that was the reason my friend Oliver sold her to you so
+cheap. At ordinary rating that fine blooded cow would have brought at
+least a hundred dollars. Of course, too, there had to be some
+consideration to offset the price;" and again when, on the morning of
+that gathering at Seth Winters's smithy, Hannah had gnawed her fastening
+rope in two and started on a tour of the farm, he began to explain:
+"There is a way to prevent such----" But had paused abruptly, his
+attention attracted to the road below, and finished his possible advice
+by the pointing of his grimy finger and the exclamation: "Tiberius
+Cæsar! Look a-there!"
+
+Mrs. Chester did look and instinctively sought the society of John and
+Dorothy, as a protection against the invasion that threatened them.
+
+"Oh! what can it mean? They are all looking this way as if they were
+bound for Skyrie! Wagons, people, such a crowd--tell me, John Chester,
+_have you advertised again_? Is it another 'sale'?"
+
+But he shook his head, as much surprised and alarmed as she: till Seth
+Winters, the foremost of this invading army, came up to them, and
+courteously doffing his hat, explained, with a gay:
+
+"Good-morning, neighbors! Don't be frightened! We are nothing but a
+well-meaning _bee_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A BENEFICENT BEE
+
+
+If to be busy is a synonym for "bee" this one was well named. As the
+blacksmith further explained, while Dorothy hastened to fetch a chair
+for Mrs. Calvert, who stood beside him, merrily smiling:
+
+"It's a way country folks have of giving a neighbor a lift. We get up
+'bees' to raise a barn, help in somebody's belated haying or harvesting,
+and we've arranged one now to get Skyrie into a little better shape. Too
+much of a job for one man to undertake alone, and with your permission,
+we'll begin. Each man knows his part and your near neighbor, John Smith,
+is boss of the whole. His farm is next to this, he knows most about
+Skyrie. 'One year's seeding makes seven years' weeding,' you know, and
+poor Skyrie has been running to weed-seeds far too long. _May_ we
+begin?"
+
+Mother Martha could not speak, and Dorothy seemed all eyes and mouth,
+so widely they stared and gaped in her surprise; but father John found
+voice to falter:
+
+"We are almost overcome. I shall never be able to return this kindness,
+and I don't, I can't quite understand----"
+
+"No need you should, and as for returning kindnesses, all can find some
+way to do that if they watch out. I take it you are willing we should go
+ahead. Therefore, John Smith! do your duty! and let every man hustle as
+he never did before. By sunset and milking-time Skyrie must be the
+best-ordered farm on the mountain! Hip, hip, hooray!"
+
+What a cheer went up! With what honest pride did John Smith, the best
+farmer of them all, step to the fore and assign to each man his place!
+and with what scant loss of time did the fun begin!
+
+Fun they made of it, in truth, though long untilled fields were stubborn
+in their yielding to plow or harrow, and unmown meadows were such a
+tangle as tried the mettle of mowing machine and scythe.
+
+Into the garden rushed a half-dozen workers, with plow, spade, rake, and
+seed bags, coolly forcing the staring Pa Babcock aside, at the risk of
+being trampled in his own asparagus ditch. Also he, with equal coolness,
+resigned himself to having his task taken out of hand and repaired to
+the side of his employers to rest. Was he not, also, one of the family?
+
+Such a "bee" as that was had never before buzzed on that mountain, even
+though this was by no means the first one known there. It was of greater
+proportions and more full of energy than could possibly have been
+brought to the mere raising of a barn or the gathering of a single crop.
+Dorothy's romantic history, added to the ex-postman's own pitiful story,
+would have been sufficient to win those warm-hearted country folk to the
+rescue, even without the example of Seth Winters to rouse them
+everywhere.
+
+"My Cousin Seth calls himself a blacksmith, but he seems to be a
+carpenter as well. See? He is actually climbing the roof, to make sure
+every old, worn-out shingle is replaced by a new one. Trust me, if Seth
+undertakes anything it will be well done. Your roof will never leak
+again, as Dorothy said it did that stormy night," said Mrs. Cecil to
+Martha, while that astonished matron sat now beside her guest, watching
+and wondering, unable to talk; till at last a sudden fear arose in her
+housewifely breast, and she answered by asking:
+
+"What shall I do with them? How feed them all? I can just remember such
+a time when my grandfather had a lot of people come to help, and all the
+women in the house had to cook for days beforehand, it seems to me, for
+the one dinner."
+
+"O mother! We can't! Why, there aren't potatoes enough in the pantry for
+our own dinner, let alone so many people!" cried Dorothy, regretfully
+regarding her small fingers, roughened now by that cutting of "seed."
+"Even if we'd saved all you got of Mrs. Smith they wouldn't have begun
+to go around. I might--do you suppose I could make biscuit enough, like
+you taught me for father's supper--if there was flour--and maybe butter,
+and there was time!"
+
+Mrs. Cecil laughed and drew the girl close to her for a moment; then,
+rising, said:
+
+"Don't worry, Mrs. Chester, nor Dolly dear. These folks haven't come to
+make trouble but to save it. I see that the women are gathering in that
+far field that has already been mowed and raked. Herbert Montaigne is
+there, with his horse-rake, and I'm curious to see if he can manage
+something useful as easily as he does his own fast horse. Besides,
+country women are a bit shy, sometimes, and I want you to go among them
+with me and get acquainted. Get your--Mrs. Chester a hat, my darling,
+and your own if you need it, Dorothy."
+
+She spoke with a tone of authority, habitual enough, but she had
+hesitated for an instant over the word "mother," and Martha's tender,
+jealous heart was quick to notice it and to assure herself that "she has
+taken a notion to my girl and wants to adopt her from me. I know it. I'm
+as sure as if she'd said so outright. But she shan't. She shall not.
+Dorothy is not the kind of child to be handed from pillar to post, that
+fashion. She's mine. She was sent to me and I shall keep her, even if
+John did once say that a richer woman could do more for her than we can.
+I--I begin almost to--to hate Mrs. Cecil! And I'm glad I didn't borrow
+money of her instead of that nice old Friend."
+
+By which reflections it seemed that poor, jealous mother Martha likened
+herself to a "pillar" and the mistress of Deerhurst to a "post." It was
+in that mood she followed the old lady down to that far field in which
+the group of women, aided by a few lads, seemed so strangely busy.
+
+Busy, indeed! In a community accustomed to "picnics" conveniences for
+such were a matter of course; so in some of the wagons had been brought
+wooden tressels, and the long boards that were laid upon these made the
+necessary tables for the great feast to come.
+
+In one corner of this field, fragrant now with the freshly cut grass
+which Herbert had raked into windrows, was a cluster of trees, giving a
+comfortable shade; and beneath these the helpful lads detailed for the
+task set up the tressels and placed the boards in readiness; then
+brought from the wagons in the road outside such big baskets and so
+many, all so heavily laden with the best their owners could provide,
+that Dorothy could only clasp her hands and cry out in amazement:
+
+"Why, this is far and away beyond anything we ever had at home! Even the
+Sunday-school excursions down the Bay didn't have so many baskets! I
+wish--how I wish that father was here!"
+
+"Here he shall be!" cried Herbert, jumping from his seat upon the rake
+and hurrying toward her. "I've gathered up all that's in this lot and
+I'll go fetch him. Goodness! If there isn't the little mother herself!
+Come to see if her precious son has overheated himself by doing
+something useful! Wait, Dorothy! Here's a lark! My mother wouldn't mix
+with 'common folks'--I mean she wouldn't be let by Helena--but now she
+shall. She has let her curiosity and her anxiety over her son and
+heir"--here the lad swept Dolly a profound bow which she as merrily
+returned by as profound a courtesy, each laughing as if no disagreement
+had marked their last interview--"she has come to the 'Bee' and she
+shall taste of its honey!"
+
+Away he sped, scattering jests and laughter as he went, the farm-wives
+whom his friendliness had already propitiated looking after him with
+ready approval, while more than one remarked on the absence of that
+"insolence" which had been attributed to him.
+
+"The father and daughter may be terrible top-lofty, but there ain't no
+nonsense in the boy, and the mother looks as if she'd like to be
+neighborly, if she dared to," said Mrs. Smith, advancing to meet Mrs.
+Calvert and Martha. "How-do, Mis' Cecil? It's the crownin' top-notch of
+the whole business, havin' you come, too. But I knowed you would. I said
+to John, says I, 'Mis' Calvert's sure to be on hand if she can shake a
+leg, she ain't one to miss no doin's, she ain't,' I says, and I'm
+tickled to death to see you can, ma'am."
+
+With this conclusion Mrs. Smith turned a triumphant eye upon her
+neighbors as if to show them how exceedingly familiar and intimate she
+was with the greatest lady "up-mounting." Besides, as wife of the
+commander of this expedition, she realized her own important position:
+and set to work at once to introduce everybody to Mrs. Chester, for Mrs.
+Calvert was already known to most and waited no introduction to those
+she did not know.
+
+"Now, boys, get them benches sot up right to once! wouldn't keep
+visitin' ladies standing, would you?" ordered this mistress of
+ceremonies, herself setting the example by placing a bench under the
+very shadiest tree and beside the head table. "Now, Mis' Calvert, Mis'
+Chester, Dolly, and you, old Mis' Turnbull, step right up and se' down.
+Comfortable, be ye? All right, then, we'll have dinner ready in the jerk
+of a lamb's tail! Mis' Spencer, you set that cherry pie o' yourn on this
+particular spot an' figure of this table-cloth! I want Mis' Calvert to
+taste it, an' when she does she'll say she never knew before what cherry
+pie could be! Fact. Oh! you needn't wriggle an' try to make believe you
+don't know it yourself, Sarah Spencer, so bein's you've took first prize
+for pies at the county fair, three-four years hand-runnin'. Fit to set
+off this very best table-cloth in the bunch--My! but it's fine! yet the
+lucky woman 'at owns it didn't think the best none too good for this
+here joyful occasion. I tell you, isn't it a good thing the Lord sent
+us such a splendid day? Hot? Well, maybe, but need hot weather to make
+the corn grow an' hay cure right. Now, if that don't beat the Dutch!
+here comes the boss himself! Bore right along like a king on his throne!
+Hurray!"
+
+By the "boss," of course, it was Mr. Chester she meant: smiling as even
+that sunny-tempered gentleman had rarely smiled, and carried in a stout
+chair upon the shoulders of two strong men, while waving them to the
+tune of his merry whistle, followed Herbert with the crutches.
+
+"Coffee? Smell it! Fried chicken? Well, that's a smart trick. Wait till
+I copy that over at the camp!" cried the lad, always a hungry chap but
+never quite so hungry as now; and watching with admiration how deftly
+two women were deep-frying in a kettle, suspended by three crotched
+sticks above a fire on the ground, the already prepared fowls which had
+once been the choicest of their flocks.
+
+Plenty of other things there were, roasts and broils and brews, but Mrs.
+Smith's mandate had long before gone forth that: "Our men must have
+something hot with their dinner, and not all 'cold victuals.' John he
+can get more work out of a hired man 'an anybody else I ever saw, an' he
+does it by feedin' 'em. He says, says he, in hayin' time when he wants
+folks to swing their scythes lively: 'Buttermilk an' whey, Draggin' all
+the day; Ham an' eggs--Look out for your legs!' So I'm bound to have
+that tried to Mr. Chester's 'Bee.'"
+
+So not only figuratively but practically it was a case of "ham and
+eggs," and brimful of his enjoyment, master Herbert now deposited the
+crutches within easy reach of their owner and hurried to the road, where
+his mother and sister sat amusedly watching in their phaeton. He made
+one attempt to vault over the intervening wall, but it was so wide he
+failed and struck the top in an ignominous heap, which set all the other
+lads in the field into uproarious laughter--himself joining in it with
+perfect good humor. Even his mother, whose idol he was, looked at him in
+surprise, anticipating scowls instead of smiles; but the love and
+sympathy which had emanated from Seth Winters's big heart had touched,
+that day, the more selfish heart of many another--even the "spoiled"
+lad, Herbert's. Ah! the bliss of bestowing kindness! how it returns in
+an overflow of happiness!
+
+"O son! Are you hurt?" cried Mrs. Montaigne, in alarm. How could anybody
+fall upon stones in that way and not be injured? But "son" had rebounded
+from the impact like a rubber ball, or the best trained gymnast of his
+school, as he was.
+
+Another leap brought him to the side of the carriage and to insisting
+that his women should return with him to what he called "the festal
+board," adding "it's literally such, though don't they look dainty?
+those rough planks covered with white linen? Oh! but they've got the
+'fixings' to make your mouth water. Please get out, mother, Helena, and
+come. I'll help you over the wall. It's easy. Come!"
+
+But Helena drew up with haughtiness, demanding:
+
+"What can you be thinking of, Herbert Montaigne? The idea of mother or I
+mixing in such a crowd. If it suits you to play the fool----"
+
+"No foolishness about what I did, I tell you! Why, child alive, I raked
+the hay together on three whole six-acre fields! I! your
+good-for-something brother! Think of that, then put it in your pipe and
+smoke it!"
+
+With that he began strutting up and down beside the phaeton with such a
+comical resemblance to a pouter pigeon that coachman James had to turn
+his face aside, lest he should disgrace himself by a smile, while Mrs.
+Montaigne laughed aloud.
+
+"Herbert, you dreadful boy! You use more shocking language every day.
+There's no need for you to suffer any further contamination by mingling
+with such persons as are yonder. Don't go back. Ride home with us, and
+let's go into Newburgh and pay visits upon somebody worth while," coaxed
+Helena, whose mission in life seemed to be the reconstruction of all
+with whom she came in contact.
+
+"Not much I go! I hate visits, and if you think you're going to drag me
+away from Skyrie just the minute the real fun begins, you're mistaken,
+that's all. Besides, what would my friend Mrs. Calvert think if I
+deserted her in this base fashion? Why, we've settled it that I'm to be
+her attendant at this famous dinner--I tell you it's going to make
+history, this busy bumble 'Bee'! It will be told of and held up as an
+example of what can be done and should be done, sometimes. No, indeed, I
+shan't miss it, and you won't unless you're a bigger--I mean more unwise
+than I think you. Mother's coming anyway, to sit next to Mrs. Calvert
+and that pretty Dorothy. Huh! Talk about girls! She's a daisy, she is!
+Good deal more of one than that little-boy-calf of hers she's so fond
+of. That's right, mother! Have a will of your own or a will of mine,
+once in a lifetime!" commended this persuasive son.
+
+Mrs. Montaigne loved both her children, said that she did so equally,
+and they both ruled her; Helena by fear, Herbert by love. Under all his
+rollicking nonsense the deepest feeling of the lad's heart was love for
+the timid little woman who was so ready to sacrifice herself to them
+all, and who he believed was also the superior of all. Once in a long
+while she acted with decision. She did so now. Whether the name of
+Calvert had been one to conjure with, or because she was really anxious
+to see what sort of people these were who had so evidently "bewitched"
+her son, she descended from the phaeton, laughingly demanding if
+Herbert thought she "possibly could get over that dreadful wall, or
+should they go further and through the gate?"
+
+"Over it? Easy as breathing!"
+
+She was a tiny woman and he a very strong lad: and before she knew what
+he was about he had caught her over his back, sack-fashion, and leaped
+to the top of the wide wall. A couple of steps, and he had swung her
+down upon the grass within the field, where she stood too amazed to
+speak: though Mrs. Smith, observant from a distance, dramatically
+exclaimed:
+
+"My soul and body! You could knock me down with a feather!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+AN ASTONISHING QUESTION
+
+
+"Everybody's here, with all his first wife and children!" cried
+somebody, facetiously, as the tin horn was blown to summon the men from
+their labors in the field to their dinner.
