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diff --git a/old/69791-0.txt b/old/69791-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a014553..0000000 --- a/old/69791-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8608 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The testing of Janice Day, by Helen -Beecher Long - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The testing of Janice Day - -Author: Helen Beecher Long - -Illustrator: Corinne Turner - -Release Date: January 14, 2023 [eBook #69791] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust - Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TESTING OF JANICE -DAY *** - - - - - -THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY - - - - - BOOKS BY - HELEN BEECHER LONG - - JANICE DAY - THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY - - _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated_ - _Price per volume, $1.25 net_ - - SULLY AND KLEINTEICH - - NEW YORK - - - - -[Illustration: “DID YOU COME TO LOOK FOR ME, TOO?” (_see page 293_)] - - - - - THE SECOND “_DO SOMETHING_” BOOK - - The Testing of - Janice Day - - BY - HELEN BEECHER LONG - AUTHOR OF “JANICE DAY” - - Illustrated by - CORINNE TURNER - - [Illustration] - - NEW YORK - SULLY AND KLEINTEICH - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY - SULLY AND KLEINTEICH - - All rights reserved - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. WHAT DADDY HAD WRITTEN 1 - - II. A VISTA OF NEW POSSIBILITIES 10 - - III. SOMETHING NEW 20 - - IV. A VERY CIVIL ENGINEER 29 - - V. “THE WORLD’S RUN MAD” 38 - - VI. A RIFT IN HER HAPPINESS 48 - - VII. THE DESIRE OF AUNT MIRA’S HEART 58 - - VIII. THE CITY GIRL 67 - - IX. ANNETTE BOWMAN 79 - - X. POLKTOWN’S NEW AWAKENING 88 - - XI. THE BREACH WIDENS 97 - - XII. “THEM TRIMMINSES” 106 - - XIII. THE LAWN PARTY 117 - - XIV. ONE SATURDAY AFTERNOON 126 - - XV. A GRIST OF SMALL HAPPENINGS 136 - - XVI. LITTLE LOTTIE’S HOME-COMING 148 - - XVII. AN ERRAND OF MERCY 158 - - XVIII. THE ELDER’S INDIGNATION 166 - - XIX. THE FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON 178 - - XX. THE BARN DANCE 191 - - XXI. AFTER THE DANCE 201 - - XXII. DARK DAYS 207 - - XXIII. A QUICK CONVALESCENCE 221 - - XXIV. FINANCIAL TROUBLES 226 - - XXV. THE ELDER’S AWAKENING 233 - - XXVI. “A RUN FOR HIS MONEY” 240 - - XXVII. THE ECHO AGAIN 250 - - XXVIII. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN KNOWN BEFORE 271 - - XXIX. LOOKING FOR JANICE 283 - - XXX. “JINGLE BELLS!” 294 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - “Did you come to look for me, too?” (See page 293.) _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - Janice leaped out of her car and ran toward the - frightened horse. (See page 79.) 80 - - The old Elder, towering like a figure of wrath, - scowled at Janice 172 - - “Go on! Go on!” the Elder was yelling. (See page 243.) 244 - - - - -THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -WHAT DADDY HAD WRITTEN - - -Bang! bang! bang! - -Three loud thumps sounded on the door of Janice Day’s bedchamber and -were quickly followed by an eager rattling of the doorknob. - -“Janice! I say, Janice, ain’t you ever going to wake up?” came in a -strong boyish voice. “Don’t you know this is the day for the great -surprise?” - -“Oh, Marty, so it is!” replied his cousin, sitting up very suddenly and -throwing the covers aside. “How stupid of me to lie abed when the sun -is up! I’ll be dressed and downstairs in a jiffy.” - -“Thought maybe you didn’t care fer that surprise,” went on the boy -dryly. “If you don’t want it, o’ course you can pass it over to me!” - -“Why, the idea! I do want it, whatever it is, Marty. Oh, what can it -be, do you think?” - -“Don’t ask me!” returned the youth, and then cut an odd grimace, which -of course nobody saw. “I’ll tell ’em you’ll be down by dinner time,” he -added, and then turned and clumped noisily down the narrow farmhouse -stairs. - -Janice had already hopped out of bed. Now she made her way across the -neatly-kept bedchamber to the wide-open window. Her eyes met a most -beautiful world, and a new day--a day with all the dew upon it! - -She was at the window which overlooked the slope of the hill on which -Polktown was built, the sheltered cove below, and the expanse of the -broad lake beyond. Janice never wearied of this view--especially at -sunrise. - -The stern old fortress, far away on a rocky promontory of the other -shore of the lake, was decked out with darts of golden sunshine. Gold, -too, fresh from the sun’s mint, was scattered along the pastures, -woodlands and farms of that western shore as far north and south as her -bright eyes could search. - -And Janice Day’s eyes were bright. They were the hazel eyes of -expectancy, of sympathy, of inquiry. In all her countenance, her eyes -attracted and held one’s attention. - -Her face was intelligent, her smile confiding; Janice Day usually made -friends easily and kept them long. If she had personal troubles she -never flaunted them before the world; but she was ever ready with a -sympathetic word or a helping hand for those who needed such comfort. - -She was no sluggard. The sun had caught her abed on this morning; but -he did not often do so. She was usually the earliest astir in the Day -household, and on pleasant mornings often had a run in the woods or -fields before breakfast. - -Now she shook out her hair, brushed it quickly, did it up in a -becoming little “bob” behind for the nonce, then took her “dip” at the -chintz-hung washstand, which was the best means for bathing that the -old-fashioned house afforded. - -In a few minutes she left her room and ran downstairs and out -upon the porch as fresh and sweet and clean as any lady from her -luxuriously-appointed bathroom. On the porch she almost ran over a -short, freckled, red-haired boy who was coming in with a great armful -of stove-wood. - -“Goodness sakes alive!” cried Janice, her eyes dancing. “You must have -been up all night, Marty Day! What is the matter? Toothache? Or is -there a circus in town, that you are up so early?” - -“Naw--I haven’t been up all night,” drawled her cousin. “I got the -start of you for once, didn’t I, Miss Smartie? This is going to be -a great day for you, too. I wonder you slept at all,” and the boy -chuckled as he staggered into the kitchen with his armful of stove-wood. - -“I didn’t sleep well the first part of the night,” confessed Janice, -hovering at the kitchen door to talk to him. “I was so eager, Marty, -and so curious! What _do_ you suppose is the surprise Daddy said in his -last letter he was sending me?” - -“Mebbe he’s captured one of those Mexicans--or a wild Indian,” ventured -Marty, grinning, “and is sending it to you.” - -“What nonsense!” - -“Or one o’ them stinging lizards--or a horned toad, such as he was -writing to you about,” suggested the fertile-minded youth. - -“Now, Marty!” - -“I’ll bet it’s something that’ll make Dad and me work, and we got that -addition to the wagon-shed to finish,” and the boy grinned slily as he -stooped, piling the wood neatly into the woodbox. There was a change in -Marty. Formerly, if he had brought the wood in at all, he would have -flung it helter-skelter into the box and run. - -“I don’t see,” said Janice thoughtfully, “why you really need that new -wagon-shed. And it’s only big enough for one vehicle.” - -“Huh!” grunted Marty. “Don’t you like the looks of it?” - -“Why--yes; it’s all right. Uncle Jason is a fine carpenter. But I don’t -just see the use of it.” - -“Mebbe we’re building it to keep that elephant in Uncle Brocky is going -to send you--he, he!” chortled Marty, who seemed to be so full of -“tickle” that he could not hold the expression of it in. - -“Now! I wish you wouldn’t be so ridiculous, Marty Day,” declared -Janice, more soberly. “You know Daddy will send me something nice. He -says it is something to make me forget my loneliness for him. As though -anything could do that! - -“For two years, now, he has been down at that hateful mine in Mexico,” -continued the girl, with a sigh, and speaking to herself more than to -her cousin. “It seems a lifetime. And he says he may have to stay a -long time yet.” - -“Well, he’s making money,” said Marty bluntly. “Wish I had his chance.” - -“Money isn’t everything,” said Janice earnestly. “It does seem as -though there ought to be some other man in the mining company who could -keep things running down there in Chihuahua, as well as keep peace with -both the Constitutionalists and the Federals, and let Daddy take a -vacation. - -“Oh, Marty! sometimes I feel as though I’d just got to run away down -there to see him. Two--long--years!” - -“Well, you’d just better not!” ejaculated her cousin. “I’d just like to -see you running away and going down there to where all those Mexicans -are fighting. Huh! we wouldn’t let you, not much!” - -Janice smiled on him suddenly, and if there was a little mist in her -eyes, the smile was all the sweeter. It warmed her heart to hear Marty -speak in this way, for the boy was not naturally of an affectionate -nature. - -“All right, Marty!” she exclaimed. “If you don’t want me to go, I’ll -stop a while longer.” - -“You’d better,” grunted her cousin. “Hi tunket! whatever would Polktown -do without you?” he added, with a burst of feeling that was quite -amazing, and brought a happy thrill of laughter from Janice Day’s lips. - -“You are just as ridiculous as you can be, Marty. Polktown would get -along very well without me. Polktown has waked up----” - -“And who woke it up?” shot back Marty, belligerently, looking up from -the fresh fire he was now kindling in the cookstove. - -“Why--why--Mrs. Marvin Petrie and her ‘Clean-Up Day,’ I guess,” laughed -Janice, her eyes dancing again. “I know that Polktown began to be -Polktown from that very day, and was no longer ‘Poketown,’ as it used -to be called.” - -Marty shook his head in remembrance of those old times too. - -“Don’t know how it all came about, Janice,” he said slowly. “Seems to -me things began to happen just about as soon as Uncle Brocky sent you -here to live with us. Crackey! We certainly were a slow crowd till you -came and began to _do something_.” - -He grinned again broadly. “Walky Dexter says you had the same effect on -Polktown as a flea has on a dog. If the flea don’t do nothing else, it -keeps the dog