+
+"So they be! So they be! yonder comes Mis' Babcock with all her flock,
+root and branch. Reckoned she'd strike Skyrie about feedin' time; but
+there's plenty, plenty for everyone; and she's a nice woman, a hard
+worker an' kind neighbor. Sho! Look at Seth Winters! If that man ain't a
+kind of a mesmeriser, or somethin' like it! for he's actually coaxed
+that proud Miss Montaigne to join the merry throng! Fact. I just seen
+him escortin' her through the gate, an', Dorothy! mind you put on your
+best manners an' treat her real polite, like city folks is supposed to
+know how. Since she's put her pride in her pocket an' come, I'd like to
+have her see she ain't the only young lady up-mounting. 'Cause you
+belong now, you know; you're one of _us_. Go meet her, whilst I fix
+another chair right alongside her ma and Mis' Calvert!" directed Mrs.
+Smith, handing the girl a plate of rusk, with the added injunction:
+"Take special care o' them biscuit, too, child. I made them myself, I
+did, an' I want the 'ristocratics to have first chance at 'em. If some
+them men folks tackle them on the road to table, there won't be nothin'
+left of them but the plate. Take care! I--Why, I don't believe she heard
+a word I said!"
+
+Dorothy had heard in part. She obediently carried the plate to the
+table, though not to that part of it which its owner had designated, and
+she had answered: "Yes, Mrs. Smith, I will try." But she had suddenly
+perceived a forlorn figure, leaning against the stone wall that
+separated the field from the road, and her interest centered on that.
+
+Poor Peter Piper was peering wistfully into that busy, happy, laughing
+assemblage of people, as if he longed to be among them yet felt himself
+shut out. He had not heard about the "Bee," and even if he had might
+not have comprehended what it meant. Had he been at the blacksmith's
+home once after the scheme was started, Seth would assuredly have given
+the half-wit as courteous a chance to share in the fun and labor of that
+day as he had given all his other neighbors. But Peter had not been seen
+by anybody who knew him since that visit of his to Skyrie, in company
+with old Brindle. He had departed then, frowning and greatly troubled.
+Why, his clouded mind could not understand; but something had gone
+wrong. The once deserted farm had become the home of strangers and he
+could visit it no more. Thus much he felt and knew; and that night he
+disappeared.
+
+However, the poor fellow's absences were so frequent that nobody missed
+him from the neighborhood and Dorothy had utterly forgotten him. Now, as
+she saw him, her heart throbbed with pity.
+
+"He looks as if this picnic were Paradise, and he shut out! I'm going to
+ask him here!"
+
+With a swoop upon it Mrs. Smith rescued her fine rusk from the plebeian
+appetites which would have consumed it and carried it triumphantly to
+the "aristocratic" end of the head table, then stood arms akimbo,
+staring after Dorothy and ejaculating:
+
+"If that don't beat all my first wife's relations! That chit of a child
+set down the biscuit, but she snatched up a big cake worth twice as
+much. She's going to coax that simpleton with it, just as a body has to
+coax a wild critter to come an' be caught. And I plain told her that
+Helena Montaigne was here, and 'twas her chanst to make friends with
+_her_. Pshaw! I don't believe that Dorothy Chester cares a pin whether
+she gets in with rich folks or not! 'Tain't five minutes ago 't I heard
+her sassin' Herbert same as she might one my own boys. Don't stand in
+awe of nobody, Dorothy don't, an' yet nobody gets mad at her. 'Course, I
+don't begrudge Peter Piper a mouthful o' victuals. None of us would, but
+what's _left over_ after the rest is done would be plenty good enough
+for him. Huh! All that splendid chocolate cake--five-layer-thick!"
+
+As Dorothy approached the wall Peter dodged behind it and, for a moment,
+she thought he had run away. If he had she meant to follow; and with
+the ease that her long practice in chasing Hannah had given her she
+vaulted over the wall to pursue. But he had not run, and she landed on
+the further side plump beside him where he sat huddled against the
+stones.
+
+"Well! It was lucky for you I didn't jump on you instead of by you!"
+cried the girl, as she, also, sat down on the bank.
+
+Peter shrank aside, as one who wards off a blow, and mumbled something
+which she made out to mean:
+
+"I didn't do any harm. I didn't!"
+
+His speech was thick and he lisped like a baby learning to talk, but his
+face brightened when she answered quickly:
+
+"Of course you didn't. But why aren't you in there with all the others?
+You must come, in a minute, back with me. First, see here?"
+
+With the friendliest of smiles she held aloft the monster cake she had
+judged would be the waif's proper share of the feast, choosing for him,
+as she would for herself, to have the dessert come before the bread and
+butter.
+
+Peter's protruding eyes fastened upon the dainty and his mouth opened
+widely, and for a time, at least, he knew nothing beyond that cake.
+Breaking it into bits, Dorothy fed him. He did not offer to take the
+food in his own hands, he simply opened that cavernous mouth and
+received with a snap of his jaws the portions she dropped therein. The
+operation became fascinating to the girl and she marveled to see no
+movement of swallowing; only that automatic opening and closing, and the
+subsequent absorption of the cake.
+
+She had not supposed he would consume the whole loaf at one meal. He
+did. The last morsel followed the first and still there was no sign of
+surfeit, and the girl sprang up, saying:
+
+"Now I must go back to help those ladies wait on the table. Will you
+come?"
+
+With some hesitation Peter Piper got to his feet, and now his gaze was
+riveted upon her face as closely as it had been upon the chocolate cake
+and almost as greedily. As if within her bonny smile and unshrinking
+friendliness he beheld something new and wonderfully beautiful. It was
+just as they stood up that somebody behind the wall called out:
+
+"Well, Peter Piper! Good enough! So you've come to the 'Bee,' too, have
+you? If you'd let me know where you were you'd have had your invitation
+long ago. Time enough, though, time enough. Always is to do a good deed,
+and there's a deal of work yet to be finished before nightfall. Let me
+tell you, Miss Dorothy Chester, there isn't a better gardener anywhere
+around than our friend Peter! If he'd only stick to it--if the lad would
+only stick to it!"
+
+It was Seth Winters, of course, who had seen Dorothy's crossing of the
+field to that same spot where he, also, had discovered the feathered cap
+of the poor imbecile. He was honestly glad of the lad's return, being
+always somewhat anxious over his long absences. Much experience of life
+had shown him that the world is not very kind to such as Peter, and he
+tried by fatherly interest and goodness to make up to the boy somewhat
+for the harshness of others. Dorothy's action had delighted him: and
+with an approving smile he held his hands toward her, across the wall,
+and bade:
+
+"Give me your hands, lassie! I'll help you back over; and, Peter, come."
+
+Dorothy sprang lightly to the top of the wall and he swung her as
+lightly down; the half-wit following with a nimbleness one would not
+have expected and, like a child, catching hold of the girl's skirt and
+thus firmly attaching himself to her.
+
+"Why, Peter! Don't do that! Young ladies don't like to drag big fellows
+like you around by main force!" remonstrated the smith, smiling and
+shaking his head at the youth, who merely smiled in return and clutched
+the tighter, even though the girl once or twice tried to loosen his
+grasp, attempting this so gently that it produced no effect; and thus
+escorted she came back to the stables beneath the trees and to the
+presence of Helena, toward whom officious Mrs. Smith immediately forced
+her.
+
+Oddly enough, since they were so unlike, there was instant liking
+between the two girls; and with a smile Helena made room for Dorothy on
+the bench beside her. But there was no room for Peter, nor would he have
+claimed it now had there been plenty. With intense and haughty surprise
+Helena had stared at the unfortunate for a moment, till an amused
+contempt curved her lips in a disdainful smile.
+
+In general, people did not credit the poor creature with sensitiveness;
+none save Seth Winters believing that he keenly felt the scoffs and
+gibes so often put upon him; but he now proved the truth of the
+blacksmith's opinion. Helena's scornful look did what Dorothy's efforts
+had failed to do--it loosened Peter's fingers from her skirt and sent
+him, cowering and abashed, to the furthest limit of the group.
+Fortunately, for him, straight also to a spot where Herbert Montaigne
+was merrily helping--or hindering--the women busy cooking over the fires
+upon the ground. Herbert had seen Dorothy's exit from the field with the
+great cake in hand and had, for an instant, intended pursuit that should
+end in a lark; then he had seen the red feathers of Peter's cap and
+reflected:
+
+"That girl's got some fellow over there she's going to feed on the sly.
+They've both dropped down out of sight now--I reckon I won't spoil
+sport--shouldn't like it myself. It's none of my business anyhow, though
+I wouldn't mind being the fellow in the case--this time."
+
+Also he made it sufficiently his business to watch for the reappearance
+of Dolly, minus the cake and attended by Seth and the too appreciative
+Peter. Then the whole significance of the incident flashed upon him, and
+to his boyish fancy for the little maid was instantly added a deep
+respect.
+
+"Bless my eyes! I called her a 'daisy,' but she's more than that. There
+isn't a girl in a thousand who'd have done that decent thing without
+being bidden; but--Hello! seems as if she'd got what Mrs. Smith calls
+her 'come uppance'! The simpleton has glued himself to her petticoats
+and she can't shake him free!" Then a moment more of watching showed him
+the result of his sister's haughtiness and made him exclaim aloud: "Good
+enough for Helena! The first time I ever knew her confounded pride to be
+of any use. But here comes the victim of her scorn, and it's up to me to
+finish the job Dorothy C. has so well begun!"
+
+In all his life poor Peter Piper had never been so happy as that day
+made him. Instead of the indifference or aversion commonly shown him, he
+was met with an outstretched hand and the genial greeting of another lad
+not much younger than himself; and if, for the sake of impressing others
+into the same friendliness, the greeting was rather overdone, the fault
+was on the right side and Peter was too simple to suspect it.
+
+With a confused expression and an unaccountable warmth in his lonely
+heart, the "touched of God" accepted the extended hand and cast a
+grateful glance into Herbert's face. A look that, for an instant,
+suffused that youngster's own because he felt his present kindness to be
+"second hand." Then Peter turned about and pointed to where Dorothy now
+sat laughing and feasting, and volubly explaining to Mrs. Smith, between
+mouthfuls:
+
+"I really couldn't help taking the nicest cake in sight, dear Mrs.
+Smith! I knew it was yours and belonged now to the public; and I will
+make you another to take its place. I--I hope it wasn't 'stealing----'"
+she finished, with a momentary gravity.
+
+"Bless all my first wife's relations! Don't let such a horrid word as
+that come to this merry 'Bee!' It was yours, your very own, leastwise
+your ma's and pa's, to eat or give away just as you'd ruther. I do still
+think that broken pieces, after the rest has finished, would have
+answered the purpose full as well, but----"
+
+"Broken pieces, Mrs. Smith! On a day like this?" cried Mrs. Calvert,
+reprovingly. "You do yourself an injustice. If I'm not mistaken you've
+put aside some mighty tender pieces of chicken and part of your own
+biscuits for this same poor estray."
+
+The mistress of ceremonies blushed and bridled her head. In truth she
+had, indeed, "put aside" the dainties mentioned, but alas! they had been
+intended for the delectation of her own and her cronies' palates. With
+instant change of mind, however, she caught up the basket hidden beneath
+the table and marched valiantly forward to the spot where Herbert was
+supplying Peter with the best of everything he could lay his hands on.
+Admirably frank--when found out--good Mrs. Smith now added her store to
+Herbert's, and the half-wit's eyes grew more protruding than ever.
+Also, to the disgust of both watchful lad and woman, Peter caught the
+food from the basket and thrust it within his oilcloth jacket. He knew,
+if those watching him did not, the terrible pangs of starvation and here
+was provision for many a day. Besides, the whole of a rich chocolate
+cake does have a diminishing effect upon even such appetites as Peter's.
+
+Bounteous as the feast was, but a brief half-hour was permitted for its
+consumption; then the master of the day announced:
+
+"Our job's well begun and so half-done. Now for a fine finish
+and--home!"
+
+All who were standing hurried to their tasks at this word of command,
+and all who were sitting as promptly rose. Among them Mrs. Cecil, with a
+sudden realization of her eighty years of cushioned ease and her one
+hour of sitting on a board. Also, her zest of the occasion had as
+suddenly passed. She had taken a moment's chance to speak to "Johnnie"
+of money matters; how it would "really be an accommodation for him to
+take and use some of her own superfluous ready cash, till such time as
+Skyrie began to yield a comfortable income"; and to her delicately
+worded offer "Johnnie" had returned a most awkward refusal. He had tried
+to soften his reply, but not being politic or tactful had succeeded only
+in expressing himself more brusquely. When pressed to tell if any other
+person had superseded her, he had to acknowledge that Friend Oliver
+Sands had done so, but that the affair belonged to his wife, etc.
+
+That was the climax. Between the mistress of Deerhurst and the miller
+there was a grudge of long standing. Though liberal in her business
+dealings the old gentlewoman hated to be cheated, and she had openly
+declared to all who chose to listen that Oliver had cheated her. She
+stopped buying her feed of him and went to the extra trouble of sending
+all the way to Newburgh for everything in his line that was required at
+Deerhurst.
+
+Few like to have their kindnesses returned upon themselves,
+unappreciated: Betty Calvert less than most: so with a feeling of
+affront, which she was too outspoken wholly to corer by politeness, she
+said:
+
+"Mr. Smith, I must go home. May Dorothy Chester take your horse and
+wagon and drive me there?"
+
+"Of course, and proud to have you use it. But can that little girl
+drive?" he asked, glancing at the child with a funny smile. Well he knew
+the retort he might expect--and presently received, amid a burst of
+kindly laughter from others around--from the lady:
+
+"My good Mr. Smith, _I_ sold you that nag. He's twenty years old if a
+day. A babe in arms could drive him! and I'll send a capable horseman
+back with him--and her. Good-day, all; and God speed the finish!"
+
+She said it quite devoutly, thankful for the present help given the
+crippled, would-be farmer, and knowing that with even the best of help
+his future would be difficult.
+
+A few moments later, for the first time in her life, Dorothy held a pair
+of reins in her hands, clutching them tightly as if all her strength
+were required to restrain the speed of the venerable animal hitched
+before the open "democrat" in which she sat, and that nothing could
+induce to anything swifter than a walk. Once she opened her lips and
+asked, nervously:
+
+"Are you--much afraid, Mrs. Calvert?"
+
+"Not--much!" quavered that lady, in mimicry, and with the most admiring
+contemplation of the earnest young face beside her. From the flapping
+ears of their steed Dorothy's own eyes never wavered. It was a wonderful
+experience. To pull on either rein and guide so big a creature to the
+right or left--Why, she had seen others drive but she had never before
+realized the great intelligence of a horse! Oh! how delightful it would
+be to own one for one's self! All the inborn love of horseflesh that,
+till that moment, she had not realized woke up in her small breast, and
+finally found voice in the exclamation:
+
+"Oh! If Daisy-Jewel had only been a colt instead of a calf!"
+
+"A perfectly simple matter to change him into one," quietly returned
+Mrs. Cecil; and hearing her, Dorothy wondered if this old gentlewoman
+were in truth the "fairy godmother" to whom she had sometimes likened
+her.
+
+The girl did not answer. They had arrived at the gates of Deerhurst and
+this young "coachman" was gravely considering how to drive through them
+without hitting either ivy-covered pillar. So earnest was she now that
+Mrs. Calvert had twice to repeat a question she had long been pondering;
+but which fell upon Dorothy Chester's ears, at last, with the sound of
+an exploding bomb.
+
+"My little Dorothy, will you come to live with me, and become _my_
+adopted daughter?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CONCERNING SEVERAL MATTERS
+
+
+"O Jim! I feel so--so guilty! Just as if I had done something dreadfully
+wrong!" cried troubled Dorothy C. to her faithful if jealous friend, as
+they were driving homeward again. The reins were in his hands this time
+and he held them with an ease which left everything to the old horse
+itself, and which would have surprised the girl had room been left in
+her mind for any smaller surprises after that great one of Mrs. Cecil's
+question.
+
+"Don't see why," returned practical Jim. His own satisfaction was great,
+just then, for he had seen Herbert Montaigne driving homeward on his
+brand-new horse-rake, brilliant in red paint and purchased by that
+extravagant youth expressly for the Skyrie "Bee." Herbert had forsaken
+that laborious festivity, soon after the departure of Mrs. Calvert and
+Dorothy; but not till after he had also finished all the raking there
+had been for him to do. Much of the ground was so overrun with bushes
+and brambles that only hand-rakes were available, and to the more
+difficult task of these the lad did not aspire.
+
+Now, at ease with his own conscience and at peace with all the world, he
+drove by the gates of Deerhurst whistling his merriest, and bent upon
+ending his rarely useful day by a row upon the river. He even caught a
+glimpse of Dorothy sitting in the farm wagon waiting for Jim to "make
+himself tidy after his gardening," as his mistress had directed; and had
+called out some bit of nonsense to her which she was too absorbed in
+thought to notice.
+
+"That's all right. Needn't answer if she doesn't wish! I'll see her
+to-morrow and get her to go on that picnic at the camp. One picnic paves
+the way to another--that's easy! I don't feel now any great longing even
+for planked shad--such a dinner I ate! But that's one good thing about a
+dinner, little Kit! Take a few hours off and you'll be ready for the
+next one! Good thing my top-lofty sister 'took a notion' to sweet Dolly!
+That's going to make things lots easier for my scheme, 'but I'll 'bide
+a wee' before I spring it on the Pater. Eh, little Kit? Aren't you a
+beauty? and--good luck! You're just the thing to take her, to-morrow.
+She told me, to-day, they hadn't a single cat. '_Not a single cat!_' In
+a tone of regular heartbreak, she said it, Kit! That's why I heard you
+squalling by the roadside and picked you up. Somebody dropped you,
+didn't he? Somebody a deal richer in cats than Dorothy C. Why, little
+Kit, I heard a workman telling the other day how he found a bag of
+kittens, a whole bag of them, 'lost' by somebody as heartless as your
+own late owner, probably, but far less wise. For the bag was a potato
+sack and it had the owner's name stamped in full on it. Must have lost
+it out the back of a wagon, the workman thought. Anyway, next day he
+gathered up all the stray cats and kittens he could find and in the dead
+of night--the dead of night, little Kit! when all dire deeds are
+done!--he carried the replenished sack back and left it on the 'loser's'
+doorstep. Good for that workman! but, query. What became of the cats?
+Never mind, Kitty, I know what will become of you, and your fate will
+be the happiest possible. Get up there, Slowpoke!" finished the lad,
+thrusting the tiny kitten he had found astray on the road into his
+blouse, and urging the work horse forward. In any case it is probable he
+would have picked up the lost kitten and given it a home in his father's
+barn, but it suited well with Dorothy's pathetic regret that he should
+have found it.
+
+"You 'don't see why,' Jim Barlow, I feel so worried over what Mrs.
+Calvert asked? Then you're stupider than I thought. She is so kind, she
+found and saved me--after you, of course--and she is so old and lonely.
+I'd love to live with her if--if there were two of me. Already she looks
+to me to do little things for her that nobody else seems to think she
+wants, and to do them without her asking. I love her. Seems if she was
+sort of my folks--_my own folks_ that I must have had sometime. We like
+the same things. She adores Dickens, so do I. She loves outdoors, so do
+I. She--But there, it's no use! I can't go to live with her and leave
+father John and mother Martha. It would break their hearts and mine,
+too! Oh! dear! I wish she hadn't asked me; then I wouldn't have had to
+say 'No,' and see her beautiful old face lose all its lovely brightness.
+When I think how old she is, how it's but a little while she'll need
+me--Why, then my heart breaks in two the other way! O Jim! Isn't life a
+terrible, terrible perplexity?" demanded this small maid to whom "life"
+was, indeed, just showing its realities.
+
+Jim listened silently, but it wouldn't have flattered her to know that
+it was her ready flow of language and the rather long words she used
+which mainly impressed him. To his practical mind it was simply
+impossible for any right-minded girl to forsake those who had cared for
+her all her life, in order to gratify the whim of an old lady whom she
+had known but a short time. Nor did it enter the thoughts of either of
+these young folks that the material advantages offered to Dorothy would
+be very great. It was only a question of happiness; the happiness of the
+Chesters or that of Mrs. Cecil.
+
+As they left Deerhurst behind them and still Jim had answered nothing
+except that provoking "Don't see why," Dorothy lost her patience.
+
+"Jim Barlow, have you lost your tongue? I think--I think you're horribly
+unsympathetic!" she cried, flashing a glance upon him that was meant for
+anger, yet ended in surprise at his actually smiling countenance. "I
+don't see anything funny in this business, if you do! What are you
+laughing at?"
+
+Now he looked at her, his face radiant with the fun of his own thoughts,
+and replied:
+
+"Lots o' things. Fust off, Dorothy, will you correct me every time I use
+bad language?"
+
+"Bad--language! Swearing, you mean? Why, Jim, I never heard you, not
+once. Huh! If I did I reckon I _would_ correct you, so quick 'twould
+make you dizzy!"
+
+"Pshaw! I don't mean that, silly thing! I mean--Dorothy, I want to talk
+like other folks: like Mis' Calvert----"
+
+"Then begin to call her 'Mrs.'"
+
+"Mrs. Calvert," answered Jim, obediently. "To you and her and Mr.
+Chester, talkin'----"
+
+"Talking, Jim. Don't clip the g's off your words!"
+
+He half-frowned, then laughed. She was almost too ready with her
+corrections. But he went on:
+
+"I'm studyin'--studying--every night, as long as I dast----"
+
+"Dare, you mean."
+
+Poor Jim gasped and retorted:
+
+"Well, dare, then, if you say so. D-a-r-e! and be done with it! Mis', I
+mean Mrs., Calvert has give orders----"
+
+"Given orders, boy."
+
+"Shut up! I mean she's told the old man and woman that keeps----"
+
+"Who keep!"
+
+"That keeps the gate and lives in the lodge an' I live with 'em, if you
+want to know the hull kit an' boodle of the story, she's give 'em orders
+I can't have no light lit after half-past ten o'clock, 'cause I'll spile
+my eyes an' break down my strength--Pshaw! as if a feller could, just
+a-studyin', when he's so powerful bent on't as I be! But, you know I
+know I don't talk quite the same as them 'at knows better an' has had
+more book l'arnin'," explained the young student, hopelessly relapsing
+into the truck-farm vernacular.
+
+"Yes, Jim, I do know that you know, as you so tellingly put it. I've
+seen you flush more than once when you've noticed the difference in
+speech, and I'll help you all I can. I don't know much myself. I'm only
+a girl, not far along in her own education, but I'll do what I can;
+only, Jim Barlow, don't you go and get offended when I set you right. If
+you do you shall go on 'wallowing in your ignorance,' as I've read
+somewhere. Now, that's enough 'correction' for once. Tell me the other
+'lots of things' you were laughing at."
+
+"Sure! The first one, how we're goin' to get ahead of that old Quaker
+miller. Mis'--Mrs.--Calvert's planned the hull--whole--business. She
+don't like him none. She stopped me an' told me things, a few. She 'lows
+he's got some scheme or other, 'at ain't no good to your folks,
+a-lettin' good money on a wore-out farm like Skyrie. There's more in his
+doin's than has come to light yet. That's what she says. Even his
+sellin' your ma that jumpin' cow was a low-down, ornery trick. An' that
+bull calf--no more use to such as you-all 'an a white elephant, she
+says. Less; 'cause I s'pose a body'd _could sell_ a elephant, if they
+was put to it. Say, Dorothy. They's a-goin' to be a circus come to
+Newburgh bime-by. The pictures of it is all along the fences an' walls;
+an', say--I'm earnin' wages now, real good ones. I told Mis', Mrs.,
+Calvert 't I didn't think I ought to take any money off her, 'cause
+she's give--given--me all these new clothes an' treats me so like a
+prince; but she laughed an' said how 'twas in the Bible that 'a laborer
+is worthy of his hire' and she'd be a poor sort of Christian that didn't
+at least try to live up to her Bible. Say, Dorothy, she's even give me
+one for myself! Fact. She give it an' says she, she says: 'James, if you
+make that the rule of your heart and life, you can't help being a
+gentleman, 'at you aspire to be, as well as a good man.' Then she
+fetched out another book, big--Why, Dorothy! So big it's real heavy to
+lift! An' she called that one a 'Shakespeare.' The name was printed on
+it plain; an' she said the man what wrote it more years ago 'an I can
+half-tell, had 'done the thinkin' for half--the world, or more,' she
+said. And how 'if I'd use them two books constant an' apply 'em to my
+own life I'd never need be ashamed an' I could hold up my head in even
+the wisest company.' Say, Dorothy! Mis' Calvert knows a powerful lot,
+seems if!"
+
+"Well, she ought. She's lived a powerful long time."
+
+"An' I've been thinkin' things over. I don't believe I _will_ try to be
+President, like we planned. Lookin' into that Shakespeare feller's book
+I 'low I'd ruther write one like it, instead."
+
+"O Jim! That's too delightful! I must tell father that. I must! _You_, a
+new _Shakespeare_! Why, boy, he's the wisest writer ever lived. I'm only
+just being allowed to read a little bit of him, old as I am. My father
+picks out the best parts of the best dramas and we often read them
+together, evenings. But--What are the other things you thought about,
+and made you laugh? That circus, too; shall you go to it, Jim? Did you
+ever go to one?"
+
+"Never. _Never._ But I'm just sufferin' to go. Say, Dorothy? If I can
+get all my work done, an' Mrs. Calvert she don't think it's sinful waste
+o' good money, an' your folks'll let you, an' it don't come on to rain
+but turns out a real nice day, an' I can get the loan of Mrs. Calvert's
+oldest horse an' rig--'cause I wouldn't dast--dare--to ask for a young
+one--an' I felt as if I could take care of you in such a terrible crowd
+as Ephraim says they always is to circuses, would you, will you, go with
+me?"
+
+In spite of herself Dorothy could not help laughing. Yet there was
+something almost pathetic in the face of this poor youth, possessing a
+small sum of money for the first time, beset by the caution which had
+hedged his humble, dependent life, yet daring--actually daring, of his
+own volition--to be generous! Generous of that which Miranda Stott had
+taught him was the very best thing in the world--money! Of himself, his
+strength, his unselfishness and devotion,--all so much higher than that
+"money,"--he had always been most lavish; and remembering this, with a
+sympathy wise beyond her years, Dorothy speedily hushed her laughter and
+answered eagerly:
+
+"Indeed, I will, you dear, care-taking, cautious boy, and thank you
+heartily. I love a circus. Father John used to take mother Martha and me
+to one once every summer. Why, what a perfectly wild and giddy creature
+I shall be! To a circus with you, a camp-picnic with Herbert and
+Helena, and this splendid farmers' 'Bee'--Hurray!"
+
+Jim's countenance fell. "I didn't know 'bout that other picnic," said
+he. "When's it comin' off? And what is a picnic, anyway?"
+
+"You'll see when we get home to Skyrie. A picnic is the jolliest thing
+there is--except a circus. _Except a circus._ When it's to come off I
+don't know, but when it does I mean you shall be in it, too, Jim Barlow.
+Yet you haven't finished about poor, dear Mr. Oliver Sands. You have
+wandered all over the face of the earth, as my teacher used to complain
+I did in writing my compositions. I didn't stick to my subject. You
+haven't stuck to yours, the Quaker man. Finish him up, for we're almost
+at Skyrie now."
+
+Comforted by her ranking of a circus as something infinitely more
+delightful than even a rich boy's picnic, and because the fields of
+Skyrie were, indeed, now in view, Jim resumed concerning the gentleman
+in question:
+
+"Dorothy, that calf o' yours won't never be no good. The man give him to
+you, all right, an' 'peared amazin' generous. But--he cal'lated on
+gettin' back more'n his money's worth. He'd tried to sell old Hannah
+time an' again, so Mrs. Calvert was told, an' couldn't, 'count of her
+being so hard to keep track of. He didn't dast to sell without the calf
+alongside, for if he did the critter's so tearin' lively she'd 'a' got
+back home to his farm 'fore he did, drive as fast as he might. But what
+he planned was: your ma take the calf for a gift an' she'd have to send
+to his mill to get feed an' stuff for to raise it on. To keep both cow
+an' calf would cost--I don't know how much, but enough to suit him all
+right. 'Tother side the matter, his side, you did get Hannah cheap.
+She's good breed, her milk'll make nice butter----"
+
+"It does! Splendid, perfectly splendid! Mrs. Smith showed mother how to
+manage and it all came back to her, for she had only, as father says,
+'mislaid her knowledge' and she makes all the butter we need. Not all we
+want--We could eat pounds and pounds! But it takes a good many quarts of
+milk to make a pound of butter, I've learned; and an awful lot of what
+father calls 'circular exercise' to make the 'butter come.' Mother
+bought one of those churns that you turn around and around, I mean a
+dasher around and around inside the churn--I get my talk mixed up,
+sometimes--and it takes an hour, maybe, to turn and turn. Worse than
+freezing ice cream in a 'ten-minute' freezer, like we had in Baltimore,
+yet had to work all morning to get it frozen ready for Sunday dinner.
+Mother thinks a dash-churn, stand and flap the dasher straight up and
+down till your arms and legs give out, is the best kind. But the
+around-and-around is the modern sort; so, of course, she got that. If
+Daisy-Jewel and Piggy-Wig didn't need so much milk themselves there'd be
+more for us. And somehow, you don't make me feel very nice toward Mr.
+Oliver Sands."
+
+"Say, Dorothy. Mis' Calvert's notion is for you to sell Daisy an' buy a
+horse. Will you, if you get a chance?"
+
+"Simple Simon! A horse is worth lots and lots more than a calf! was that
+what she meant when she said a calf might turn into a colt? A colt is a
+horse, after all. A little horse. Well, maybe she was right. I might
+sell a little calf and get a little colt. But who in the world would
+buy? Besides, despite all the trouble she makes, mother wouldn't part
+with that pretty, écru-colored cow, and Hannah will not be separated
+from Daisy-Jewel. I mean Daisy-Jewel will not be separated from Hannah.
+Even a man, Mr. Oliver Sands, said that would be 'cruel.' You don't want
+to have me cruel, do you, Jim Barlow?"
+
+"Shucks! Hannah won't mourn for no calf, longer 'n a couple of hours,
+'less she's different from any cow I ever see, light-complected or
+otherwise. As for that jumpin' notion o' hern; I'll fix her! I've been
+layin' out to do it, ever since I heard she done it, but somehow I
+didn't get the chance."
+
+"You didn't get the chance because you never take it. I don't think it's
+right, Jim Barlow, for you to work every minute of daylight, fearing you
+won't do all your horrid 'duty' to your employer, then study all night
+to make yourself 'fit for your friends,' as you told me. Maybe, some of
+your friends might like to see you, now and then, before you _are_
+'fit,'" returned Dorothy, and with that they came to the gate of Skyrie
+and drove over the path to the barn, the path, or driveway, which that
+very morning had been overgrown and hidden with grass and weeds, but
+now lay hard and clean as if just newly made.
+
+"Pshaw! Somebody's been busy, I declare!" cried Jim, admiringly, and
+leaped out to tie Mr. Smith's "nag" in a comfortable shady place. He did
+not offer to help Dorothy alight, nor did she either wait for or expect
+this courtesy; but seeing mother Martha in the kitchen, ran to her with
+an account of her brief outing.
+
+The housemistress had slipped away from the few women guests left
+remaining in the field where dinner had been served. Most of them had
+already left for home, their part in the day's proceedings having been
+well finished, and each a busy farmwife who had snatched a half-day from
+her own crowding tasks to help the "Bee" along.