stirring!” - -“Well, I declare!” exclaimed Janice. “I’m much obliged to Walky, I -am sure--comparing me to a flea! I’ll be a bee and sting him next -time I get a chance. Here comes Aunt ’Mira. I’m going to help her get -breakfast.” - -Marty went off, whistling, to help with the chores. His father was -already out at the barn. Mrs. Day came heavily into the room--she was -almost a giantess of a woman--to find a brightly-burning fire and her -niece flitting about, setting the breakfast table. - -“I declare for’t, Janice, you are a spry gal,” said the good -lady, beginning the preparations for the meal in a capable if not -particularly brisk manner. “Ain’t nobody going to get up ahead of you.” - -“The sun was ‘up and doing’ before me this morning,” laughed Janice. -“And I believe Marty and Uncle Jason were, too. At any rate, they were -down before me.” - -“It does seem good,” said Aunt ’Mira reflectively, “to come down and -find a hot fire in the stove, and water in the bucket. Why, Janice! it -never uster be so before you come. I don’t understand it.” - -The girl made no reply. For a moment a picture of “the old Day house” -and its inmates arose before her mental vision, as it was when first -she had come to Polktown from her mid-western home at Greensboro. - -The distress she had felt during the first few days of her sojourn -with these relatives, who had been utter strangers to her, was not a -pleasant thing to contemplate, even at this distance of time. - -Until she had taken Daddy’s advice, and put her young shoulder to the -local wheel and pushed, Janice Day had been very unhappy. Then her -father’s _do something_ spirit had entered into the young girl and she -had determined, whether other folk were lazy and lackadaisical or not, -that she would go ahead. - -Polktown had changed, as Marty said. Slowly but surely it had -progressed, and from a very unkempt, slovenly borough, as it was -when Janice Day first stepped ashore from the little lake steamer, -_Constance Colfax_, two years before this bright and beautiful summer -morning, it had become a clean, orderly and very attractive New England -village, with most people doing their best to make the improvement -permanent. - -Janice was looking forward to the arrival of the little lake steamer -to-day with almost as much expectancy as she felt when she first saw -Polktown. Daddy had written from Mexico that she could look on this -day for a great surprise to arrive by the _Constance Colfax_. - -“The greatest and most lovely surprise in the world,” sighed Janice, -looking from the kitchen door as the pork was sizzling in the pan, and -Mrs. Day was deftly turning the johnny-cakes, “would be dear Daddy -himself coming to Polktown. But, of course, that cannot be for a long, -long time. - -“I must be patient. I mustn’t look for that. But, goodness me, how -curious I am to know just what it is he’s sending me!” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -A VISTA OF NEW POSSIBILITIES - - -The family sat down to breakfast, and Mr. Day said grace. - -He was a spare, gray-faced man, with watery and wandering eyes. Jason -Day had never moved quickly in his whole life; but there had been much -improvement in him, as well as in the remainder of the family, since -first Janice had seen him standing on the dock to welcome her on her -arrival at Polktown. - -“Great doin’s to-day, I s’pose, Niece Janice,” he said, with rather -more humor in his light eyes than they usually displayed. - -“That rhinoceros Uncle Brocky is sending her arrives to-day,” chimed in -Marty, broadly agrin. - -“Wa-al,” observed Mr. Day, with the naturally critical feeling of -one brother for another, “Broxton Day has spent some of his money, I -kalkerlate, almost as foolish as buying rhinoceroses. He spiles you, -Janice, with all the money he’s sent for you to scatter around.” - -“Now, Jason Day!” exclaimed Aunt ’Mira, quite vigorously for her, “you -be still! You know you don’t mean that. Don’t you mind him, Janice.” - -“I don’t,” replied the girl, smiling at her uncle. “And I expect I have -spent some of my money foolishly. I didn’t have to tell Daddy what I -did with my thousand dollars. And--and maybe I didn’t just want to tell -him how I spent some of it.” - -“Sending that youngster of Hopewell Drugg’s to Boston,” grumbled Uncle -Jason. “I call that a wicked waste! Hopewell orter saved money enough -to pay for the child’s being operated on himself.” - -“Now, Jason!” admonished Aunt ’Mira again. - -“I do not regret spending my money on little Lottie,” said Janice -softly, “though I didn’t tell Daddy about it. I just said in my letter -that I preferred getting something different from the little car I -wanted. - -“And I did get something different,” added Janice, with decision. “I -get far more satisfaction and pleasure out of knowing that little -Lottie Drugg can see again, and will soon hear and talk like other -children, than I could possibly experience if I had bought my car.” - -Here Marty laughed, and choked, coming near to strangling. - -“What’s the matter with you, boy?” demanded his father sternly. - -“Lemme pat you on the back, son,” said his mother, trying to rise from -her chair to reach him. But with a whoop Marty got up and ran out of -doors to finish his spasm in the open air. - -“He was laughing and trying to swallow coffee at the same time. I don’t -know what he is laughing at,” said Janice, a little plaintively, “but -he’s been doing it ever since Daddy’s letter came, telling me to look -out for the surprise. - -“Why!” she added, “I’d really think that Marty knew what Daddy has sent -me--only that’s impossible, of course.” - -“Wa-al,” began Uncle Jason; but Aunt ’Mira gave him a look that froze -his further words upon his lips, and she likewise changed the subject -with an adroit question addressed to her husband: - -“How did that railroad business turn out last night, Jason? You went -down to the Board of Trade meeting.” - -“All right, all right, Almiry, if it don’t double our taxes in the end -to hev that railroad come in here,” said Uncle Jason, shaking his head -doubtfully. “I kalkerlate that ev’rything that’s new don’t allus mean -progress, no-sir-ree-sir! Our committee reported that the V. C. road -was coming----” - -“Why,” spoke up Marty, who had now come back to finish his breakfast, -“there’s a feller in town that’s going to build the bridge for the V. -C. branch over Mr. Cross Moore’s brook. His name’s Frank Bowman. I know -him,” said Marty proudly. - -“Well, I certainly shall be glad when the road’s built,” sighed Aunt -’Mira. “Then a body may get to the city once ’n a while.” - -Uncle Jason snorted--no other word could express the sound of disgust -he made. “There!” he added. “I s’pose you’ll be runnin’ to town all the -endurin’ time, Almiry.” - -“Yes,” she said calmly. “I been once to Middletown in the past five -years, and ain’t been as far as Montpelier since our weddin’ tower. I’m -a great gad-about, Janice. Ain’t that just like a man?” - -Uncle Jason subsided, while Marty went on retailing the gossip of the -new railroad work that had been the most exciting topic of conversation -in Polktown that week. - -“This Mr. Bowman’s a civil engineer; and he ain’t much older than -Nelson Haley,” said Marty, careful now to distribute his talk and his -mouthfuls so as not to choke a second time. - -“You’d oughter say Mr. Haley. He’s your school teacher,” his mother -admonished him. - -“Well,” said Marty, too much interested in his information to take -umbrage at his mother’s correction. “Well, this Bowman is going to -build the bridge. It’s his first big job with the V. C. I’m going to -carry the chain for him, I am!” the boy added, with satisfaction. - -“You’d better be in the cornfield, boy, if we expect to make a crop -this year,” remarked Mr. Day. - -“Hi tunket! you expect a feller to work all the time,” grumbled Marty. -“I done my share of that old corn cultivatin’. Might’s well be a slave -as to belong around here----” - -His grumbling remarks faded out gradually; his father ignored them, -saying: - -“I ’low Polktown will pick up a bit if all that’s promised comes true. -The steamboat company is going to build a new boat. Got to _com_-pete -with the trains when they git to runnin’.” - -“It’s lucky that old tub, the _Constance Colfax_, has held together as -long as she has,” said Mr. Day. “There’s some talk of rebuilding the -dock, too. I declare for’t! we won’t know the town, come next year this -time.” - -Her Aunt Almira turned on Janice suddenly, failing to continue her -interest in the vista of changes which marked Polktown’s immediate -future. - -“Say, Janice, is it true that Mr. Haley is going to leave the school?” - -Janice flushed a little; but nobody noticed it, for which she was glad. - -“I don’t just know what his plans are, Aunt ’Mira,” said the girl -hesitatingly. “He has a chance to become an instructor at the -college--of course, beginning in a small way. It is really his work -here at the new Polktown school that brought him the offer.” - -“And of course he’ll take it,” grumbled Marty. “I ain’t goin’ to school -no more if Nelse Haley leaves us--now I tell you.” - -“How you talk, Marty!” cried Janice. “Of course you will.” - -“And of course I won’t, Miss!” reiterated Master Marty. - -“Why not?” - -“Oh, they’ll git somebody to teach the school like ’Rill Scattergood. -Ain’t goin’ to school again to no old maid,” declared Marty, with a -finality that could not be doubted. - -“Perhaps Mr. Haley will not leave us so soon,” said Janice quietly. “I -think he has not decided finally to accept the offer of the college -committee. He thinks, and so do--do his friends,” added Janice hastily, -“that another year’s experience with his present school might help him -a great deal in the future.” - -“And sartain sure,” Uncle Jason, who was one of young Haley’s -staunchest partizans, said, “Polktown needs him. He’s one fine feller. -Now, Marty! if you’ve tucked away about all the feed you can carry for -a while, we’ll put the finishing touches to that new shed.” - -“Well, we’ve got to hurry,” declared the younger Day. “I promised to -meet Frank Bowman about that chain-carrying job this forenoon; and you -bet I want to be at the dock when the _Constance Colfax_ arrives with -that African gi-raffe that Janice is expecting.” - -“What do you suppose Marty means?” demanded Janice, as she helped Aunt -’Mira scrape and stack the breakfast plates, preparatory to their bath -in hot suds. “I am almost ready to believe that he does know what -Daddy’s surprise is to be. But he can’t really know; can he, Auntie?” - -“Oh, it’s only Marty’s foolishness. I wouldn’t bother my head about -him,” said Mrs. Day comfortably. - -But to expect Janice Day to think of anything that morning but the -promised present from Daddy, was to demand the impossible. She helped -about the house as usual, singing blithely the while; but her active -thought was with the _Constance Colfax_ blundering up the lake from The -Landing toward the Polktown dock. - -The hammers of Uncle Jason and Marty rang vigorously until about nine -o’clock. The new shed which had so puzzled Janice was finished. Mr. Day -went off to the cornfield while Marty slipped away, probably to meet -Mr. Bowman and “see about that job,” as he had told Janice. - -Marty was a good deal like the majority of human beings. He did not -care to do the tasks right at his hand, but wanted something that -looked better and bigger in the distance. He disliked school--or had -done so until Nelson Haley came to Polktown to teach; and now that -school was not in session he did not want to help his father run their -small farm. - -There was a halo of romance, in fact, about any trade that took him -away from home. He often told Janice he wished he was like “Uncle -Brocky,” and could “go ’way off to a mine in Mexico, or any old place!” - -“This doing chores, and going to school, and bringing in wood and -water, and all that, is good enough for half these fellers in Polktown. -They haven’t any spirit in ’em!” Marty frequently complained to his -cousin. - -Janice was far too wise to try to talk him out of this mental attitude. -Marty--as his mother often said--was “as stubborn as a mule.” - -But she influenced him by other means. She shamed the boy into doing -some things that he would gladly have left undone; she ignored his -faults, bolstered up his pride, and spurred his ambition. Secretly her -cousin would have done much to keep Janice’s good opinion. But, of -course, boy-like, he would not admit his affection for her. - -The hour for the arrival of the lake steamboat approached. From her -window Janice had watched for the smudge of her smoke against the sky, -and the appearance of her bow around the steep promontory which hid -the lower end of the lake from the Day house. - -When the steamer thus appeared she was more than two miles from the -Polktown dock. But Janice seized her hat and hastened down the hill. - -She was not the only person abroad interested in the arrival of the -boat. When Janice came to the main street of the town she saw several -people going down to the dock. - -Walky Dexter, the expressman, a well-known town character, was driving -Josephus, his poky old horse, dockward, in expectation of a load of -drummers’ sample cases and a possible trunk. - -Some of the boys and many of the village idlers were drifting lakeward, -too; and, yes! there was Marty, in the company of a tall young man in -good clothes, and with well set-up shoulders, walking briskly in the -same direction. - -“I wonder if that is the Frank Bowman he spoke of?” thought Janice. “It -must be. I wonder if he’s nice?” - -And then she forgot all about the stranger and Marty and everybody -else for something that she caught sight of on the freight deck of the -_Constance Colfax_. That ugly, blundering old craft was almost at the -dock, and Janice could see this startling object plainly. Something -within told her that this was the joyful surprise Daddy had prepared -for her. - -Big girl that she was, Janice broke into a run. She could not get -to the dock quickly enough, so eager was she to make sure about the -expected gift. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -SOMETHING NEW - - -The usual loiterers on the dock were amused to see Janice Day’s -eagerness; but she did not care. Walky Dexter hailed her cheerfully: - -“I say, Janice, ye won’t miss the boat; don’t be in such a ’tarnal -hurry. She’s going to stop long enough to take you aboard, I guess.” - -“I don’t want to go aboard, Walky,” she declared, stopping breathlessly -beside his wagon, and laying a kind hand on the bony hip of Josephus. -“But I believe there is something aboard that belongs to me--Oh! I can -hardly wait to find out if it’s mine.” - -“If what’s yours, Janice?” asked the man, with waking interest. - -“That! Right there on the deck! It’s partly covered with canvas, but -you can see what it is,” cried Janice. - -“Jefers pelters!” ejaculated the astonished Walkworthy, tipping back -his cap and scratching his head to stir his slow wits. “You don’t -mean that contraption with all the shiny brass and leather, and them -other dinguses--lamps, d’ye call ’em?--down front, with an in-gine -cowcatcher, into the bargain?” - -“You know very well that’s a four-passenger automobile, Walky!” she -cried. “And they’ve got it ready to run ashore here. It must be for me! -And Daddy sent it!” - -“Well, Ma’am!” exclaimed the driver of Josephus, “it’ll be sure -something new in Polktown. We ain’t never had one o’ them things here -before--not to stop, at any rate. Us’ally,” added Mr. Dexter, with a -wink, “they go through Polktown like what the Chinaman said about his -’sperience slidin’ down hill on the bobsled: ‘Whiz-z-z! Walkee back!’ - -“I don’t s’pose some o’ them ortermobilists even see Polktown as -they go through. Sometimes I meet one o’ them--there’s a cloud of -dust--somethin’ squawks like a frightened hen--Josephus gits up on his -hind legs--and it’s all over! Some day I ’spect Josephus is goin’ to -ditch me because of one of ’em. And if this one is going to be right -here in town----” - -He had climbed lazily down from his seat while he rambled on. Now -Janice seized his arm and shook it a little. - -“Oh, Talkworthy!” she said, giving him the nickname she often used when -he was more than usually garrulous. “Do, do find out if that’s for me!” - -The man on the dock had already caught and fastened the two hawsers. -The old _Constance Colfax_ snuggled in close to the dock. The broad -gangplank was being run ashore and the deckhands stood ready with laden -trucks to run freight and express over it. - -The captain of the steamboat came to lean upon the landward rail. -“Say,” he asked of the assembled spectators, “anybody know ‘J. Day’? -Got something here for him. He’ll hafter come and run it off the boat, -or tow it off, or something. Can’t let him git up steam in the thing -while she stands on our deck.” - -Janice could scarcely keep from dancing up and down. She clasped her -hands and cried fervently under her breath: “Oh, Daddy! Just the most -delightful thing you could have sent me!” - -Walky took charge at once. “That ain’t no man--‘J. Day’ ain’t, Cap,” -he drawled. “She’s this young lady here,” and he jerked an identifying -thumb toward Janice. “Don’t that merchine run of itself? Ain’t there no -power in it?” - -“Power enough,” grunted the steamboat captain. “But it’s ag’in rules to -run it ashore under her own power. Hitch a line to her and tackle that -old crow-bait of yourn to her, Walky. You kin snake her ashore in a -minute.” - -“What! Josephus?” demanded the startled Walky. “My mercy! if Josephus -should see that contraption tackled to him, I dunno what he would do!” - -“He might move faster than a toad funeral for once in his life, eh, -Walky?” suggested one of the interested spectators on the dock, and a -laugh was raised against the talkative expressman. - -“No, sir,” said Walky firmly; “we’ll just put Josephus out of the -question, _if_ you please. If there ain’t men enough here to run this -young lady’s ortermobile ashore----” - -Several came forward. Janice caught sight of Marty standing aside, -grinning delightedly. She made a rush for him while the men were -pushing the car ashore. - -“Marty Day!” she exclaimed, seizing that youth by the shoulders. “You -knew all about this--you did! you did!” - -“Ouch! Ouch!” yelled Marty, in mock injury. “Don’t be so rough with a -feller! Have a heart, Janice!” - -“You knew about it--you did!” reiterated Janice. - -“Oh! Uncle Brocky let us know it was coming,” said the boy, in an -off-hand way. “That’s why Dad and me got busy on the gar-bage, Janice.” - -“_Garage!_ Goodness!” laughed Janice. “You talk as though it was -something that the cat had brought in! ‘Garbage,’ indeed! But how nice -of you and Uncle Jason to build it!” - -“Dad kicked,” sniffed Marty. “Not about building the shack for you,” he -hastened to add; “but because Uncle Brocky was wasting his money to buy -one o’ them buzz-carts. But Marm--well, you know, Marm’s getting to be -a reg’lar sport.” - -“Oh, Marty!” - -“Sure she is. She’s a dif’rent woman since she has had your board money -to spend. She told Dad that she had sent to a catalogue house out west -for an ortermobile coat and veil, and all the fixin’s, and she was just -as anxious to wear ’em as she could be.” - -“I knew how poor Aunt ’Mira was disappointed,” sighed Janice, “when I -had to give up the idea of buying a car.” - -“Yep,” agreed Marty. “She kalkerlates to make the other wimmen on -Hillside Avenue--if not all over Polktown--sit up and take notice when -she ’pears out in them new duds.” - -“But it’s a mystery to me,” said Janice slowly, and more to herself -than to her cousin, “just how Daddy knew I wanted a car so, and still -couldn’t buy one. It’s just as though he read my mind.” - -She failed to see Marty’s face. That lad looked as though he knew a -whole lot that he was not ready or willing to divulge. - -“Now, Miss Janice!” puffed Walky Dexter, the new car being run on the -dock, “what do you kalkerlate’s to be done with this here do-funny? -Whoa, Josephus! if that critter ever turns around and sees this thing, -I dunno what he will do!” - -“I know what he’ll do,” scoffed Marty. “He’ll wink his other eye; he -winked the first one half an hour ago and hasn’t woke up since.” - -“Now, now! you be more respectful to old age, sonny,” advised Mr. -Dexter. “The old hoss bears an honorable name----” - -“And has borne it a long time,” finished Marty. “Do you re’lly think, -Walky, that a stick of dynamite would startle him?” - -But Janice was not interested in this rough and ready repartee. She