+
+She had made many acquaintances, she was glad to know them. She "liked
+folks better than scenery," as she had once complained to her husband,
+during a fit of homesickness for "dear old Baltimore"; but she was very
+tired. The excitement of this unexpected visitation, and the varying
+emotions of the day had strangely wearied her. Besides, deep down in her
+heart--as in father John's--lay a feeling of wounded pride. She had
+been very happy, for a time, she had found herself the center of much
+kindly attention: and yet--she wished that the need for such attention
+had not existed. So she was glad now of the privacy of her kitchen
+whither none would intrude; and into which Dorothy ran, full of talk and
+eager above all things to tell of that astonishing offer of Mrs.
+Calvert's to re-adopt her.
+
+But something stopped the words on her lips. She could not herself have
+explained why she refrained from speaking, unless it were that weary,
+fretful expression of Mrs. Chester's face. So, instead of bestowing
+confidences, she merely said:
+
+"Mother dear, do come upstairs to your own pretty room and lie down.
+It's grown terribly warm this afternoon and you look so tired. I'll shut
+the blinds and make it all dark and cool; then I'll find father John and
+see if he needs me too. Come, mother, come."
+
+With a sudden burst of affection, such as rarely came from Mrs. Chester,
+that lady caught the girl in her arms and kissed her fondly, saying:
+
+"You are my good angel, Dolly darling! You are the brightness of my
+life. Don't ever let anybody else steal you away from me, will you? I
+couldn't live without you, now--and here."
+
+Dorothy's breath came quick and sharp. How odd this was, to have her
+mother touch upon that very subject lying uppermost in her own heart!
+Could she and Mrs. Calvert have been discussing her in this way? Well,
+at least, she now knew that she had been wholly right. The reluctant
+"No" she had given Mrs. Betty was the only word to say.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE FATE OF DAISY-JEWEL
+
+
+The "Bee" was a thing of the past. Everybody had gone, leaving a vastly
+different Skyrie from that which greeted the rising sun of that
+memorable day. Weed-grown, bramble-infested fields lay cleared of
+débris, that had been gathered into heaps and burned. The garden plot
+was now a stretch of well-made beds wherein had been sown or set such
+things as would develop to ripeness that season, although it was long
+past orthodox time for garden-making. To the delight of his obstinate
+soul, even Pa Babcock's asparagus trench had been duly prepared and a
+sufficient number of the roots set out. But the work of the trench, or
+bed, had not been accomplished by himself. He had explained the pressing
+need of such a thing to Mrs. Calvert, who, to rid herself and others of
+his "talk," had promptly furnished the necessary funds to pay for the
+plants and had dispatched him to a distant market gardener's to procure
+them. He had returned sooner than was expected or desired, but could he
+relegate his own intelligent task to anybody else? So, for once, he
+really did work faithfully, spreading out each tiny rootlet with a care
+that insured a prompt growth, and deluging them with water which it took
+many trips to the spring to bring.
+
+The old well-curb had been repaired, the well emptied of water, and
+cleaned. The barn had been put in order, so far as might be with the
+time and material at command. The roof would not leak again nor the
+blinds fall because of rusted hinges. Even the cellar had been swept,
+and garnished with double coatings of sweet-smelling whitewash; and,
+indeed, all that these willing helpers could think of and accomplish had
+been done to make the Skyrie household "start farming fair and square."
+
+The last event of the "Bee" had been an auction.
+
+Mrs. Calvert had sent a brief note of instructions to Seth Winters and
+he had promptly acted upon them. With such an assembly at hand the time
+was ripe for selling Daisy-Jewel to the highest bidder. So the
+blacksmith held a short parley with Bill Barry, the village auctioneer,
+and afterward started the sale by a fair price named for such a blooded
+quadruped.
+
+"Seven dollars! Seven dollars! Did I hear somebody bid seven dollars?
+only seven for such a beautiful Jewel and Daisy combined?"
+
+"Seven fifty!" called Jim Barlow, also acting upon instructions.
+
+"Seven fifty--somebody higher? _And_ eight dollars? Eight, eight, eight,
+somebody raise me eight-eight-eight--_And_ fifty! Eight dollars and
+fifty cents! Why, you folks, you make me blush to be an auctioneer,
+standing here on a horse-block and selling away from a little girl the
+only piece of stawk she owns for just eight dollars and fifty cents.
+That I should live to--Nine, nine, nine, nine! Somebody raise me nine
+dollars for a full-bred Jersey bull calf! nine, nine, nine----"
+
+"Ten!" shouted Mr. Smith, who knew he could reimburse himself in some
+way for this recklessly extravagant purchase.
+
+But the chance was not for him. "Ten fifty!" shouted somebody at the
+rear of the crowd, and:
+
+"Ten and fifty! Fifty, fifty, fifty--Hard word that to rattle off--Make
+it 'leven; and ease my poor tongue! 'Leven, 'leven, 'leven, eleven
+dollars and fifty cents. That's that blamed old fifty cropping up again.
+Go it by even dollars, friends and feller citizens, Eleven and--twelve,
+twelve, twelve--Almost as bad to say! Hump her up. Thirteen do I hear?
+Thirteen? Don't let her stick at that! who'll pay just thirteen unlucky
+dollars when they can buy a full-blooded bull calf for--Fourteen, do I
+hear? Fourteen, fourteen, four--four--four--Fifteen good American
+dollars for a poor little girl's pet calf! Neighbors, I am ashamed of
+you, I certainly am. Why, I'll bid sixteen myself, ruther 'an have such
+a blot as that printed on this town's archives! I will, I say, though I
+haven't any more use for a poor little girl's one pet calf than I have
+for two wives! Sixteen I bid, seventeen somebody lifts me. Eighteen?
+Nineteen? Twenty? Now you begin to talk! But let me warn you fellers,
+that this here sale is cash or its equivalent. So anyone who's just
+biddin' to hear himself talk--take care! Twenty-one, one, one, one, one,
+one, one----"
+
+The sale went on for a long time, and the bidding grew more spirited
+continually. Bill Barry's taunt about cash payment touched the pride of
+some, but the outcome of the matter was predestined from the beginning.
+Seth Winters had had his instructions and now acted upon them. When
+nobody would "raise" him any higher, the calf was knocked down to him at
+thirty-five dollars and was promptly dispatched to a new home in charge
+of the Smith boys, who had come to see the finish of the "Bee."
+
+Bill Barry refused to take any payment for his services in the matter,
+so the blacksmith hurried to find Dorothy and to place the money in her
+hands. To his surprise, he found her weeping bitterly, with her head
+against old Hannah's hairy side, as if mingling her tears with that
+bereaved mother's.
+
+"Why, Dorothy dear! I understood you were tired of Daisy-Jewel and more
+than willing to exchange him for a colt. See here--thirty-five dollars,
+all in crisp banknotes, and your very own!"
+
+But Dorothy would not be comforted, nor even lift her curly head to look
+upon what she now sadly considered as the price of blood, while Hannah
+continued to moo distractingly, yet, at the same time managed to chew
+her cud--the sign of a well-contented bovine mind.
+
+Jim also drew near, a wide, short board in hand and, wholly disgusted
+with Dorothy's inconsistency, exclaimed:
+
+"Pshaw! If girls don't beat all creation for changin' their minds! Here
+was you wantin' to be rid of that calf, now cryin' like--most like one
+yourself. Shucks! Dorothy Chester, where's your good sense at? An' you
+stand aside, will you? I want to fix Hannah so you won't have to chase
+her no more."
+
+Now the truth is that Dorothy had listened to the auction with keen
+interest and no thought of grief till she heard Mr. Barry allude to
+herself as a "poor little girl with only one calf." Then the springs of
+self-pity were touched and she would have stopped the sale had she dared
+or known quite how. That her father approved of it he had told her at
+its beginning, and so did Jim. These two were the most sensibly
+practical persons she knew, even more than mother Martha,--where the
+question of live stock was concerned,--and she ought to be guided by
+their judgment. Daisy-Jewel had been a trial and expense from the day of
+his arrival at Skyrie, but--he was _her_ Daisy-Jewel, and she had sold
+him into bondage--probably, into worse: the hands of a butcher!
+Thirty-five dollars! It seemed incredible: but thirty-five dollars as
+the price of a life. How dreadful!
+
+"Stand still, you old misery! Now, then, my Hannah, how do you find
+yourself?" cried Jim, coolly pushing Dorothy aside and stepping back
+himself to avoid the twisting and jerking of the cow's horns. "There you
+be! Plenty of chance to look down on the pasture but none to go skippin'
+over stun walls!"
+
+Dorothy wiped her eyes, indignant with Jim for his callous want of
+sympathy in her own grief, and curious about Hannah; who had ceased both
+mooing and chewing, confused and distracted by the thing which had
+befallen her.
+
+Jim had simply hung the board he had brought upon Hannah's horns and
+securely fastened it there, letting it fall forward over her face at an
+angle which permitted her to see the ground but, as he had declared,
+would not encourage her search for stone walls to leap. "Easy as fallin'
+off a log, ain't it?" he demanded of Mr. Winters, who had watched the
+operation with some amusement and some compassion. "Some folks think
+it's mean to put boards on 'em, but Mis' Stott she said 'twas better to
+be mean to critters than to have critters mean to folks. Why, here has
+Dorothy been runnin' half over the hull farm, catchin' Hannah, when all
+that time she might have been studyin' her books!"
+
+"Thanks, noble youth! I'm not 'sufferin'' to study in the summer and
+vacation time," answered Dorothy, who had begun to recover her
+cheerfulness and now asked the blacksmith, as he extended the money
+toward her: "What will become of Daisy now?"
+
+"Mrs. Calvert has bought him. He will be kept on the Deerhurst farm, the
+other side of the mountain, and will grow up, I trust, quite worthy of
+his pedigree. She owns a fine herd of animals and her stock-farm is one
+of her chief interests here."
+
+"Than he won't be--be murdered?"
+
+"No, indeed. Here is your money. I must be going. Good-night."
+
+"I'll go along with you. Good-night, Dorothy. Don't forget to ask your
+folks 'bout that circus!" called Jim, casting a self-important glance
+into Seth Winters's face as he followed him down the path.
+
+With her money in hand Dorothy joined her parents and was well commended
+that she had consented to the sale of Daisy-Jewel; and for a little
+while, until milking-time required Martha's presence in the barnyard,
+the trio discussed its vast amount and the best sort of horse to be
+selected. Neither Mr. Chester nor his wife dashed the girl's enthusiasm
+or so much as hinted that the sum in hand would scarcely pay for a good
+horse. To her it seemed all-sufficient, not only for a horse, but for a
+wagon and harness as well. And--But let us not anticipate!
+
+The circus whose coming attractions now filled Jim Barlow's mind more
+than even his beloved "study" had sent out its posters long ahead; so
+that the country folk might accustom themselves to the ideas of its
+tempting sights and to grow anxious to behold them. To the lad it seemed
+as if the days would never pass. The only relief to his eagerness was
+that Herbert's projected camp-picnic had been postponed on account of
+Helena's sudden illness. One of her bronchial attacks had kept her a
+prisoner within the Towers and she had become so interested in the idea
+of the affair that her brother waited for her to recover.
+
+He contented himself the better by frequent visits to Skyrie, and by his
+gift to Dorothy of the stray kitten. The rather disreputable-looking
+little animal he had coaxed Miss Milliken to cleanse and adorn with a
+blue ribbon before its advent at Skyrie, where it now resided, petted
+and pampered till its thin outlines became plump ones and it almost
+filled that place in Dorothy's heart left vacant by Daisy-Jewel.
+
+Also, Dolly herself had twice been sent for to visit Helena in her
+confinement of the sick-room, and had won the liking of everybody who
+saw her there. She was so simple and natural, so free from the
+imitating manner of some of Helena's friends who envied and toadied to
+the rich man's daughter, that the heiress found her society novel and
+refreshing. It was something quite new for Helena to be told, one day
+when she was "fussing" over the dainty meal sent up to her room, that:
+
+"Why, Helena Montaigne! You perfectly wicked girl! My mother and Mrs.
+Calvert too both say that it's as sinful as it's ill-bred to quarrel
+with your food. 'Not fit to eat' isn't true. Maybe you aren't 'fit' to
+eat it yourself, poor dear, because you're ill. But I never saw such a
+dainty lunch as that, even at Deerhurst itself. Eat it, do, and get
+strong and make your mother happy. She's taken a lot of trouble for you.
+I know she went into the kitchen and fixed those things herself, because
+she thought your cook wasn't careful enough. Now, do behave! And I'll
+sing to you while you eat. I've heard my father say that at the big
+hotels at Atlantic City and other places they have a band play while the
+people dine. Well, then, I'll be your band and sing. So begin! You must!
+I shall make you!"
+
+Laughing, yet wholly in earnest, Dorothy had picked a morsel of food on
+a fork and held it so close to Helena's lips that she had to take it,
+whether or not. A second morsel followed the first, and the performance
+was enlivened by a recital of Peter Piper's consumption of the chocolate
+cake.
+
+Before she knew it Helena was laughing, and likewise before she quite
+realized it--so swiftly had Dorothy fed and talked--she had made a
+better meal than at any time since her illness. The food strengthened,
+for the illness was really past, and seeing her darling recover made
+Mrs. Montaigne very grateful to the girl whose influence had helped that
+recovery. Also, this general liking for his own especial friend, as
+Herbert considered her, fully confirmed the lad in the scheme he had
+formed, but had not yet broached to his family. Thought he:
+
+"I'll wait a little longer yet, till even the Pater has seen how sweet
+and unselfish she is, then I'll spring it on the family. If I carry it
+through--Hurray!"
+
+But though Jim knew of these visits he had not resented them. It was
+perfectly natural, he supposed, that girls should like other girls; and
+that puling, sickly-looking, stuck-up daughter of those rich
+folks--Well, he was glad that Dorothy could show them that a little maid
+who had once worked alongside himself on a Maryland truck-farm could
+"hold a candle" with the best of them! Herbert, himself, had not crossed
+Jim's way. He had gone into camp with some other lads of the Heights and
+had himself almost forgotten his home in the fun of that outing.
+
+But weeks do pass, no matter how they sometimes seem to drag; and the
+day came when Jim and Dorothy were seated in Mrs. Calvert's runabout, a
+gentle horse in the shafts, and themselves _en route_ for that
+long-dreamed-of circus.
+
+Dorothy carried her money with her. As yet the sum received for
+Daisy-Jewel remained unbroken. Neither parent would use any of it, each
+insisting that it was Dorothy's own and that she should expend it as she
+saw fit: though that this would be for the horse or colt into which the
+calf had been thus changed was a foregone conclusion.
+
+It had become a standard jest with the ex-postman that she should never
+go anywhere away from Skyrie without her pocket-book. "In case you
+might meet the horse of your heart, somewhere along the road. It's the
+unexpected that happens. You're certain to find Daisy's successor when
+you're unaware that he, she, or it is near." And to-day he had added:
+
+"A circus is the very place to look for a horse! When you get there stir
+around and--pick up a bargain, if you can! By all means, take your
+pocket-book to-day!"
+
+She had kissed his merry lips to stop their teasing but--she had carried
+the purse! Something unexpected was, in reality, to happen: Despite
+their long anticipation, this happy pair of youngsters were to fall
+short of their ambition--they were not to visit the circus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+ON THE ROAD TO THE CIRCUS
+
+
+"Ain't this grand, Dorothy? I never did see anybody so good as Mrs.
+Calvert! She wouldn't hear tell o' my working half the day, though I
+could well's not, 'cause the circus don't take in till two o'clock. No,
+sir! She up an' give me the whole day an' said my pay was to go on just
+the same as if I was hoein' them inguns 'at need it."