was -wondering about the new car. The canvas had been stripped off and she -looked all about it, admiring its shiny surface, the wonderful brass -trimmings, and the mechanism that was in sight. - -She knew something about a car. One of her friends in Greensboro had -owned a similar vehicle, and she had often ridden in it, and had -learned some of the technical terms, and what the parts of the machine -looked like. But that had been more than two years before and, of -course, at that time Janice had been too young to get a license and had -not learned to run the car. - -She longed to jump in behind the wheel and send the beautiful machine -spinning up the long, easy hill into Polktown, and up Hillside Avenue -to the old Day house. - -“But there isn’t any gasoline in it, of course,” she sighed. “We can’t -run it up ourselves. And Walky’s old horse would never be able to drag -it up the hill.” - -“I’ll go git our team and haul it up,” proposed Marty, with an uncanny -eagerness to do this favor. - -“No,” said Janice. “It must go home under its own power. We won’t -insult such a beautiful car by towing it like a derelict.” - -“Many a time I ’xpect will I find ye broke down on the road, Miss -Janice,” prophesied Walky, “and glad to have Josephus give first aid to -the injured.” - -“Don’t you believe it!” cried Janice. “I’m going to learn all about -this car, and how to drive it and repair it. You wait and see!” - -“But how?” demanded Marty, grinning. “Going to take a correspondence -school course and learn to be a shuffer?” - -“Oh!” cried Janice. “It has a self-starter. Why! it’s just the very -up-to-datest thing!” - -“Crackey! I’m going to run and git some gasoline. They keep it up the -street. Let’s fill the tank, Janice, start her going, and try to work -our passage up to the house.” - -“Oh, Marty! I hardly dare,” gasped the girl, yet tempted sorely to try -his desperate suggestion. - -“Get the gasoline, anyway,” urged Marty. - -“All right,” she agreed, and took out her purse and handed him some -money. “You get it, Marty. But, after we get the engine to running, I -don’t see what we shall do. Isn’t there a single person in town who -knows how to manage an automobile?” - -“I say!” exclaimed Marty suddenly. “I bet I know just the feller.” - -“Who is that?” queried his cousin anxiously. - -But the boy was off with a yell and without other reply. Meanwhile -Walky and other willing workers had rolled the machine into the freight -shed, and there it stood, the cynosure of the spectators in general. - -The comments upon the first auto to be owned in Polktown would have -amused Janice at another time. But many of them escaped her ear because -she was so much interested herself in the machine and how she was going -to get it home. But she did hear Mel Parraday observe: - -“I opine one o’ them things is mighty handy to have around. I allus -look at the pictures of ’em in the advertising pages of the magazines -them drummers leave up to the _ho_-tel. If the Inn makes me enough out -o’ the boarders this summer, I kalkerlate to have me one.” - -“What for, Mel?” drawled Lem Pinney of the hotel-keeper. “You ain’t got -no more use for an ortermobile than a cat has for two tails, I vow!” - -“Save payin’ Walky, here, for carting stuff up to the _ho_-tel,” -grinned Parraday. “And me and the old woman can ride to church in it on -Sundays.” - -“Go to church in it!” scoffed Walky. “If old Elder Concannon ever seen -one o’ them things stop in front of the Union Church, he’d throw a -conniption right there, in his best suit. He calls ’em ‘devil wagons,’ -and says they was prophesied against in the Book of Daniel.” - -Just then Marty reappeared, coming down the long dock. He was -staggering under the weight of a five-gallon gasoline can. Beside him -walked the tall, well-set-up young man whom Janice had seen with her -cousin before. - -“Oh, dear me!” thought she, with a little flutter. “That must be the -civil engineer, Frank Bowman. Marty is bringing him right here! Perhaps -he knows how to run an automobile.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A VERY CIVIL ENGINEER - - -When her cousin and the young man came near enough, Janice saw that Mr. -Bowman was a good-looking person in countenance as well as in figure. -He had very blue eyes and very pink cheeks, without being at all -effeminate in appearance. His light hair he wore pompadour and brushed -up straight over his forehead. - -He wore his clothes differently, too, from anybody Janice had seen -about Polktown. Even Nelson Haley, the school teacher, did not boast -garments of such cut and quality--nor Mr. Middler, the minister. - -Marty banged down the gasoline can with a satisfied air and said, in -his off-hand way: - -“Say, Janice! this is Frank Bowman I was telling you about. He can run -an ortermobile. Can’t you, Frank?” - -“Good-day, Miss Janice,” said the young civil engineer, lifting his hat. - -Janice could have shaken Marty for not properly introducing the young -man. The careless introduction had given Mr. Bowman the advantage of -calling her by her first name right at the start, and Janice felt that -she would like to be “really grown up” in her association with this new -acquaintance. - -“I am afraid Marty overrates my ability as a mechanician,” the young -civil engineer continued. “There are some automobiles, I believe, that -not even their manufacturers can make run properly. But these Kremlins -are very good machines. I have a friend in New York who has one and I -have often driven it. I believe you have made a wise selection for this -hilly country.” - -“I am sure I know very little about it,” said Janice, smiling. “I have -always believed that cars were like typewriters, or bicycles, or--or -physicians and ministers! Every one stands up for his own particular -possession in all those lines, you know.” - -“That is so, too,” agreed Frank Bowman, with a laugh. “At any rate, you -will be an enthusiastic admirer of this Kremlin car, I am sure; and I -shall be a partizan myself. Marty says you have no idea how to run it?” - -“I am a regular ignoramus,” admitted Janice. “If--if I’d known Daddy -was going to surprise me with such a very wonderful gift, I would have -gone to Middletown, or somewhere where there is a garage, and have -taken lessons in running the car.” - -“Say, you ain’t got a license, either, Janice,” said Marty suddenly. -“They’ll pinch you, mebbe, if you drive it around here without one.” - -“Don’t try to scare your cousin, Mart,” said the young man -good-naturedly. “That’s easily remedied, for sure. As I happen to have -a license myself, I’ll drive the car home for you--if you will permit -me, Miss Janice?” - -“My goodness! ain’t that just what I’ve been telling you she wants?” -demanded the boy. “You folks are eaten up with politeness!” - -Marty’s boyish and characteristic outburst put Janice and young Bowman -immediately at their ease. Two young people who have laughed heartily -together cannot remain strangers. - -Frank Bowman stripped off his coat and went to work. The gasoline tank -was filled and also the water radiator and the oil box, and he tried -out the various parts of the mechanism that could be observed while the -car stood still. Something might have become jarred since the car left -the factory, and as this very civil engineer said: - -“We want to go through Polktown with colors flying. It would be too bad -to have a mishap--say about in front of Massey’s drug store--and have -all the town gather around and make derisive comments.” - -Janice laughed at this, and watched his skillful hands as he went about -what seemed to her and Marty a very mysterious task. But the car had -been tried out just before it left the salesrooms of the company, and -nothing had happened to the mechanism in transit. It seemed to be in -perfect condition. - -The self-starter acted promptly, and when Marty heard the engine whir -and buzz, he tore off his cap, threw it into the air, and cheered. - -“Hurrah! that’s the bulliest sound I’ve heard in a long time! Crackey!” -cried the young barbarian, “won’t we scare the hosses and hens into -fits along these old roads? Say, Frank! you’ll teach me to run it, too, -won’t you?” - -“You’ll have to fix that with your cousin,” laughed the young civil -engineer. “I am going to teach her, if she will allow me, first of all. -Get in, Miss Janice. I believe we shall be able to make Hillside Avenue -in fine style.” - -“Hold on!” cried Marty. “Don’t leave a feller behind,” and he pulled -open the door of the tonneau and jumped in. “I only hope we meet Walky -Dexter. I’d like to see if that old crow-bait of his could be scared -into a show of life for once.” - -“Mercy, Marty!” said Janice. “Don’t hope for such perfectly horrid -things to happen. I want to have a good time with this car; but I don’t -want anybody else to have a bad time because of it.” - -Marty chuckled. “What do you suppose will happen if you ever meet the -Hammett Twins on the road with their old Ginger?” - -“Nothing will happen. I shall stop the car and lead poor Ginger around -it, of course,” declared Janice, laughing. - -Frank Bowman slipped the clutch into low gear. The car jarred, lurched -forward, and slowly and smoothly rolled out of the shed. - -Most of the spectators had departed, save some small boys. They yelled -at Marty, sitting proudly in the tonneau; he was too excited to answer -their gibes. - -Gradually, but quickly, so as to save the engine, Frank slipped the -clutch to higher speed--then highest. The automobile rolled easily off -the dock and into the principal street of Polktown. - -The car took the hill smoothly and without trouble for the engine. -Janice was delighted. Her eyes shone; the little tendrils of hair about -her brow were tossed by the breeze; the pink in her cheeks deepened. - -Everybody on the street stopped to watch the novel sight; but perhaps -they looked as much at Janice and Frank as they did at the shiny -Kremlin car. - -“Hullo!” exclaimed Marty. “Here comes Nelse Haley.” - -Janice did not hear. The young schoolmaster came out of a side street -and stopped, amazed to see Janice Day beside a very fine-looking young -man, driving up High Street in an automobile! - -Nelson Haley considered himself Janice Day’s nearest and dearest -friend. He felt a little stab of jealousy to see her in the new car -with this stranger. And she did not notice him! - -It was from the bystanders that the teacher obtained his first -information regarding the ownership of the new car. He had no means of -knowing that the present was a surprise to Janice. - -It seemed odd that she had said nothing about expecting the automobile. -And to let this strange fellow run it for her! - -Nelson Haley could not drive an automobile himself; just the same -he felt a little hurt. When Janice had spent the money Mr. Day sent -her to help Lottie Drugg, she had told Nelson all about it, and -he had sympathized with her, and admired her all the more for her -unselfishness. - -He wondered who the young fellow was who drove the new machine, and he -asked questions. A young man from out of Polktown would be likely to -interest Janice Day, Nelson believed. He felt chagrined that he had -never learned to drive a car. - -The conversation that went on between Frank Bowman and Janice as the -car rolled smoothly up the hilly streets, might have troubled Nelson -Haley, too; but all that was said came as a matter of course. - -“Your car runs very nicely, Miss Janice,” Frank Bowman observed. - -“Oh! I’d love to handle it as you do,” cried the girl. “I’m afraid it -will be like a balky horse for me until I have a lot of experience.” - -“If you let me give you a few lessons in my spare time, I will -guarantee you will run it as well as I do,” laughed Frank. “I’d be glad -to lend you my small experience.” - -“Oh, Mr. Bowman! I couldn’t take your time.” - -“Only some of my leisure,” he hastened to say. “It will keep me out of -mischief. You know the old saw about ‘idle hands’?” - -“And would you really be getting into mischief?” asked Janice, with -mock seriousness. - -“Like enough,” returned Frank, with twinkling eyes. “This Polktown -place is such a wicked and reckless town. Wait till my sister sees it! -She will want to pack up and leave after the first day. In fact, I tell -her she’ll never unpack her trunk when she once sees the place.” - -“Oh! have you a sister? And is she coming here?” cried Janice eagerly. - -“So she says. Annette has just been ‘finished’ (Frank made a little -grimace over the word) at a fancy boarding school. We’re orphans, you -know. She is determined to come here and live with me. She’s several -years younger than I am; but she feels it her sisterly duty to oversee -my bachelor existence.” - -“You’ll love to have her with you,” Janice said confidently. - -“Oh, Annette’s a good kid,” said the civil engineer carelessly. “But -she’ll be bored to death here in a week, and will go down to our -relatives in New York. She was not made for a rural life, I assure you.” - -“And you do not take much delight in country places, either?” suggested -Janice slily. “You look down upon our simple pleasures.” - -“Well, if the ‘simple pleasures’ you speak of include driving a nice -little car like this,” laughed Frank Bowman, “I don’t think there is -much to complain of.” - -After a while he added: “I shan’t have much idle time on my hands. I -am laying out the route for the new branch of the V. C., you know. -And when my reports are ratified at headquarters, I hope to go ahead -and build the bridges and trestles necessary to bring the line into -Polktown. - -“It will be something of a job, and I shall be around Polktown for a -long time. I thought it would be ‘poky,’ like its name,” and Bowman -laughed. “But I find there are some very interesting people here.” He -looked sideways at Janice. “Surely this beautiful car is an interest -I did not expect. You must let me teach you what I know about running -it,” he reiterated. - -“Thank you,” said Janice demurely. “If Aunt ’Mira is willing, you may. -And I am grateful enough for your driving us home, I assure you!” - -“Oh, this mustn’t count as a lesson,” laughed Bowman. “You haven’t -learned anything yet.” - -But Janice thought she had. She had learned considerable about this -very civil engineer, and what she had learned piqued her interest in -him. - -Perhaps his sister, too, would prove to be pleasant. A girl right from -boarding school might stir the sluggish pool of Polktown society--bring -modern ideas and new thoughts into the place. - -There was still room for progress in Polktown along these lines, as -Janice very well knew. She was interested in Frank Bowman; but much -more so in the coming of his sister, Annette. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -“THE WORLD’S RUN MAD!” - - -The approach to the old Day house was a triumph. Not only Aunt ’Mira -and Uncle Jason, but most of the neighbors were out to see the -homecoming of Janice’s new car. - -Molly, the brindle cow, put her head over the corner of the pasture -fence, caught sight of the car and its glistening brass work and -dust-guard flashing in the sunlight, and immediately set out for the -upper end of the pasture, tail up and head down. - -The dogs barked a welcome; the sorrel ponies put their heads out of -their stable windows and snorted disapproval; and the Day tabby cat, -with its tail twice as big as usual, went up the poplar tree in fright -as Frank turned the car into the lane. - -“My goodness me!” gasped Aunt Almira, coming down the porch steps in -her eagerness to view the car. “Ain’t that the han’somest thing you -ever see? My soul and body, Janice! I am glad I spent my money for them -ortermobile fixin’s, after all!” - -Janice introduced Frank Bowman. - -“And he knows all about the car and is kind enough to offer to teach me -to run it. If you approve, Auntie,” the girl added. - -“There! that’s neighborly, I declare for’t!” agreed Mrs. Day, wiping -her hand on her apron before she offered it to the young engineer. -“Sure, I’ve no objection. I expect to l’arn to run it myself after a -while.” - -“Good Land of Goshen, Almiry!” gasped Uncle Jason. “You’d look harnsome -sittin’ up there a-drivin’ that contraption.” - -“Why not, I’d like to know?” demanded she, bridling at his sarcasm. - -“One thing sure,” grunted her husband, after a moment. “You can’t make -that kind of a spectacle of yourself, even if ye want to.” - -“Why not?” - -“’Cause you couldn’t git in behind that wheel in the fust place to -steer it. You’re too fat.” - -Janice tried to smooth over this very plain speaking on her uncle’s -part by introducing him to Frank Bowman. - -“Yes,” put in Marty. “He’s the chap I was telling you about. He’s -working for the V. C. Railroad Company, and is going to build the -bridge over Mr. Cross Moore’s brook.” - -“Glad to meet you, Mr. Day,” said the young man, shaking the farmer’s -hardened hand. “Marty and I are already great friends and your niece -is kind enough to call me an acquaintance. Hope we shall know each -other better.” - -“It’ll be your fault, young man, if we don’t. You’ll be welcome here -when you fancy coming. Won’t he, Almiry?” - -“That’s right,” agreed Mrs. Day heartily. - -Janice saw that both her uncle and aunt were much taken with the manner -and good looks of Frank Bowman. She was glad of this for she did so -want to learn all about running the new Kremlin car--and in a hurry! - -Frank backed the automobile around and they rolled it into the new -shed. The latter made a very good garage, indeed; and although Uncle -Jason saw fit to consider the automobile an extravagance on his -brother’s part, Janice kissed him soundly for his work in preparing for -the reception of the gift. - -The young civil engineer promised to come the very next day to give -Janice her first lesson in the actual handling of the car, and then -took his leave. - -“Mighty smart-actin’ young feller,” commented Uncle Jason. “Got some -git-up-an’-git about him--don’t ye say so, Almiry?” - -“He’s got such pretty eyes!” exclaimed Mrs. Day. “And he says he ain’t -never had a mother since he was nine years old. Wouldn’t his mother be -proud of him now?” - -“I’ve heard you say, ‘Handsome is as handsome does,’ Aunt ’Mira,” said -Janice roguishly. “He’s too new a friend to praise yet.” - -“Huh!” said Marty. “He got us home in the buzz-cart, didn’t he? Shows -he’s a good feller. But crackey! wouldn’t it make him sore if he knew -Marm said he had pretty eyes?” and the boy giggled. - -Janice was off in a brown study again. She was wondering, wondering, -wondering! And the burden of her surmises and suspicions was: “How did -Daddy know I still wanted the car, when he had once sent me money to -get it? He must know about little Lottie.” - -Yet she had been very careful to say nothing in her letters regarding -her help toward paying for the operation that had aided Lottie Drugg -to see again. Janice Day had never hoped “to have her cake and eat it, -too.” - -Through supper that evening she watched Marty closely. He began to -notice her observation and wriggled under it. No other word could just -express his fidgeting. - -“Do keep still, Marty,” begged his mother. “Can’t you be quiet in your -chair long enough to eat a meal of victuals?” - -“Well! what’s Janice looking at me like that for?” grumbled the boy. “I -ain’t a penny peep-show; am I, now?” - -“Nobody would give a penny to look at you,” said his father tartly. -“You’re like an eel.” - -“Marty!” exclaimed Janice suddenly, “when was it you wrote last to my -father? I forget.” - -“It was right after Christmas, wasn’t it, sonny?” suggested his mother, -“when you thanked Mr. Broxton Day for the present of the gold piece?” - -“Aw, I wrote him since then,” said Marty cheerfully. “You know, he sent -me a rattlesnake skin for a band to my hat.” - -“That was in May,” Janice said quickly. “Did you thank him for that, -too?” - -“Yep,” returned the boy. - -“And that was after I’d spent my thousand dollars--or most of it,” said -Janice softly. “It was so thoughtful of Daddy to notice that I didn’t -spend my money for a car.” - -“Huh! why wouldn’t he notice it?” retorted Marty, dipping half a -doughnut in his tea and then eating it quickly so as not to lose any of -the soft confection. - -“I told him I’d got something different--and he never even asked me -what it was,” continued Janice. - -Marty began to giggle. - -“Look out, young man!” warned his father, “you’ll choke yourself again.” - -“He giggles every time I speak about Daddy’s giving me the car and -asking no questions,” said Janice reflectively. “I smell a mouse, -Marty! _You told!