+
+"Onions, Jim; not 'inguns,'" corrected Dorothy with a smile. "You are
+improving fast. I haven't heard you call anybody 'Mis',' for Mrs., in
+ever so long, and most of the time you keep tight hold of your g's. Yes,
+she is dear! but you deserve her kindness. Nobody else ever served her
+so faithfully, she says; not even those old colored servants who love
+her and--impose on her, too! You look fine, to-day. Those 'store
+clothes' are mightily becoming and I'm proud of you. But whatever shall
+we do with a whole day?"
+
+"Mrs. Calvert, she said we was to drive into the town, Newburgh, you
+know, where the circus is to be at and to a livery stable that knows
+her. Or the man who keeps it does. We was to put the horse up there an'
+leave it till time to go home again. Then we was to walk around the city
+an' see the sights. 'Bout noon she reckoned 'twould be a good plan to go
+to what they call the 'Headquarters,' where General George Washington
+lived at, when he fit into the Revolution. I've been readin' about that
+in the History she give me and I'd admire to stand on the spot he stood
+on once. There's a big yard around the house and benches for folks to
+sit on, and a well o' water for 'em to drink; and nobody has to pay for
+settin' nor drinkin', nary one. All the folks want you to do, and you
+don't have to do it, you ain't really obleeged, is to go inside a room
+an' write your name and where you come from in a 'Visitors' Book.' I've
+been practicing right smart, ever since she told me that, an' I can
+write my name real plain. What bothers me is to tell where I come from.
+I don't much like to say the poorhouse, where I was took after my folks
+died, and I hate to say Mrs. Stott's truck-farm. I haven't got no right
+to say Riverside nor Deerhurst, 'cause I've only lately come _to_ them
+places, I've never come _from_ 'em. I----"
+
+"O Jim! Stop 'splitting hairs'!"
+
+Thus arrested in his flow of language, the youth carefully inspected his
+clothing and failed to perceive the "hairs" in question. Whereupon
+Dorothy laughed and assured him that she had merely used a figure of
+speech, and meant: "Don't fuss! Just write 'Baltimore,' as I shall, and
+have done with it. Funny, Jim, but I just this minute thought that I'm
+the one who doesn't know where I came from! Well, I'm _here_ now, and
+what's behind me is none of my business. But, boy, you mustn't put that
+'at' after places. It sounds queer, and I hate queer people. Ah! me!"
+
+Jim drove carefully along the fine road with a full appreciation of the
+beautiful scenery through which it ran, yet in no wise moved to express
+his admiration of it. He was too happy for words and his soaring
+thoughts would have amazed even Dorothy, familiar though she had become
+with his ambitions; and after driving onward for some time in this
+contented silence he became suddenly aware that his companion was not as
+happy as he. Her eyes were fixed upon the road and her face had a
+troubled, preoccupied expression.
+
+"Dolly Chester, what you thinkin' of? Don't you like it? Ain't you glad
+you come?"
+
+"Why--Jim! How you startled me! Of course I'm glad I come. The whole
+trip is the most delightful thing; but--what I was thinking of, I'm
+afraid would make you sneer if I told."
+
+"Tell an' see if it will. I ain't no great hand to make fun of folks--I
+don't like to be made fun of myself. What was it?"
+
+"The _Ghost_ that haunts Skyrie. _Jim--I've seen it!_ I myself with my
+own eyes."
+
+He checked his horse in his amazement, and incredulously ejaculated:
+
+"You--don't!"
+
+"Yes, I do. I did. This very last night that ever was; and talk about
+liking this ride? Huh! I'm more glad than I can say to get away from
+home just this little while, even. Yet mother and father are left there,
+and if IT should come and frighten them while I'm not there--O Jim! IT
+scared me almost into a fit. Scared me so stiff and still I could
+neither move nor speak. Now I'm rather glad I didn't. IT may not come
+again, though IT has two or three times."
+
+They were nearly at the top of a long hill and, partly to rest the
+perfectly untired horse, partly to hear in silence this remarkable
+story, Jim drew aside into the shade of a wayside tree and commanded:
+
+"Silly Dolly! There ain't no such things; but--out with the hull
+business, body an' bones!"
+
+"I'm glad to 'out' with it. It's seemed as if I should burst, keeping it
+all to myself, and the worst is I feel that father wouldn't believe me.
+There's something else, too. Jim, do you believe that Peter Piper is
+really harmless? He follows me everywhere I go. He doesn't come near the
+house because mother doesn't like him and shows that plain enough even
+for him to understand. She never did like beggars down home in
+Baltimore, and she's taken a fearful dislike to Peter."
+
+"Stick to what you started to tell; not get a body's ideas all on edge,
+then switch off onto Peter Piper. As for that poor feller, he won't
+hurt nobody what don't hurt him. But _he_ ain't a ghost. Tell what you
+saw."
+
+"Will you promise not to laugh nor--nor disbelieve?"
+
+"I won't laugh an' I will believe--if I can."
+
+"You dear good Jim! I can always rely upon you to help me in my
+troubles!" cried Dorothy, gratefully.
+
+With comfortable complacency Jim replied: "That's so."
+
+"You know Pa Babcock doesn't work for us any more. He left the next day
+after the 'Bee.' Sent Alfaretta around to tell us that 'he'd overdone
+hisself and was obliged to take a vacation.' Why, Jim Barlow, he was
+engaged to work three days out of each week and he never got in more
+than one. He was to 'find himself,' which father says means to furnish
+his own food, and he never brought a single meal. Mother Martha had to
+cook extra for him every time. We weren't real sorry to have him leave,
+for we thought it would be easy to get another man, now that Skyrie had
+been put in such good order. But it wasn't; besides, any that offered
+asked from two to three dollars a day. Think of that! Why, of course
+mother couldn't pay that, even if it was haying time and men scarce, as
+they all told her. She said we must let all the farm alone except just
+the garden patch and that field of corn which is to feed our stock next
+winter. Jim, life in the country 'isn't all catnip!' I never, never
+dreamed that I could work so hard or do so much. Look at my hands, will
+you?"
+
+She thrust out her little hands, now scarred and blistered by the use of
+heavy, unfamiliar tools, compared with which her old home "garden set"
+were mere toys.
+
+For sympathy she received the assurance:
+
+"Won't blister nigh so much, after a spell, and the skin gets tough. Go
+on with the ghost, will you?"
+
+"I am going on. It's all mixed up with Pa Babcock. If he hadn't left I
+wouldn't have had to work in the garden nor mother in the cornfield.
+That tires her awfully, and makes her fearfully cross; so that father
+and I keep all little worries to ourselves that we can. He even tries to
+help her hoe those terrible rows of corn that has come up so
+beautifully and is growing so well. If only the weeds wouldn't grow just
+as fast! But to see my mother handling a hoe and my father trying to do
+so too, resting on his crutches and tottering along the row as he
+works--Jim, it makes me wild! So of course I try to take all care of the
+garden patch and--of course, I failed. Partly I was afraid to stay out
+there alone, sometimes, for I might happen any time to look up and there
+would be Peter Piper staring over the wall at me, or even inside it.
+Then I have to run in and stop working for awhile. Mother would be angry
+if she knew and drive him off with harsh words, and though I am afraid
+of him, too, I can't bear to hurt his feelings. I am really so sorry for
+him that often I carry my dinner out of doors with me and give it to
+him, though mother Martha thinks I've taken it because I do so love to
+eat out under the trees. I can't help feeling that he's hungrier than I
+am; and I don't think it's wrong because I've never been forbidden nor
+asked about it. Do you think it is, Jim dear?"
+
+"I ain't judgin' for other folks and I 'low your victuals is your own,"
+answered he.
+
+"That's a horrid word, 'victuals!' It makes me think of 'cold' ones and
+beggars at the back gate."
+
+"All right. I won't say it again. Get back to that ghost."
+
+"I'm getting. Why hurry so? We have the whole day before us."
+
+"But, Dorothy Chester, _that circus takes in at two o'clock_!" warned
+the careful lad.
+
+"And it can't be later than ten now. Jim Barlow--I've been to bed some
+night, leaving those hateful garden beds all weedy and neglected: and
+I've got up in the morning and--_found--them--in--perfect--order_! What
+do you think of that?"
+
+"Think? Why, 't likely your pa or ma done 'em for you after you was
+abed."
+
+"No, sir. I might have thought so, too, only they both denied it; nor
+can I make them believe I didn't do the work myself. So, after I had
+explained once or twice how it was and they only laughed, I gave up and
+held my tongue. Mother Martha says that weeds can't pull themselves nor
+'cultivators'--even little ones like mine--run over the beds as
+something certainly did. However, if they won't listen they needn't. I
+know it's true, though I dare not tell them I've seen the Ghost;
+because they are both so discouraged and anxious over this farming
+business that if they found the place was really haunted they'd leave
+it. Yet, Jim, we can't leave. We mustn't, no matter what. Father came
+here to get well--his only chance. We haven't enough money to move back
+to Baltimore nor to live there afterward. We must stay and live with the
+Ghost. It is the only way. But--O Jim! I've not only seen what IT has
+done in the garden, I've seen IT at work there. Seen IT with my own two
+eyes! Now, do you believe?"
+
+"Shucks! Pshaw! You don't!"
+
+Alas! Honest Jim did not believe but he was profoundly sorry for
+Dorothy, who he felt sure had suffered from too great and unaccustomed
+labor: and he could only answer according to his own convictions; as he
+did with added gentleness:
+
+"I think that that there Babcock girl had ought to had her neck wrung
+'fore she stuffed any such nonsense into your head, Dolly girl, an' I
+wish to goodness, just as you did once, 't I 'could make two of myself.'
+Then I'd make short work of that mite of gardening what seems such a
+job to you. I--I don't know but I'd ought to quit Deerhurst an' hire
+myself out to your folks."
+
+"No, no! Oh! no, indeed! You're in the right place now, just the best
+place to get on as you couldn't do with us."
+
+This opinion was comforting. Jim was so happy in his new home that he
+had no real desire to exchange it for Skyrie: where he felt his
+conscience and "duty" would compel him to work so early and late that
+there would be no time left for his "study." He changed the subject and
+inquired:
+
+"If you seen IT, what did it look like?"
+
+"IT was tall, like a man. IT was all in some light-colored clothes and
+it worked as steadily as if IT were a machine. But it made very little
+noise. IT didn't want to be heard, I thought. When IT had finished IT
+sort of vanished behind the lilac bushes and I thought I saw IT crossing
+a field toward the south meadow. That's where the old 'gold mine' is,
+that Alfaretta told of, and where she said IT lives part of the time. IT
+used to come into the house itself, into the very room father sleeps in
+now. So _she_ said."
+
+"Huh! She's the foolishest girl I ever heard of. Dorothy, don't you go
+to takin' up with such a silly thing as her. Huh!"
+
+"Oh! I'm not taking up with her, she's taking up with me! The 'shoe is
+on the other foot.' But she's real kind and good. She never comes to
+Skyrie without trying to help in whatever we are doing. Mother thinks
+she's a splendid girl, even if she is a little forward in her manners.
+But I haven't told her about the ghost being true. I've told nobody but
+you, Jim."
+
+Such exclusive confidence was flattering, but the boy was still
+unconvinced. After a moment of pondering he asked:
+
+"Why didn't your folks see IT if you did?"
+
+"Because it was only an accident that I did, either. I had to go down
+into the kitchen for a drink of water and so saw it through those
+windows. We all sleep on the other side of the house, away from the
+garden. That's why."
+
+"All right. Giddap!" commented Jim, driving back into the road and
+chirruping to the horse, while, having relieved herself of her secret,
+Dorothy gave herself up entirely to the pleasure of the moment, and
+soon was eagerly discussing the chances of their finding a suitable
+animal for their purchase at the circus, as father John had suggested
+was possible.
+
+A turn of the road soon brought them to a small house standing within a
+rude inclosure, and at present surrounded by such a concourse of people
+that both Jim and Dorothy immediately conjectured:
+
+"Another auction! Let's stop and listen."
+
+It was that same Bill Barry who had officiated at Skyrie who now stood
+on the box here; and, as Jim drove up toward the gate, he immediately
+recognized the two young people and called out to them:
+
+"Hello, there! How-de-do? Lookin' for somethin' to put your money on?
+Well, sorry, but all the household stuff's bid off. Jest a-comin' to the
+prettiest little piece o' horseflesh 't ever you laid your eyes on."
+Then with a general sweep of his eye over the assemblage, he added for
+the benefit of all: "This here vandoo just sends the tears to my eyes,
+hardened old sinner though I am. Auctioning off a poor widow woman's
+goods ain't no joke, let me tell you. See this pretty little piebald
+mare? Household pet, she is. Gentle as a kitten, broke to saddle or
+harness, either one, used to children, got to be sold no matter how the
+kids' hearts ache, nor the widow's either! Start her up, somebody! How
+much am I bid for the beautiful calico pony, beloved of a widow and
+orphans? How--much?"
+
+"Ten dollars!" cried somebody in the crowd and the auctioneer retorted
+that the bidder must be joking.
+
+Dorothy, listening, flashed one indignant glance over the crowd and
+stood up in the runabout, resisting Jim's abashed attempts to pull her
+down upon the seat. She clutched her pocket-book with all her strength,
+as if he might try to take it from her, and called out in her clear
+treble:
+
+"Thirty-five dollars!"
+
+A silence that might be felt over that assembly, and no other bid
+followed Dorothy's. Once, twice, thrice, Mr. Barry solicited a "raise"
+but none was forthcoming. To nobody else in that company was the pretty,
+piebald pony worth even half so much money. The creature had been born
+on the western plains, and while it had a reputation for speed was not
+strong enough for hard work, such as these other possible bidders
+required.
+
+"Going, going, _gone_! Sold to Miss Dorothy Chester for thirty-five
+dollars, cash down! Now for the cart and harness. How much?"
+
+While waiting offers for these articles the clerk of the auction
+obligingly led the pony through the gate and fastened its halter to the
+back of the runabout; whereupon Dorothy's consuming eagerness could
+hardly wait to count out the seven crisp banknotes which made her the
+happy possessor of that wonderful pony.
+
+Another moment found her on the ground beside it, patting its neck,
+smoothing its velvety nostrils, and longing to kiss it with that sudden
+affection born in her. So absorbed was she in the creature that she
+noticed nothing further going on about her till somebody politely asked
+her to "step aside and let us hitch up."
+
+Then she saw that Jim had left the runabout himself and was now between
+the shafts of a small low wagon, drawing it into the road. Five minutes
+later he announced:
+
+"We're ready to go now, Dorothy."
+
+"Shall we take the pony with us to the circus? Why are you turning the
+runabout around to go back the way we came? Newburgh's not in that
+direction."
+
+"I--I guess we won't finish our trip to Newburgh, to-day, Dolly," he
+answered with a laugh.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because--'cause you spent all _your_ money for the horse an' I spent
+all _mine_, all 't I've earned yet, for the rig. Which critter'll you
+drive home, Dorothy? Home it is where we'll eat that nice lunch o' Mrs.
+Calvert's, 'cause I haven't got a cent left to buy them circus tickets.
+Which one did you say?"
+
+"My own!" cried the girl, exultantly, as she sprang into the rickety
+little phaeton and took up the pony's reins.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THAT SOUTH MEADOW
+
+
+When even before mid-day the two vehicles returned to Skyrie both Mr.
+and Mrs. Chester were too astonished to do more than open their eyes and
+mouths and wait explanations.
+
+These came with a volubility that was less wonderful in Dorothy than in
+Jim, but each of the pair seemed to trip the other up with a flood of
+words, till finally the listeners made out to sift the facts for
+themselves. Then, while they were wholly delighted by the possession of
+the pony, mother Martha's prudence was disturbed by the thought of debt,
+and she promptly demanded to know what Jim had paid for the phaeton and
+harness.
+
+For a time he stubbornly declined to tell, and it was not till Mrs.
+Chester brought out her own purse and insisted upon repaying him that he
+acknowledged:
+
+"Well, if you must know, 'twasn't but fifteen dollars, all told. _True._
+Like Dorothy here I took every cent I had with me an' now I'm powerful
+glad I did. As for takin' your money, same's sellin' it to you, I
+shan't. I'm makin' it a present to Dolly an' all of you. If it hadn't
+been for her I never'd have known Mrs. Calvert nor had the chance of my
+life. 'Tain't but little, seems if, to return for all you've brought to
+me. If you don't want to hurt my feelin's and make me stay clean away
+from Skyrie, you won't say another word on that subject. And I don't
+want to stay away. I can't, not till some--some things gets straightened
+out. So, I reckon I'd best go see if there's a good stall in that old
+barn to put--Say, Dorothy? What you goin' to name the critter, anyway?"
+
+"James Barlow, she is not a 'critter.' She is a perfectly beautiful
+piebald pony and her name is--Portia!" After which alliterative
+statement Dorothy rushed toward the lad, intent upon hugging him in
+gratitude for the gift from which none of them could dissuade him.
+
+But he had had experiences in that line and ungallantly backed away,
+blushing furiously that these elder people should witness his
+embarrassment, and covering his confusion by remarking:
+
+"I'm going to the barn now, and you can come with me if you want to. If
+you do we can eat our dinner outside the door under that shady tree;
+then, as I've got the hull day give to me, I'd like to go see that mine
+in the south medder I've heard tell of."
+
+"All right," cheerfully answered the girl, not at all offended by his
+rebuff of her attentions. "We'll find a place for my Portia and your
+phaeton, and I think it's perfectly lovely for us to have them,
+half-and-half, that way, Jim, just think! How little we dreamed of such
+splendid times together when we were at Miranda Stott's!"
+
+Old "Si Waterman's Folly," as the rumored "mine" was called, seemed to
+be coming into sudden prominence. For years it had lain unnoticed, but
+some recent excavations on the other side of the mountain had recalled
+to the public this long abandoned one at Skyrie. The very first time
+that Dorothy had the delight of driving her father out in the phaeton,
+which was so low and comfortable for him to use, they met Friend Oliver
+Sands upon the road, and he brought up the subject by a roundabout
+manner all his own.
+
+He had not been present at the "Bee." He had even expressed his
+disapproval of such an affair, affirming that "nobody should undertake
+to run a farm unless he knew he could do it." Which might be good sense
+but influenced few. Indeed, when hearing afterward of the sale whereby
+Daisy-Jewel was metamorphosed, so to speak, into a pony, he had been
+angry--as angry as such a benign old gentleman could be.
+
+He had made an unnecessary gift to an unappreciative girl and _she_ had
+made money out of it; whereas, if things had gone as he expected, it
+would have been himself who should make it. Hannah had been transformed
+into a model cow by the simplest of methods, one that he should have
+been wise enough to try for himself only--he hadn't thought of it. Of
+course, it was a good thing for him who had advanced money upon the land
+that Skyrie should be put into good condition, even though it were as
+temporary as but one day's labor would make it. But he had heard things.
+Rumors were afloat. He hoped these rumors had not yet reached the ears
+of Skyrie's owners; but if they had he had still time to forestall them
+and reap his own advantage. Altogether, a thrifty soul was Oliver, the
+good; though his tones were sweetly sympathetic as he now brought his
+own smart team to a standstill in the very path of Portia and the
+phaeton.
+
+"Don't stop, Dolly, if you can help it, but drive straight past the
+miller who's coming. Exchange bows, of course, if a Quaker will bow; but
+I'm too happy to-day to be disturbed by talk with him. Ever since he
+loaned us that money, 'payable on demand,' I've felt uncomfortable. It's
+wretched enough to owe money to anybody, but I'd have felt safer if we'd
+borrowed from Mrs. Calvert or even from a bank. Oh, dear! He's going to
+stop and we will have to!" had been Mr. Chester's hurried comments, so
+soon as from a little distance they saw Mr. Sands approaching.
+
+It was a rare bit of confidence and Dorothy looked at him in some
+surprise. She did not share in her father's prejudice against the kind
+gentleman who had given her the pretty calf, and indeed was doubly
+grateful to him now that she had exchanged his gift for Portia. So it
+was in all sincerity that she returned his pleasant:
+
+"I am glad to see thee again, little Dorothy. Thee has a bonny face that
+should win thee many friends."
+
+"And I am glad to see you, Mr. Sands. I wish I understood the 'plain
+language,' too, then I could answer 'thee' after thy own fashion. Do
+you--does thee see my pretty pony? Her name is Portia. I bought her with
+the money paid for the calf you gave me. The pony is more useful to us,
+'cause my father's lame, and so I am twice pleased. This is the first
+time he has ridden out with me, but I can drive real well already."
+
+"For a beginner thee does very well, and the plain speech is the
+sweetest in the world--heard on the lips of pretty girls. By the way,
+John, I was on my way to see thee about a little matter of business.
+Thee may have heard that I like to acquire and hold land?"
+
+The statement was in the form of a question, to which the ex-postman
+rather coldly replied: "Yes, so I have heard." He resented the familiar
+"John" on this "plain" speaker's lips, though he had never felt
+otherwise than complimented by Mrs. Cecil's even more familiar
+"Johnnie." It was a case of like and dislike, and as inconsistent as
+most such cases are.
+
+"Can you speak freely before the little maid, John Chester?"
+
+"With perfect freedom. There are no secrets in our household----" At
+which remark Dorothy slightly winced, remembering that dreadful "secret"
+of the "ghost," which she had hidden from her parents. "We are a united
+family in all respects and Dorothy fully understands our circumstances."
+
+"Very well. That is a good thing. It speaks well for thy household.
+Regarding that little loan of mine, 'payable on demand,' I have
+considered the matter well. Thee needs money, I want land. If thee will
+sell me a portion of Skyrie farm that transaction should offset the
+other. That south meadow, for instance, known by the name of 'Si
+Waterman's Folly,' is worth, at ruling prices for waste mountain land,
+about two hundred dollars. I loaned thee three hundred; but on account
+of thy affliction I would pay thee more than I would another man. What
+does thee say?"
+
+"I say that the property is my wife's; just as I told you before. My
+affliction does not enter into the case, but I shall certainly advise
+her against such an unfair transaction as that. There are ten acres in
+that south meadow, and I have learned that mountain land is not so cheap
+as you would have me think."
+
+"Thee may have been misinformed. Ground suitable for fancy building lots
+may command a slight advance upon the ruling price, but not an overgrown
+piece, half-woods, half-rocks, like that misnamed 'south meadow.' Meadow
+stands for rich and profitable land; not such as the 'Folly.' Why,
+friend John, it would take all of that three hundred dollars I offer
+thee to fill up that hole which required several years of Simon
+Waterman's life to dig. The 'love of money is the root of evil,' the
+Good Book tells us, and it was an undue love of money which sent friend
+Simon to that hopeless task. A dream misled him--Thee has heard the
+story, John?"
+
+"No, nor care to. We are going for a drive--my first, as Dolly
+explained--and a storm threatens. I will add my thanks to hers, and do
+appreciate the fact that but for your gift of the calf we should not now
+own this pretty pony."
+
+"I trust thee may long enjoy the luxury. 'Calico' ponies are as pretty
+as uncommon, and there is a superstition in the neighborhood that they
+bring 'good luck.' Some even fancy that to 'wish upon one' has the same
+result. I will not detain thee from thy recreation, but will pass on to
+Skyrie and talk matters over with Martha herself."
+
+With a click of his unctuous lips the miller started his team into swift
+motion and vanished from sight: but he left discomfort behind him and
+had effectually spoiled that ride for father John. Also the few clouds
+which had been gathering grew heavier with each passing moment and, as
+the invalid was careful never to expose himself to a drenching, Dorothy
+soon turned Portia's head homeward and arrived there just in time to
+escape the slight summer shower.
+
+Martha met them with a brighter countenance than she had shown for many
+days, and the exclamation:
+
+"Good news, dear ones! That splendid old Quaker gentleman has just left
+here, and has made me such a generous offer. He says, since we so
+dislike debt, that he will take that worthless south meadow off our
+hands and call it an equivalent for the money he advanced. Farming is
+hard enough, but farming free from debt would be lessened of half its
+worries."
+
+"Martha, I hope you didn't tell him you would sell!" protested Mr.
+Chester, alarmed.
+
+Her brightness faded into that unhappy sharpness which was becoming
+habitual and she returned, sarcastically:
+
+"Of course, I didn't promise. A good wife never does dare promise
+anything without consulting her husband, even about her own property.
+I'll come with you, Dorothy, and help put up the pony."
+
+"O mother! Now you've hurt father's feelings and it isn't like you to do
+that! I--I begin to understand why he dislikes that miller and his money
+business, for he makes you disagree so. That's something never used to
+be at dear old 77 Brown Street!"
+
+"Dorothy Chester! How dare you speak to me like that?" demanded the
+overtired housemistress, with an asperity rarely shown to her beloved
+child.
+
+"Beg pardon, mother. It was wrong. I only felt--I wish father liked Mr.
+Sands as well as you and I do, but don't let's talk of him any more. No,
+thank you, I don't need you to help with Portia. I'm proud to know how
+to harness and unharness all by myself. It was good of Jim and old
+Ephraim to teach me, and Mrs. Calvert says she is going to give me a
+little side-saddle to fit the pony. She has ordered it made in Newburgh
+from measures Ephraim took one day. Isn't she the dearest? Please, sit
+down and rest, mother dear. I'll do whatever's needed as soon as I've
+put Portia under cover."
+
+There were both balm and bane in Dorothy's words. Martha was soothed by
+the child's sweet affection and jealous that that other richer woman had
+the power to bestow gifts such as she could not. She had now learned of
+the offer of Mrs. Cecil to adopt Dorothy and this had not diminished
+her jealousy; but, at the same time, the longer and better she knew the
+lady of Deerhurst the more she was forced to admire and respect her.
+
+As soon as Dorothy had driven toward the barn and Mr. Chester had
+entered the kitchen his wife returned to the subject of that south
+meadow.
+
+"That field is the laughing-stock of the whole town, John, and I can't
+see why you should object to my selling it. To keep it would, it seems
+to me, make it 'Chester's Folly,' as well as 'Waterman's.'"
+
+He answered rather sadly:
+
+"I have no right to object, Martha, and I will not if your heart is set
+upon the deed. Yet I should not be loyal to your interests, if I did not
+caution prudence. Wait a bit. Take advice upon the matter. Of that wise
+Seth Winters, or Mr. Smith, or even of the best lawyer in Newburgh.
+There----"
+
+"Lawyers! We've no money to waste upon lawyers, John."
+
+"I know. Still, there is such a thing as being 'penny wise and pound
+foolish.' Oliver Sands is a long-headed, shrewd old chap. He sees
+money, more of it than he suggested, in that south meadow, else he would
+never try to buy it. As for that extra hundred dollars he proposes to
+give--Pooh! He plans to more than reimburse himself. As Mrs. Calvert saw
+he did in that smaller affair of the calf. That he was outwitted then
+was due to Mrs. Cecil's knowledge of his character."
+
+"You've just had a ride behind a horse we shouldn't have owned except
+for him," she reminded.
+
+"I know, and I give him all credit due. Only I do not want you to agree
+to anything unfair to yourself. Why, Martha, we do not even know what
+that 'mine' is like. We have seen that the top of the 'hole' is covered,
+in part, by a sort of trap door, more than half-hidden by vines and
+bushes, and almost half decayed away. I peered down under what was left
+of the trap, that time I went there with Dorothy: but I was far too
+tired with my crutch-walk to do more than that, even if I had not feared
+some unseen danger. She was eager to slip under the trap and find out
+for both of us, but, of course, that was out of the question. Probably,
+it _is_ just a piece of 'Folly'; yet in other things Simon Waterman had
+the reputation of being a sane, sensible man. He proved himself such by
+willing so much of his property to you, my dear."
+
+"Humph! I don't see just now that it's so valuable. I feel as if Skyrie
+farm was a burden that would crush the life out of me yet," she
+returned, in that discouraged tone it was so painful to hear, and which
+always stirred his deep regret for that affliction which had thrust upon
+a woman's shoulders that weight of care which only the man's should have
+borne. "He said that he wanted that meadow merely because it would
+'square' out his own property. He holds a mortgage on land lying between
+his Heartsease and Skyrie, of which our south meadow is the limit. He's
+to foreclose that mortgage and longs to own that one field of ours just
+to complete the shape of his farm. That's natural, isn't it?"
+
+"Wholly and entirely natural to him, from what I've heard the neighbors
+say. But let him go. All I ask is that you should wait a little, until
+you can make inquiries of persons wiser than we are in land-lore,
+before you take a step you cannot retrace. Now, kiss me, my wife, and
+don't let's allow the portly shadow of Oliver Sands to fall across our
+peace again."
+
+She did kiss him, and she did feel so impressed by his wisdom that she
+promised to follow his advice and "wait" before deciding the question of
+the south meadow: which strangely enough seemed so much more important
+to him than to her.
+
+So, coming in from the barn and Portia, "running between drops" as she
+expressed it, Dorothy found happiness restored and hastened to unfold a
+plan which Helena and she had thought out and to which her parents gave
+a ready assent.
+
+"You see, mother, the summer is going very, very fast, and before we
+know it, almost, Deerhurst and the Towers and all the big houses will be
+closed and the families gone away for the _long_ winter. We haven't yet
+had even that camp-picnic Herbert planned. First he was away, or Helena
+sick, or something or other all the time kept happening. Now she wants
+to give a picnic herself and ask all the young folks 'up-mounting' to
+it. We made out a list the last time I went to see her, and first she
+had written only the names of the rich young folks on the Heights. Then
+I coaxed her and told her how much more it would mean to the poor ones,
+like myself, than it possibly could to those others. Then she was as
+nice as nice! and wrote down every name I said. Mrs. Smith's boys, and
+every Babcock except Claretta and Diaretta. Jim, too, of course, if
+he'll go. Helena is to provide the eating part of the picnic and I am to
+provide the place, if you'll let me. That's the south meadow that so
+many people are talking about, Herbert says, just now. Oh! I do hope you
+won't sell it to Mr. Sands before we have the party!"
+
+"Not likely, unless you put it off too long," answered Mrs. Chester,
+quietly. "Do you mean that Miss Montaigne is willing, can afford, to
+provide food for a large company like that? Because, though I might----"
+
+"O mother! Don't you worry about that. Of course she can 'afford'--why,
+anything in the world she wants, I reckon. The people at the Towers seem
+to think as lightly about spending money as we would about using the
+water from our well. I'm to take Portia to the Towers in the phaeton
+and bring back Helena and the baskets. Funny! How that girl who has so
+many faster horses of her own likes to ride behind my darling pet! But
+Portia _can_ travel, too, if she takes a notion. Why, the other morning
+when you sent me to Eliza Jane's store of an errand and an automobile
+was going down the mountain behind us, she just picked up her little
+heels and raced that auto--My! how she did run! But--the auto beat.
+Wasn't it too bad? Portia was so disgusted. It must be awfully trying to
+waste all one's breath racing an automobile and then get beaten."
+
+"It must, indeed; but I hope that's the last time you'll ever let her
+enter such a race as that. Child, you might be killed! An accident to
+either pony or machine--Dolly, never do it again!" cried father John,
+alarmed by the danger already safely passed.
+
+"When do you want this picnic?" asked Mrs. Chester, with interest, and
+feeling somewhat flattered that the chosen ground for it should be on
+her own premises.
+
+"Why, Saturday, if it's fine. If not, then the next Monday. We want to
+go early, in the morning sometime, and stay the whole day. We mean to
+explore that mine they call the 'Folly,' and who knows? I may bring home
+a nugget of pure gold! Wouldn't that be fine? I'm so glad you are
+willing. I think I'll harness Portia again and ride to tell Helena,
+after dinner; and I'll get that now. I can do it all alone if you'll
+only trust me. You rest, mother dear, and read your Baltimore weekly. It
+came last night and yet you haven't even taken the wrapper off."