_” - -“Told what? I never!” demanded and denied the boy in a breath, but all -one broad grin. - -“You wrote Daddy about my--my helping Lottie Drugg.” - -“Aw, shucks! You don’t know so.” - -“Yes, I do.” - -“Who told you?” demanded Marty. - -“A boy.” - -“What boy?” cried Marty, in flushed wrath. “I didn’t tell no boy.” - -“You’re a boy yourself, Marty,” laughed Janice gaily, and with shining -eyes, “and you have just told me!” - -“Aw, you cheated,” grumbled Marty, very red in the face. - -“What did you do it for?” asked Janice. - -“Well! he ought to know that you didn’t do anything foolish with that -money. I don’t care what you say, Dad,” he added, bristling up. “Poor -little Lottie Drugg tumbled down the cellar steps and might have been -killed. By crackey! I’d have give money myself to have her see. Yes, I -would.” - -Then he suddenly grinned slily across the table at Janice, and added: -“B’sides, I wanted to run a car myself. I thought he’d buy you one if -he knew what you’d done with your money.” - -“I don’t believe you were so selfish in your thought, Marty,” said the -girl, her eyes misty. “I can’t scold you, now it’s done, and the car is -here, but I am going to punish you just the same.” - -She jumped up from her seat and started around the table. Marty looked -scared for a moment. She bore down on him with such plain intention, -however, that he began to grin sheepishly again. - -“Aw, g’wan, Janice,” he said, trying to fight her off. - -But she was as strong as he. She held his arms tightly and implanted a -kiss on one of his freckled cheeks and then on the other. - -“There, sir!” she declared. “You are a most blessed boy. I can’t -approve of your tattling to Daddy; but you meant well, and I certainly -am crazy about that car! Let’s go out and look at it again, Marty.” - -“All right,” he agreed, vigorously rubbing his cheek with his coat -sleeve. “But no more kissing. I’m no girlie-boy.” - -They viewed the car by lantern light; and in the night when Janice -chanced to wake up, she was almost tempted to run out in her night -clothes, unlock the garage door, and make sure that the automobile was -a reality! - -Frank Bowman came the next afternoon to take out the car and give -Janice her first lesson in its management. They went up on the Upper -Road, so called, and that was where Elder Concannon lived. - -The Elder had built up and had ministered unto the flock of the -Polktown Union Church for a great many years. Now superannuated, and -grown moderately wealthy in this world’s goods, he was not only a power -in the church, but influential in the town’s politics as well. - -A new idea to the Elder was usually like a red rag to a bull. -Improvement and change he sniffed from afar and when the smell of it -was in his nostrils, as Walky Dexter irreverently expressed it, “pawed -the ground like a he-goat!” - -On several occasions Elder Concannon had opposed changes suggested by -Janice, or in which she was deeply interested. Of late, however, he had -begun to think “that Day girl” not quite so flighty as he had at first -maintained. - -The old gentleman--a grim-faced, prophet-like figure--sat on his porch -as the new car went by his house on the Upper Road. He started when he -saw Janice, her hair flying, her face flushed, and all her youthful -eagerness displayed in attitude and countenance as she clung to the -wheel and felt the throb of the engine. Frank sat close to her, guiding -the car in reality, but showing her from minute to minute just what -pedal or lever to use, and how to manage the wheel. - -Coming back, the automobilists saw Elder Concannon down at his front -gate. He raised his hand commandingly as the car drew near, and Frank, -with an amused glance at Janice, brought the Kremlin to an easy stop. - -“I’m surprised to see you in one of those ungodly things, Janice,” said -the old man seriously. “Many who ride in them are led into wrong ways. -They are an invention of the devil, I verily believe.” - -“Oh, Mr. Concannon!” cried Janice. “I hope you don’t really believe -that! You will have to take a ride in this one sometime and give it a -trial. You see, it belongs to me. Daddy just sent it as a present. I am -learning to run it.” - -“You surprise me, Janice!” repeated the Elder, frowning. “The world -has run mad over those things. I am sorry that your father was so -thoughtless as to spend good money for one.” - -“Don’t say that, please,” begged Janice again. “Daddy did it to give me -pleasure, and I shall want to give other people pleasure with it, too. -I hope you will take a ride in it with me before you utterly condemn -the car. Do!” - -“I have observed them on the road, and the reckless manner in which -people who ride in them run the machines,” said the old gentleman. “I -disapprove--thoroughly and irrevocably! Had I my way I would get a law -through the Legislature refusing automobilists the use of the public -highways. I scarcely dare drive from here to Middletown because of the -numbers of those devil wagons on the Middletown Pike.” - -“But you don’t know how quietly and easily this runs, sir,” put in -Frank Bowman, with perfect gravity. “Like every good thing, reckless -and foolish people misuse it. You would not condemn the printing press -because bad books are printed on it as well as good?” - -“Sophistry--sophistry, young man,” croaked the Elder. “I am sorry to -see two young people like you and Janice engaged in such pleasures. The -world’s run mad after these things, I tell you!” and he turned about, -shaking his head warningly, and retired again to his porch. - -Yet Janice and Frank noticed that, as they speeded up and down the road -for the next hour, Elder Concannon watched the running of the car with -increasing interest. - -And it did run beautifully! Janice quickly learned the uses of the -guiding wheel, the switch, the pedals and levers, how to start the car, -and all that. Frank pronounced her an apt pupil and declared all she -needed was practice to make her a proficient chauffeur. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -A RIFT IN HER HAPPINESS - - -As they came down Hillside Avenue, past the cornfields and Walky -Dexter’s outlying barns and sheds, Janice caught sight of a figure -turning out of the gate of the old Day place. - -“Oh, there’s Nelson!” ejaculated the girl, before she thought. - -“Nelson who?” queried Frank lightly. - -“Mr. Haley. He’s principal of the school here in Polktown,” replied -Janice more quietly. - -“He’s been calling on you and you weren’t at home, eh?” laughed Frank -Bowman. - -“He is often at the house,” Janice thought it necessary to explain. -“Marty is one of his favorite pupils, and my uncle and aunt are quite -fond of Mr. Haley. He is really very popular in Polktown, for in a -short time he has made our new school greatly appreciated.” - -“He’s won his spurs, then, has he?” said Frank Bowman, rather -wistfully. “And I have mine to win yet! This job I have obtained with -the V. C. is my first.” - -“I should think,” Janice said demurely, “that both you and Mr. Haley -have plenty of time yet to win your spurs. I see no gray hairs in -either your head or his.” - -“A hit--a palpable hit!” answered Frank, laughing. “But after a fellow -has spent three or four years at college, he feels old. Youth, however, -is a disease they tell me Time will always cure.” - -He would not let Janice drive the car on the steep roads yet, but -brought it safely himself into the Day premises. Mrs. Day insisted upon -Frank’s stopping for a “snack,” as she called it, setting a pitcher of -cool milk and her best pound cake before the visitor. - -“I wanted Mr. Haley to stop and have some with you,” said the good -lady, swinging to and fro in the porch rocker, her weight making both -it and the boards of the floor creak, “but he ’peared to be in a hurry.” - -“Did he come for anything in particular?” asked Janice, trying to speak -casually. - -“Mebbe he was looking for a ride in your new ortermobile,” her Aunt -Almira said placidly. “I’m jest all of a tickle myself, waitin’ for my -first go at it. Mr. Haley asked all about it, and I told him how kind -Mr. Bowman was to show you how to run it.” - -Janice felt self-conscious whenever Nelson’s name was mentioned in -company. She had written Daddy all about the school teacher--she never -could have kept such a secret as _that_ from him--and Mr. Broxton Day -had advised her to have no decided understanding with the young man, -save the understanding that they were good friends. - - “When I can leave the mine and come to Polktown and meet personally - my little Janice’s friend,” wrote Daddy, “it will be time enough for - us to decide this momentous question of what he is to be to you. - - “I think my little Janice is much too young to have more than a - friendly interest in any young man. I hope, however, if Nelson is - worthy of your confidence, that you will be a real friend to him. The - greatest inspiration a young man can have at the outset of his career - is the interest of a good girl. - - “You say Nelson has no sister; and you have no brother. Your sisterly - interest in his welfare, and his companionship will benefit you both. - Always keep his respect and admiration; and I hope, my dear, by the - time I can come to you for a visit, you will have learned Nelson’s - character thoroughly.” - -Daddy always did write such dear letters! Janice was sure no mother, -even, could be as wise and kindly as her father. She liked Nelson -Haley very much; but Mr. Day’s advice was right in line with her own -feelings. Even an engagement between the school teacher and herself was -only to be thought of as a possibility of the future. - -She knew that she had been Nelson’s inspiration since he had come to -Polktown; and she was proud that he had made a success of the new -school. She was glad, too, that he had been called by the board of the -small college, whether he finally accepted the position as instructor -there or not. - -Janice wondered if Nelson had come to the house to talk over that very -matter with her on the afternoon she had taken her first lesson in -automobile driving. And after several days, as the school teacher did -not come again, she made an attempt to put herself in his way. - -The teacher boarded with Mrs. Beasely, who lived almost opposite -Hopewell Drugg’s general store, on the street leading down to Pine -Cove. Around