+
+The dinner was to be a simple one and well-trained Dorothy was capable
+of preparing it; so Mrs. Chester did take the proffered rest and was
+deep in the home news which interested her so greatly when a shadow fell
+upon the threshold and she glanced up to see two men who appeared to be
+surveyors, for they carried the instruments of such over their
+shoulders; and the announcement made by the elder of the two fairly took
+her breath away:
+
+"We are sent by Oliver Sands to survey that south meadow you've sold
+him. Will you direct us to it?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+DOROTHY HAS ANOTHER SECRET
+
+
+The inquirer went away with "a bee in his bonnet," as the saying goes;
+and he promptly reported to Oliver Sands that he had been dismissed from
+Skyrie as one who had gone there on a fool's errand.
+
+"Say they haven't sold me that south meadow, do they, friend? Well, they
+are mistaken. Report to me again in one week from this day and I will
+give thee further directions. I am a just man. I will pay thee and thy
+assistant for the time thee has wasted, but the surveying will yet be
+done," returned the miller, quietly.
+
+He even smiled, sitting comfortably in his great rocker upon his shaded
+veranda; and he opened and closed his fat hands with a suggestive
+gesture, as of one squeezing something soft and yielding. It was a
+gesture habitual to him while transacting certain kinds of business, as
+foreclosing a mortgage against some helpless person; and to keen
+observers--Seth Winters, for one--seemed most significant. Friend Oliver
+was in no wise disturbed by the indignant statement of the Chesters to
+the surveyor. He was perfectly contented to bide his time, remembering
+that adage: "All things come to him who waits."
+
+But valiant as their denial, the Chesters watched the surveyors depart
+with sore misgivings. The bold falsity of the matter roused, at length,
+even Martha's suspicions that Friend Oliver Sands was not as benign as
+he appeared; and for the rest of that week she went about so silent and
+sad that neither father John nor Dorothy dared intrude upon her reserve.
+
+Yet to the latter came a new trouble of her own: and knowing that she
+must confide in somebody old and wise enough to counsel her, she went to
+Seth Winters. She could not have done better. With almost the opening
+sentence of her story about the surveyors' visit he seemed to understand
+the whole matter, "body and bones" as Jim would say.
+
+"I am thankful you came to me, little Dorothy. We'll outwit that man by
+meeting him on his own terms. I'm going to give you something to take
+care of till the time comes for you to use it. We'll have what Herbert
+calls a regular lark; and may I be there to see! Three hundred dollars,
+'payable on demand, with interest from date.' Do you remember that date?
+No? Never mind. I'll put the time sufficiently far back to make
+everything secure, and I misjudge our floury Friend if he will object to
+a little more than his due. Watch, scholar, and see if I figure right."
+
+Fetching pen and paper, the blacksmith made a rapid computation of what
+would be due Oliver at any time within the next month. Then he went to a
+cupboard in his room above the "office" and took from a small safe there
+the amount of cash which should satisfy even the "just" holder of the
+Chesters' "note." He gave the money into Dorothy's hands with a smile,
+saying:
+
+"This is yours, your very own. It is no gift nor loan of mine. It was
+intrusted to me by a law firm in Baltimore, the business managers of
+Mrs. Calvert's property. Kidder & Kidder are the gentlemen. Well,
+what?"
+
+"I've heard, I know about them. Why, Mr. Winters, I've _seen_ that old
+Mr. Kidder!" cried Dorothy, eagerly.
+
+"I'm glad of it. Well, I cannot explain much to you; only I can and do
+say that somebody related to you by blood, somebody of your own family
+that you never knew, left this money and a little more with these
+gentlemen; to be used by, or for, you whenever a case of real necessity
+occurred. They are my own lawyers, too, as well as Mrs. Cecil's; so
+after you moved to Skyrie, knowing I was such a near neighbor, they
+wrote and asked me to take care of the small fund for you. I wasn't to
+mention it until that case of need I spoke of, and that has now surely
+arrived. Hurray! Three cheers for the climax! I can picture your
+face--all your faces--when 'payment on demand' _is_ demanded, and you so
+calmly--it must be very calmly, Dolly dear!--come forward with that
+'payment' in hand. One word of advice to you, more. Try to persuade your
+parents to hold on to south meadow. Things are stirring nowadays, and
+that very 'Folly' may yet show old Simon's wisdom, by proving the most
+valuable spot on Skyrie farm or any other land 'up-mounting.' Keep the
+fact of your having the money a secret till the right time comes. Then,
+hurray!"
+
+For a few moments the astonished girl could do no more than turn over
+and over the fat wallet which Seth had thrust into her hands; and she
+was so enraptured by the thought that it was she, she herself, who
+should come to her parents' relief that she could only smile and smile.
+She could not even join in this boyish old fellow's hurraying; yet
+looking on her happy face, he was quite satisfied.
+
+However, amid all her joy one dark word had fastened on her
+consciousness: "Secret." She had come in part to confide her own dread
+secret of the Ghost to this kind man, who would, she was sure, neither
+deride her fear nor fail to help her. Seth Winters helped everybody
+worthy of his help. All the mountain folk said so and trusted him.
+
+"Mr. Winters, that story about there being a ghost at Skyrie is--_is
+true_. I suppose you've heard it, haven't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I've heard."
+
+There was no scorn in his expression. The same gentle gravity rested
+upon his features that had inspired the confidences of so many troubled
+souls and now won hers. All the boyish hilarity he had manifested over
+the outwitting of Oliver Sands had vanished, and with a fatherly
+tenderness he drew Dorothy to him and listened intently as she said:
+
+"Yes, Mr. Winters, it--is--true. I didn't believe Alfaretta when she
+told about it. I thought there were no such things. But there _is_ a
+ghost haunts Skyrie and--_I--have--seen--it_. I have to believe my own
+eyes, haven't I?"
+
+"Most assuredly, my dear. And I, too, know it is true. I, too, have seen
+it."
+
+"_You--have?_"
+
+"Often and often. A most beneficent and harmless ghost. One to be
+cherished and not feared. One that has suffered much evil and done much
+good. A ghost I pity and almost love."
+
+"Why, Mr. Winters! You make me feel as if--as if I could hardly breathe.
+Could any ghost be _good_? Any ghost be _harmless_?"
+
+"This one is good, I told you. As for harm--has he harmed your garden
+by his presence? Have the weeds grown faster or the vegetables less,
+because of his nightly visitations to it? 'By their fruits ye shall know
+them.' Eh? What?"
+
+"Why, you amaze me more and more. How did you know that about the garden
+and the night-time? I hadn't told you yet, though I was going to, in a
+minute."
+
+"Well, easily. I've seen the garden and I know that all ghosts prefer
+the night. Not this one because his deeds are evil but because they are
+good. A person may learn a lot of things, little maid, by merely keeping
+his eyes open and putting two-and-two together."
+
+"Oh! of course; but do you really think I shouldn't fear this one at
+all? I've been too afraid almost to live, and I've not dared to tell my
+father or mother, because she's so nervous she wouldn't stay at Skyrie
+even to get my father cured, and he must be. _He must be_--no matter
+what happens. It must not be that a man so good, so kind, so altogether
+faithful to us all should be an invalid forever. O Mr. Winters! You
+don't at all know how brave he is! How he makes fun for mother and me
+when his own heart aches. It seems to me as if he took hold of
+everything, every little thing that happens, and turns it over and over,
+till he finds out some humor in it. Then he points out to us that humor
+which we'd never have discovered for ourselves. Why, I fancy he'd think
+there was something funny even about that dreadful ghost!"
+
+"A brave and beautiful nature is poor John Chester's, little Dolly. I am
+proud to know him, to have him call me friend. Nor should I have called
+him 'poor' but rich. I would rather have his present poverty and his
+wholesome, sweet outlook upon life than all the money owned by the
+master of the Towers. By the way, he's not such a bad sort, either! come
+to know him well enough to see beneath that crust of greed and arrogance
+that he wears as if it were a coat. As for that fairy-faced daughter of
+his, I'm wholly in love with her, since you've put your own hand to the
+task of remodeling her into the simple, kindly creature God meant her to
+be when He fashioned her. Pity! when that other good gift of too much
+money buries beneath it the better side of the person to whom it is
+given!"
+
+"Oh! Helena is sweet, Mr. Winters. It's not true at all that she is
+haughty and 'stuck-up,' as folks say. She's just been petted at home,
+and praised and sheltered so much, that she didn't have a chance to show
+what she really was. Even to know it herself. But I love her. I love her
+dearly. She's the nicest girl friend I ever had."
+
+"That's good! That's excellent! For if a certain scheme of our friend
+Herbert's materializes it would be most important that there should be
+love between you and Helena. By the way, neither of you young ladies
+have invited me to your picnic!"
+
+Dorothy opened her eyes in surprise. "Why, Mr. Winters! How did you know
+we were going to have one? I hadn't told that yet, either, and I do
+believe you must be a witch--a gentleman witch--to guess at things the
+way you do!"
+
+"I hope I'm a 'gentleman' witch if I'm any sort. I shouldn't like to be
+a 'lady,' one that's always pictured as bestriding a broomstick. That
+would be most uncomfortable. I prefer a horse. Well, am I to come to
+your picnic, or am I not, Miss Dorothy Chester?"
+
+"O Mr. Winters! Will you? If you will, your coming will make us both so
+happy. I'd rather have you than anybody I know, even young folks----"
+
+"As if I were not that! Thank you for your cordial 'bid.' I will be most
+happy to accept the invitation I've had fairly to worm out of you. What
+am I expected to provide as my share of the entertainment?"
+
+"Oh! you love to tease me, don't you? Nothing. Of course, you are to
+provide nothing. Only come, and don't disappoint us."
+
+"I will surely come. But I hope to do my share, as I said; and if I
+succeed in obtaining what I hope for, it will be a novelty in picnics!"
+
+"Now you've made me curious! I love novelties! What will yours be?"
+asked Dorothy, eagerly, and rising to leave, since some men had arrived
+with horses to be shod and her host must attend to business.
+
+"Take care of that parcel, child. Tell nobody of it, not even the father
+and mother, till the right moment comes. You'll recognize it when it
+does, and what shall I bring? Let me see--I think I will bring a GHOST!"
+
+It was a very happy girl who returned to Skyrie, carrying safely hid in
+her pocket that which should "at the right time" release her beloved
+parents from the power of debt, held over them by even so "generous" a
+man as miller Sands. It was almost impossible for her to keep this new
+and splendid "secret" from their knowledge. At times she felt she must,
+she certainly must, break her promise to Seth Winters and disclose it;
+but she had never knowingly broken her word and she would not let
+herself begin to do so now. Besides, if she had been able to keep that
+other, dreadful "secret" about the "ghost" she surely could keep this
+happy one of the money. She had made it her business to bestow this in a
+place of safety, although her frequent visits to the spot would have
+betrayed her interest in it had the elder Chesters been at all
+suspicious.
+
+The days sped by till the end of the week and that beautiful summer
+Saturday appointed for Helena's picnic. They had been busy and peaceful
+days at Skyrie. No further demands had been made upon the elder Chesters
+by Mr. Oliver Sands. That most industrious of "ghosts" had not
+reappeared nor nervous mother Martha so much as suspected his existence;
+though rumors concerning him were rife in all Riverside. These rumors
+had been freshly set afloat by the Babcocks. Dorothy had admitted to
+Alfaretta that there "_might_ be some truth" in the story of a spooky
+visitant, and Alfy had promptly stated that there _was_. Pa Babcock
+affirmed the tale and declared that this was why he had left off working
+on the haunted farm. "It had got upon my nerves to the extent of
+interfering with my orations," he had explained, to whoever would
+listen. Until then, nobody had credited Pa with possessing "nerves" of
+any sort; but even such an absurd statement found credence with some.
+
+More than with the "spook," however, was the public mind agitated by
+other rumors which touched upon "south meadow." The "Folly" was a word
+often on men's lips, yet, as often happens, the persons most nearly
+concerned in the subject were the last to hear of it.
+
+The promised saddle for Portia had been sent home and found to be a
+delightful change from the bareback riding which ambitious Dorothy had
+been practicing. So delightful, indeed, was it and so eager was she to
+have all her own friends enjoy it with her that she decided:
+
+"I'm going to put the saddle in the phaeton along with the baskets when
+we drive to the 'meadow.' The 'Bee' people fixed the bars to it so
+nicely, we can drive along the road till we come to the field and then
+through the bar-way into it. I'll take Portia out of the shafts and
+saddle her, or the boys will do it for me. Then all the girls that wish
+can take a ride, turn and turn about. It will add ever so much to our
+fun--everybody I know simply loves and envies me my darling 'calico'
+pony! I'll come back for you first, though, mother and father, for you
+must be there. A picnic, or anything nice, wouldn't seem perfect without
+you two. Dear Mr. Winters is sure to come. He said so and he's going to
+bring--My! I almost let the cat out of the bag!"
+
+Dorothy's sudden pause and startled expression provoked no comment from
+her parents other than mother Martha's protesting:
+
+"Cat! I wouldn't take Lady Rosalind, if I were you, Dolly dear. It would
+only be a worry to you. Those little Babcocks are sure to come, invited
+or not, and as surely would plague the life out of her. Why, Rosalind
+runs under the lounge the very minute any Babcock, big or small, sets
+foot inside the door. Don't take the cat."
+
+"It wasn't--it wasn't--that kind of a cat! and I haven't let it
+out--yet!" laughed the girl, with a gayety that seemed exaggerated for
+so humdrum a remark.
+
+"You're a queer child, Dorothy C. But--but I hope you'll have a happy
+day," answered her mother, slipping an arm about the girl's shoulders
+and lightly caressing the flushed young cheek; while Dolly answered,
+trustfully:
+
+"I'm certain to! Mrs. Calvert is coming and says she _cannot_ unless Jim
+Barlow brings her and waits upon her! That settles Jim and his refusals!
+She's made it a point of 'duty' and that boy was never yet known to turn
+his back on his duty--even when it led him into having a good time
+himself at a picnic! Good-by, now. I'm off!"
+
+It did prove the happiest sort of a gathering. Everybody came who was
+invited and some appeared who were not. But there were food and room and
+fun enough for all. Portia did ample service in the cause; trotting
+patiently around and around the smoother portions of the meadow,
+carrying various small maidens on her back but, at length, being given a
+chance to nibble her own dinner from that plentiful pasture. She was
+still saddled and bridled, the smallest Babcock having testified by
+screaming that she was still unsatisfied with her share of the exercise,
+and being promised "one more ride after dinner."
+
+Never a Babcock screamed more wisely. But for that scream Portia would
+have been unsaddled and but for Portia--a life might have been lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
+
+
+The chief event of the day was to be the exploration of "Si Waterman's
+Folly." This occurred immediately after dinner.
+
+Jim and Herbert, aided by Mr. Winters's strong arms, found small
+difficulty in removing the decayed plank covering which the old miner
+had placed above his narrow-mouthed shaft. This had once rolled easily
+enough upon deftly applied rollers and had been arranged to protect Mr.
+Waterman from detection when excavating, in search of that gold which he
+believed lay buried in south meadow. He was a secretive man who shared
+no secrets with his neighbors if he could help it, yet whose very
+idiosyncrasies betrayed them.
+
+"Well, that's a good job done!" cried Seth, as the cover was pushed
+aside. "See there?"
+
+He placed his heel upon the boards, which at once broke into fragments
+beneath his weight.
+
+"Why, anybody might have stepped upon it and fallen through!" cried
+Dorothy, astonished.
+
+"Yes. A good job to have prevented such an accident. But the hole, or
+shaft is--Hello, friend GHOST! Come out of that, if you please; all your
+neighbors have come to visit you and expect you to show the honors of
+your retreat!"
+
+Many heads were now crowded together, peering into the dimness of the
+shaft. It sloped inward and downward into a wider opening that was
+almost like a small chamber in its dimensions. Another entrance led to
+this chamber, a passage of a few feet in length, burrowed beneath the
+ground and opening upon the hillside beyond. Through this little tunnel
+came fresh air and light; and within the chamber had been collected the
+odds and ends of things which had caught the half-wit's fancy. A bundle
+of straw and a worn-out horse-blanket which somebody had discarded
+formed his bed. Some bits of broken crockery furnished his table, a
+board wedged against the rock. A spring of water gushed from one wall
+of the chamber and trickled into the depths below, and a curious odor
+escaped from the spring.
+
+The leather jacket, the glazed hat with its bedraggled scarlet feathers,
+lay carefully folded upon the straw pallet, and its owner sat beside the
+jacket shamefaced and terrified by this intrusion upon his retreat. But
+it was something else that caught Dorothy's attention--a simple suit of
+denim that had once been blue but was now faded by sun and water to a
+ghostly white. Peter wore these now and--she recognized them.
+
+"Peter! Peter! So _you_ are the good 'Ghost' that came in the night and
+tilled my garden for me! Come out, come out and let me thank you!"
+
+Though he had obstinately refused to answer the call of Seth Winters,
+the voice of the girl he had so secretly served, because she had been
+kind to him, was instantly obeyed. He climbed out of the shaft and,
+taking hold of her skirt as he had done once before, stood foolishly
+smiling while his good friend, the blacksmith, gayly announced:
+
+"Behold the 'Haunt' of Skyrie! The honestest, most innocent, most
+grateful of Ghosts! During the years it was vacant he made Skyrie his
+home, sleeping of winters in its hillside room, and in summer seeking
+this cool retreat where we have just unearthed him. He must, he will,
+_haunt_ no more; for if I judge aright the new master of old Skyrie will
+at once engage him to take the place of Pa Babcock, resigned. A better
+gardener there isn't 'up-mounting.' A more devoted servitor no man can
+find, once his affection is won as our little Dorothy has won it. What
+say, neighbors Chester? Will you secure your greatly needed 'hired man'
+and forever 'lay the ghost' of Skyrie at one 'fell swoop'?"
+
+"Aye, aye! Hear!" cried father John, entering fully into the
+blacksmith's spirit, even while he did not fully understand, till
+Dorothy explained all the mysterious, yet beneficent, happenings of the
+past few weeks; and then not only he but mother Martha bade the poor
+waif welcome to their home, while all the others standing by applauded
+vigorously.
+
+"But this isn't all we came to see. The gold mine, the gold mine! Peter
+may be human gold, but the rich yellow metal is what we want!" cried
+Herbert, when the cheers had died away.
+
+"Who'll go first?" asked somebody.
+
+"Why, I, of course!" returned young Montaigne, springing recklessly into
+that rough shaft which veered from the wide safety of the upper chamber.
+
+Whereat a strange thing happened. Peter dropped the fold of his new
+mistress's skirt and stepped hastily forward, warning by gestures and
+his uncertain mumbling that Herbert should not go. Alas! the warning was
+useless. The spirit of adventure was on the whole party, an eager desire
+to be the first who should unearth a "nugget," and even cautious Jim
+Barlow caught the infection, while Dorothy ran forward as lightly as if
+she were to cross only the smooth meadow.
+
+As the heads disappeared below the surface of the ground, and the shouts
+of those who scrambled downward over the rude rocky shaft grew fainter,
+Peter was seized with a terrible trembling and stood as if rooted to the
+ground in fear. A minute more and a girl's scream aroused him.
+Dorothy's! She was falling--falling--into an unknown depth! One
+mis-step, the slimy stones, the unforeseen peril! Both Jim and Herbert
+were already far below, following with extreme care, if still with all
+the speed possible, the tortuous excavation, in search of that deluding
+metal which has lured so many to their ruin. Only Peter Piper, the
+simple, to hear and comprehend.
+
+As if by magic his trembling ceased and with a cat-like leap, so swift
+and soft it was, he had also disappeared beneath the ground. Then
+something whispered to the Chesters of their darling's danger. They
+pressed forward to the edge of the pit, and almost equally pale with
+fear, Mrs. Cecil joined them; clinging to Martha with a sympathy of
+distress which broke down in a moment the younger woman's dislike of the
+elder.
+
+None of the trio were prepared for that which followed. Dorothy's slight
+figure came hurtling out of the pit's mouth, tossed to their very feet
+by the long arms of Peter Piper. A moment later he stood beside them,
+exhausted, silent; while the girl explained, as her own breath returned
+and terror subsided:
+
+"Oh! he saved my life! He saved my life! I was falling--I knew--it was
+death--those awful stones--so dark. He caught me, he knew. He isn't
+'simple' but wise; wise and oh! so good! Peter, you blessed Ghost! I owe
+you my life!"
+
+But this excitement ebbed only to give way to another. When Dorothy had
+recovered her composure and sat quietly beside her elders, Peter beside
+her, with no desire left on her part for either explorations or the
+biggest of "nuggets," a fresh cry of alarm sounded from the mine. The
+cry preluded the frenzied rush out of the chasm of those who could
+escape it first; but it was upon Herbert and Jim that all were
+intent--upon poor Jim more than the other.
+
+As they came up Peter Piper cast one glance upon them, then hid his face
+and shuddered.
+
+"A horse! A doctor! Quick, quick! For the love of God, a horse!" gasped
+Herbert, and in a few broken words explained:
+
+"We got into a nest--a nest of serpents. One had raised its head--I
+didn't see it--to strike my hand! Jim--Jim caught it, it swung
+around--bit him--O God! Don't let him die! He offered his life for mine
+whom he didn't like! He saved me! Can nobody--nobody save him?"
+
+With his arm around his rescuer the frantic Herbert searched the
+blanched faces for some sign of help; and out of the startled silence
+which greeted his appeal came Seth Winters's calm voice:
+
+"To my shop. I've medicines there. I'll take one side, you the other,
+Herbert. If need be, we can make a 'chair' and carry him between us. You
+can walk, for a while anyway, Jim. You are not going to die. Steady now,
+on your own feet, steady--as when you so nobly threw away your life to
+save the boy you 'didn't like'!"
+
+The shop was, indeed, the nearest place where help could be obtained,
+and they started, all following; a sad and terrified party that but an
+hour before had been so gay and happy. And presently Jim's nerve
+returned to him, for it had been worsted for the moment by the cries and
+assertions of the others that he was doomed to death.
+
+But where was Dorothy--who should have been foremost with sympathy and
+cheer? Halfway down the mountain before the company had all left that
+unlucky south meadow. Fully down by the time the smithy was reached.
+Race, Portia, race. A life hangs on your fleetness! Jim's life, Jim's!
+Who has proved that "greater love hath no man but that he lay down his
+life for his friend." And this was more than "friend"--it was the boy
+"he didn't like"--yet by the strange rule of nature, was forever after
+to be the Damon to his Pythias. Experience has long proved that the
+surest way to overcome an aversion to a person is to do that person a
+kindness.
+
+Where, too, was Peter, the simple? Not far behind his faithful friend,
+the smith, having lingered only long enough to dart into the woods and
+fill his hands with a certain herb he knew; then to follow and reach the
+smithy just in time to hear its owner say:
+
+"Faint, Jim? Drink this. Herbert, bare his arm. It will be heroic
+treatment, my lad, but, _my hero_--bear it! and live to teach the world
+a lesson."
+
+Some turned their eyes aside as the smith drew from the glowing forge a
+white-hot iron and held it to the wound upon Jim's sunburned flesh. Not
+Jim! this wise old man toward whom his young soul had yearned from the
+beginning had called him "hero": and within himself he knew that he was
+far more such now than when he had rescued Dorothy from bondage, though
+they had termed him "hero" even then.
+
+The wound cauterized, came Peter Piper with his healing leaves, bringing
+infinite relief; and soon as might be came also Dorothy upon her piebald
+mare, and the doctor close beside her on his own fleet steed; approving
+all that had been done, assuring everybody that no fatal results could
+follow such prompt treatment; and especially commending Peter Piper for
+his knowledge of those simples which mother Nature grows so luxuriantly
+for the use of all her children.
+
+Thus ended the picnic and the search for hidden gold. But so soon as
+most of the company had departed from the over-crowded shop, Jim was
+made to ride upon Portia home to Skyrie, though he was now able to smile
+and declare that his legs were so long they would drag upon the ground.
+
+However, he managed to hold them sufficiently high and to adapt himself
+to the despised saddle of a girl. With him went the few who knew him
+best; Seth Winters and Herbert, Mrs. Cecil and Martha, Helena
+herself--not to be outdone in gratitude for her brother's life; and
+John Chester with his "little maid" beside him. They had all anticipated
+finding a restful quiet at Skyrie; but they failed. The moving events of
+that memorable day were not all accomplished yet.
+
+On the little upper porch sat Mr. and Mrs. Montaigne, waiting the return
+of Skyrie's owners to lay before them the scheme first evolved by their
+son and heir, and now indorsed with all heartiness by themselves.
+Chatting familiarly alongside, was Friend Oliver Sands; never more
+benignant nor complacent than now, and never more persistently engaged
+in "squeezing his hands" than at that hour.
+
+Below, on the stone doorsteps, sat the two surveyors who had once before
+visited the cottage; and at sight of these the hearts of the elder
+Chester's sank, while Seth merrily whispered to Dorothy:
+
+"Behold the hour is ripe and I _am_ here to see!"
+
+One other group there was, strolling idly about the garden, toying with
+Lady Rosalind, and contentedly amusing themselves until such time as
+they could make their errand to Skyrie known. Nobody seemed to know
+them; even Seth Winters failed to recognize the strangers and, for a
+moment, feared what they might have come to say. The next instant his
+brow cleared and his laughter was merrier than before.
+
+Mr. Montaigne was the first to state his business, when once all were
+ready to listen. It was extremely simple and concerned Dorothy most of
+all. Said he:
+
+"My dear young lady, we have come to invite you to accompany us to
+Europe. We shall leave New York in a few weeks and remain abroad for
+one, possibly two, years. We are going to give our children the benefit
+of foreign education, which we want you to share with them and along
+whatever lines you, or your parents, select. Of course, there will be no
+expense to you, who will be to us exactly as our own daughter, and whom
+we have learned to love almost as such. Will you go?"
+
+For a moment nobody spoke. Then said Dorothy very quietly, and scarcely
+daring to look at Helena or Herbert in their so evident disappointment:
+
+"I thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Montaigne, for your great kindness. It is
+very wonderful that you should have shown it to me whom you have known
+such a little while. But I cannot go. My father and mother need me
+and--I need them. A foreign education would not help me to earn my
+living as I must do some day, and--I thank you again, but I cannot go."
+
+To Helena's and Herbert's pleadings, which so strenuously followed, she
+could give no other answer. The invitation had been most tempting to her
+who so dearly loved to see new places and new people, but--her answer
+still was: "No."
+
+Then the family from the Towers departed and Friend Oliver began:
+
+"Thee is a good daughter, Dorothy Chester, and thee has well said that
+as a poor girl thee will need only the plainest education."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but I did not say that! I shall get just as good an
+education as I can, but I won't turn my back on those I love and who
+love me for the sake of getting it. That's already planned for. Dear Mr.
+Winters is going to open a school in the old smithy and all of us are to
+attend it. We've talked it over many a day, knowing how soon our summer
+friends would be away and our own real time for study and work would
+come. Jim and I, all the Babcocks, and----"
+
+But the miller had scant interest in these plans. He interrupted her by
+turning to Martha Chester and saying:
+
+"I suppose, Martha, that thee has reconsidered thy objection to selling
+south meadow, or are ready to pay me my money loaned thee 'on demand.'
+Is thee ready?"
+
+"Oh! sir!" began the troubled housemistress, and was amazed that a child
+should interfere by saying:
+
+"Wait a moment, mother dear. How much do my parents owe you 'on
+demand'?"
+
+At a nod from Mr. Winters she had slipped away and as swiftly returned
+and now stood before the astonished company, holding a fat purse in her
+hands and calmly awaiting the miller's reply.
+
+For an instant he could not make it. His amazement was too deep. The
+next with a sort of chuckle, as if sure that so large an amount could
+not be held in so small a compass, he announced the sum with interest in
+full.
+
+"Very well. Here, father, is the money. More I think than you will need.
+It is mine. My very own to give to you and mother, as I do give it now.
+Mr. Winters knows. He will explain. Pay the man, do please, and let him
+go."
+
+John Chester glanced at Seth Winters and received that gentleman's
+confirmatory nod; then he promptly opened the pocket-book and counted
+out the crisp banknotes which freed him and his home from the society of
+the miller and his men.
+
+Oliver departed. If he were crestfallen he did not show it, and in that
+respect the worthy smith and Mrs. Cecil both were disappointed. He even
+ventured to congratulate the Chesters upon the possession of "such a
+forehanded" daughter and to wish them every prosperity. With that and
+summoning his surveyors, he took his benign presence out of the way.
+
+Strangely enough, the surveyors did not at once follow, even to secure
+their wage which so just a man would surely pay. They even made light of
+such wages. During the time of waiting they had made other possible
+arrangements with the gentlemen in the garden, and they waited still
+further, with admirable patience, to see if these arrangements were
+correct.
+
+It was time for the strangers in the garden to have their own little
+interview, and, seeing them approach, poor mother Martha passed her hand
+across her tired brow, confused by all that had happened and dreading
+what might come. Too tired, as yet, to fully realize herself that her
+dreadful "debt" no longer rested on her shoulders.
+
+But she need not have feared. These strangers were plain business men,
+with no sentiment about them. Said the foremost:
+
+"Madam, we represent a syndicate prepared to buy, or operate in common
+with you, an iron mine that has been discovered on your land. In
+connection with this mine there is also a mineral spring from which a
+rich revenue may be obtained if properly managed. I have the honor to
+lay before you the two propositions of our company and to close with you
+as soon as the legal forms can be completed. It is royalty or open
+sale--if you will consider either."
+
+Oh, but it was well that two such wise and faithful counselors as Seth
+Winters and Mrs. Calvert were present then to advise these
+inexperienced Chesters for their own best advantage. Be assured they did
+so, and subsequently that "deal" was accomplished on the wise "royalty"
+basis, which proved, in one sense, indeed a "gold mine"; although the
+"gold" was but pure iron and a most unsavory water--that local
+physicians had always maintained would cure many diseases, and which
+soon received widespread attention elsewhere.
+
+Such a day and such an ending! What time more fitting to take a
+temporary leave of our dear Dorothy? Whose life moves forward in
+blessing, as all lives should move, and whom we must come back to at
+some happy, future day.
+
+All partings hold a touch of sadness--so must ours. But there is
+brightness in the sunset which floods the fields of Skyrie, a promise of
+greater brightness on the morrow. Before the night falls, while the
+sunshine still lasts, let us bid our heroine a real, old-fashioned
+farewell:
+
+"Well, Dorothy, good-by!"
+
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE DOROTHY BOOKS
+
+By EVELYN RAYMOND
+
+
+These stories of an American girl by an American author have made
+"Dorothy" a household synonym for all that is fascinating. Truth and
+realism are stamped on every page. The interest never flags, and is
+ofttimes intense. No more happy choice can be made for gift books, so
+sure are they to win approval and please not only the young in years,
+but also "grown-ups" who are young in heart and spirit.
+
+    Dorothy
+    Dorothy at Skyrie
+    Dorothy's Schooling
+    Dorothy's Travels
+    Dorothy's House Party
+    Dorothy in California
+    Dorothy on a Ranch
+    Dorothy's House Boat
+    Dorothy at Oak Knowe
+    Dorothy's Triumph
+    Dorothy's Tour
+
+Copyright, 1907, by The Platt & Peck Co.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dorothy at Skyrie, by Evelyn Raymond
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41117 ***