the corner on High Street Miss ’Rill Scattergood and her -mother lived. Miss ’Rill had taught the Polktown School for years -before Nelson Haley came, and the pretty little old maid and Janice -were very dear friends. - -Mrs. Scattergood, a birdlike old lady, with a sharp tongue and -inquisitive mind, met Janice as usual with a question. - -“What’s happened to that ortermobile, child? I hear tell you got one, -but you ain’t been on High Street with it yet. What’s the matter--you -ain’t ashamed of it, be you?” - -“I don’t think I could be ashamed of any gift from Daddy,” laughed -Janice. - -“Mebbe it’s that young man I hear tell is teachin’ you to run the -thing, that you’re ashamed of?” queried the sharp-tongued old lady. - -“Now, mother!” begged Miss ’Rill. - -But Janice was used to Mrs. Scattergood’s pointed speeches, and she -took no offense. - -“I shan’t appear on High Street,” she declared, smiling, “until I can -manage the car perfectly myself.” - -“Wa-al! I hear he’s a very likely young man,” said Mrs. Scattergood, -insisting upon making gossip of Frank Bowman’s attentions. “And I -expect Mr. Haley’s nose is out o’ j’int.” - -Janice was a little afraid that the homely expression hit off the -situation only too well. She was no coquette. She did not enjoy the -thought that perhaps Nelson Haley was slightly jealous of Mr. Frank -Bowman. - -“Hopewell received a letter from little Lottie last night,” whispered -Miss ’Rill. “Want to go ’round and read it?” - -Janice nodded brightly. She was always interested in news of her little -protégée. Miss ’Rill put on a fresh apron and prepared to go around to -the store with her. This little lady and Hopewell Drugg were soon to -be married, and their romance had long interested Janice. Miss ’Rill’s -trousseau was a source of great delight to the young girl; Miss ’Rill -was the first bride-to-be of whom she had ever been the confidant. - -The store on the side street was a cool and inviting spot. Great -trees shaded it and there was a comfortable porch at the side between -the living-rooms of the widowed Mr. Drugg and the store. Here the -storekeeper was wont to sit and cuddle his fiddle under his chin -while he coaxed from the old strings and mellow wood the tunes of -yesterday--for despite the spick and span condition of Hopewell Drugg’s -store and his up-to-date stock in trade, he was not naturally a -progressive person. - -“Hopewell and I are behind the times, I s’pose, Janice,” the little old -maid said to her friend. “We lost fifteen or twenty years of our lives. -I’m not even going to let Miz’ Hutchins make my wedding gown, although -there hasn’t been a wedding in this town for a score of years that -she hasn’t made the bride’s dress. But she’s too fussy, and runs to -new-fangled ideas. Miz’ Beasely is going to help me. She’s a good plain -sewer and has a machine to run the seams on, which is a great help. I -s’pose folks will talk.” - -“I’m sure, Miss ’Rill, what you do about your wedding can be nobody’s -business but your own,” Janice hastened to say. - -“Well, I’m not so sure of that,” the little lady admitted. “I am a kind -of public character, as you might say, teaching school so many years in -Polktown. And Mr. Drugg, he has kept store and looks forward to keeping -it right along. We can’t afford to antagonize folks. But I’ve my own -ideas about what’s proper for a woman of my age to wear when she does -get married.” - -“And when is the wedding going to be?” asked Janice, with interest. - -“Not until after little Lottie comes home from Boston,” replied the -little lady. “We want her at our wedding; and the school matron writes -that with her present progress, by late fall she may return for a time, -at least. The dear little thing!” - -This conversation brought them to Mr. Drugg’s store. Janice kept a -sharp outlook for Nelson Haley, but did not see him. - -It was an hour of the hot summer afternoon when few people were abroad. -It was plain that Hopewell Drugg had no customer just then, for the -strains of his violin came to them as Janice and Miss ’Rill approached -the yard gate. The violinist’s bow wandered over the strings as though -his mind wandered, too, while he played. Whereas, the plaintive strains -of “Silver Threads Among the Gold” had first been borne to their ears, -the callers suddenly realized that Mr. Drugg had trailed off into the -livelier measures of “Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way!” - -“For the land’s sake!” said Miss ’Rill, in mild surprise. “That -sleighing song maybe is cooling on a hot day like this, but I never -heard Hopewell play it before.” - -Janice laughed aloud. “It must be much more in tune with his feelings, -Miss ’Rill, than any sad melody. Music, they say, is an expression of -the soul’s feelings. Mr. Drugg’s soul is happy now.” - -The little old maid flushed very prettily. Then she gave her head a -queer little birdlike toss. - -“Music may express the feelings of some souls,” she said drily; “but if -that’s so, I wonder what kind of souls the composers of some of these -new-fangled tunes I hear the boys whistling must have? There’s some of -them that sound as though the composers had neither brains nor soul -that together would be bigger’n a pea, I declare!” - -Unlike her mother, Miss ’Rill was not often critical; but she had -become quite earnest in this expression of her opinion and was still -flushed when they came in sight of Hopewell sawing on his fiddle as he -sat on the shaded porch. He broke off guiltily in the middle of - - “Oh, what fun it is to ride - In a one-horse open sleigh!” - -“Oh, do keep on, Mr. Drugg,” begged Janice. “I wouldn’t have come if -I’d thought it would stop your music.” - -“I know you’ve come to read my little Lottie’s letter, Miss Janice,” he -said, in his shy way, and hastened to bring it. Then he picked up the -violin again and fingered the strings lightly and absently as Janice -unfolded the letter from the little girl who had been blind. - -“Do play some more, Mr. Drugg,” said the girl. “I love to hear you.” - -“I’ll play you an old favorite, then,” said the storekeeper, and smiled -over the fiddle at Miss ’Rill as he drew out of the strings the first -chords of - - “Darling, I am growing old-- - Silver threads among the gold - Shine upon my brow to-day-- - Life is fading fast away.” - -And yet, Mr. Hopewell Drugg’s soul did not seem quite in tune with this -touching old melody; for, as Janice excused herself to run over to Mrs. -Beasely’s for a little call, she heard the old violin drift off into -another lively air which had been immensely popular in the younger days -of the storekeeper and Miss ’Rill--“Aunt Dinah’s Quilting Party.” It -was quite evident that Romance had taken Hopewell Drugg by the hand -and was leading him into more sunlit paths. - -Janice learned from Mrs. Beasely that Nelson Haley had gone away that -very morning on business, and would not return to Polktown for several -days. She walked home with rather a heavy heart. He had not come to say -good-bye to her. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE DESIRE OF AUNT ’MIRA’S HEART - - -Janice found solace in her new car. She had now learned to run it -alone, although at first Frank Bowman went with her if she took a trip -of any length. She sat behind the wheel and Frank acted only in an -advisory capacity. - -Marty was the proudest boy in Polktown when he was allowed for the -first time to hold the steering-wheel and put his dusty shoes on the -pedals. When the shiny Kremlin car swung out of the foot of Hillside -Avenue into High Street and his boy friends cheered, Marty’s freckled -face glowed a brick-red and his eyes sparkled with excitement. - -“Hi tunket!” he breathed. “I didn’t know there was such fun. I’m -a-goin’ to save my money, Janice, till I can buy one o’ these cars. I -will so!” - -Marty had his wish about meeting Walky Dexter and old Josephus on the -road on this very trip. They met the village expressman and his ancient -steed in front of the Town Hall at the head of High Street, where the -highway was split by the Town Hall lot into two country roads. - -The sunlight was shining full upon all the polished brass trimmings -of the car and on the windshield. Marty considered it his glad duty to -keep everything about Janice’s car highly polished. This startling, -sparkling, whizzing thing coming up out of the shaded main avenue of -the village, struck Walky’s old horse almost blind. - -Josephus literally staggered back. And having begun to back, continued -to do so, despite Walky’s frantic commands, until the rear wheels of -the wagon brought up solidly against the granite curb and iron fence -which fenced in the Town Hall lawn. - -“Jefers pelters!” cried Walky, as Marty brought the chugging car to a -stop at Janice’s reiterated order. “I told ye how ’twould be! I told ye -jest how ’twould be! Lucky I ain’t got no heart complaint--nor Josephus -neither. The looks o’ that thar thing cornin’ up the hill made me think -o’ a chariot of flame comin’ ter take us all ter glory. That’s right!” - -“I guess there’s no damage done, is there, Walky?” asked Janice, -laughing. - -“Can’t tell--dunno, yit. Ain’t seen my lawyer,” said the expressman, -with a grin. “As for Josephus----” - -Josephus, when the car stopped, seemed to fall asleep, and his head was -already nodding. Slily, Marty reached out and touched the button of the -automobile horn. Its raucous voice startled the somnolent Josephus like -a spur. - -“Whoa! whoa!” yelled Walky. - -He had been sitting carelessly on the board he used for a wagon-seat, -the reins lying idly across his lap, his hands busy filling his pipe. -When Josephus jumped--and Marty vowed afterward that the old horse’s -eyes didn’t pop open until all four hoofs had struck the road again -after his jump--Walky lost his balance, kicked up with both cowhided -feet, and landed on his back with a grunt of astonishment in the empty -wagon-box. - -“Marty! how could you?” gasped Janice, springing out of the car and -running to Walky’s assistance. - -But Josephus did not offer to run. He merely looked surprised--and -hurt. As for the village expressman, he naturally displayed some -peevishness. - -“Drat that boy!” he sputtered, rising slowly--for Walky was a portly -man. “What did he wanter let go with that ’tarnal thing for? ’Nough -to scare Josephus out of a year’s growth. An’ I broke my pipe, by -jinks! Ain’t that a shame? Marty Day, you gotter buy me the best T. D. -Hopewell Drugg’s got in his store, or I’ll bring the bill in to your -father,” and he grinned again, for Walky could not hold venom for long. - -“I won’t let him drive my car, Walky,” said Janice seriously, “if he -plays such tricks.” - -“But crackey!” gasped the boy, choked with laughter, “I got a rise out -of old Josephus. I never did believe that hoss could move so quick, -Walky.” - -“I tell you,” said Janice, laughing, “Marty shall be punished for this -caper. He can drive old Josephus home, Walky, and you shall come for a -ride with me in the car.” - -“Hold on!” protested the boy. “I don’t want to drive that old -dead-and-alive to the barn. It’ll take all day, and I got something to -do.” - -But Walky fell right in with Janice’s suggestion. “That’s the ticket,” -he said briskly. “I was going home, an’ I reckon I kin trust Josephus -with Marty. They won’t run away with each other--ha, ha, ha!” - -Marty was inclined to sulk a little; to come up through High Street -in a shiny car and return in Walky’s old farm wagon behind his -stumpy-tailed horse, seemed a terrible come-down--and so he grumbled. -But Janice got briskly in behind the steering-wheel and the portly Mr. -Dexter climbed in beside her. - -“I’ve made my will, and I hope my callin’ an’ election’s sure,” said -Walky gravely. “I never did expect to travel faster’n the cannon-ball -express on the Vermont Central; I went to Montpelier once. But go -ahead. If we’re wrecked, it’ll be in the cause of progress, and I snum! -nobody can’t say that Walkworthy Dexter ain’t as up-an’-comin’ as the -next man in Polktown.” - -Janice started the engine and the automobile turned into the Upper -Road. There were not many houses here, and she speeded up to about -twenty miles an hour right at the start. Walky gasped, grabbed a -hand-hold with one huge, hairy hand, and clapped the other on his hat. - -As the car chugged along his grin expanded slowly but surely, until -Janice was half afraid that his ears would disappear entirely. When -they shot past Elder Concannon’s house the old minister was out in his -yard. Walky wanted to say something, but he had lost his voice. The -Elder scowled after the flying car, which was out of sight in half a -minute. - -The Kremlin ran easily and prettily, and not until they had gone ten -miles or more did Janice slow down and turn the machine about. - -“Well!” sighed Walky. “I ain’t felt jest that way since I was swung too -high at the Lakeside Picnic Grounds when the Union Sunday School went -there on a picnic the year I was married--and that’s longer ago than -I wanter tell ye, Janice. What do one o’ these things cost? I dunno -but I’ll git me a gasoline truck and sell old Josephus and his mate. -Nothin’ like keepin’ up with the times.” - -Janice felt herself to be a good enough driver now to venture almost -anywhere with the car. Frank Bowman’s work had begun and he was -busy on the railroad survey all day long. Marty went to work for him -as he had promised, and labored twice as hard as he would have been -obliged to work at home. He started off early in the morning with his -dinner-pail and returned in the evening with a tired but happy face. - -“Makes a feller feel like he was somebody,” he confided to Janice. And -when, at the end of the week, he brought home nine dollars--all silver -“cartwheels”--and dropped them one by one into his mother’s lap, Aunt -’Mira wept for pleasure. - -“Does seem just too good to be true, Janice,” she said to her niece, -“Marty steadying down this way. And he never had an idee that amounted -to nothin’ in his head afore you come to us.” - -“He was too young then to think about work,” Janice said. - -“Ya-as, mebbe. But I know who to thank,” said the large woman, giving -her niece a bearlike hug. “You don’t know what it means to a mother -to see she’s raised a son to an age where he’s something besides an -expense and a nuisance. If anything should happen to his father--God -forbid!--I feel now as though Marty would be somethin’ more’n a -willer-reed to lean onto.” - -It was Aunt Almira who took the deepest satisfaction in the motor-car, -after all. Born under another star, the large and lymphatic lady would -without doubt have been a society devotee. She loved dress and display, -and sometimes Janice found it difficult to influence Aunt ’Mira to have -frocks and hats proper to her age and station. - -Until the monthly stipend for Janice’s board had come to the Day -house, she had seldom handled cash during her married life; for Uncle -Jason believed in treating “wimmen-folks” like a species of overworked -pauper. Now Aunt ’Mira did not even have to use the board money for her -personal expenses, and was secretly banking it for Janice, depending -upon her hens and the butter she made for cash with which to clothe -herself. - -Aunt ’Mira dressed in her automobile “togs” was a vision to excite -wonder. She had purchased coat, hat, veil and gloves all of fawn color, -and when she climbed heavily into the tonneau, making the springs creak -under her weight, Uncle Jason stood by and expressed his opinion in -pointed, if uncultivated, speech. - -“I swan to man, Almiry,” he said, “you look like a load of hay! Seems -ter me if I was as big as you be, I’d put suthin’ on ter fool folks -inter thinkin’ my shape was a leetle more genteel. I snum! if that’er -contraption of Janice’s don’t scare all the hosses in Polktown into -fits, you’ll do it, sure. Huh!” - -His criticism did not disturb his wife’s poise. She was not to be -ridiculed out of her triumph, but sat in the back of the car like a -queen enthroned, and excited almost as much attention on High Street as -a circus parade. - -Janice did not mind a bit. She loved Aunt ’Mira with all her innocent -faults. Her vanity over what she thought was the height of fashion in -automobile apparel, merely amused Janice. She drove the car slowly up -High Street, so that everybody would have a chance to get to their -front windows and see Mrs. Jason Day go by. And by the flickering -of the slats in the window blinds, the girl knew that many of the -women-folk along the way came to peep at the car and its occupants. - -“I declare for’t, Janice!” exclaimed her aunt, in vast satisfaction, “I -wish High Street was as long as the makin’ of books--an’ the Scriptures -say there ain’t no end to _that_. I know there’s a-many of these -Polktown wimmen have looked down on us Days in times passed; Jase was -drefful shiftless and I was a reg’lar drag myself. And it delights -me--it does, indeed--to show ’em we can hold our heads up with the -best. An’ I lay it to you, Janice, that our fortunes have changed,” and -the good lady’s eyes became moist in her earnestness. “What you’ve done -for Polktown----” - -“Why, Auntie!” laughed Janice. “You’ll make me quite vain.” - -“What you’ve done for Polktown,” went on her aunt, unruffled by the -interruption, “casts a sort of reflected glory on us other Days. An’ -we’ve got to live up to it. I’m sure, Janice, though you be only a -girl, you ought to think more about dress than you do. I never see a -young girl that seemed to care less about prinkin’ than you do.” - -“I should hope not!” gasped Janice. “And I’ve got plenty of nice -dresses, Aunt ’Mira.” - -“But they ain’t in the new style. There’s lots of pictures in one of -the papers I take--an’ it has the dearest love stories in it. But it’s -the pictures of the slit-skirt effects that I want you to look at. You -must have some new, up-to-date clo’es. We Days ought to dress as good -as the best. - -“It’s the desire of my heart,” concluded this good lady, with a sigh of -longing, “to have us Days set the styles for Polktown. Then I’ll show -Miz’ Hutchins an’ them others what’s what!” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE CITY GIRL - - -Nelson Haley remained away from Polktown for a fortnight and Janice -had no idea where he had gone. She might possibly have found out by -questioning Mrs. Beasely with whom he boarded; but she could not bring -herself to do that. - -They had been such confidential friends--really had been such for -months--that the girl felt hurt by Nelson’s neglect. Yet she could -not absolve herself from all guilt, for Janice was a most fair-minded -person. - -Enthralled by the new motor-car her father had given to her, she really -had lost sight of most other interests--including Nelson. And, knowing -that he might be grieved by her friendliness with the civil engineer, -she should have taken pains to make the school teacher understand the -situation. - -Of course, his evident jealousy was rather childish; but Janice did not -consider that fact excused her thoughtlessness. And now that Nelson was -out of Polktown, she found that she missed him sorely. She had hoped -that he would be one of the first of her friends to go for a ride in -the Kremlin car. - -And then came news that worried Janice still more. Daddy sent word from -the mine in Mexico that matters were not going so well. There had been -a change in the government and a rumor had spread that the property -might be confiscated. - -“And if that happens Daddy will lose a lot of money,” Janice told her -uncle. “Maybe the most of his fortune. Oh, dear, it’s just too mean for -anything! Why can’t those Mexicans settle down and behave themselves!” - -“Huh! I guess a lot of ’em would rather fight than work,” was her -uncle’s comment. - -During that fortnight Janice drove all over the county. The Upper Road, -past Elder Concannon’s, became her favorite drive, for the roadway -itself was much smoother than many of those about Polktown. She took -Miss ’Rill and her mother out in the car, and while the younger lady -was made speechless with delight, Mrs. Scattergood became even more -voluble than usual. - -“I declare for’t! I wouldn’t ever have thought ’twould be like this. -One o’ these here ortermobiles has allus seemed to me like nothin’ -more’n a whiz, a toot, an’ a awful stench behind! But wait till I -write to my darter-in-law at Skunk’s Holler an’ tell her I’ve re’lly -rid in one. She won’t scurce believe it,” said the old lady. “My! it -makes one feel scand’lous proud. I shouldn’t wonder if ’twas as the -old Elder say--it’s prophesied against in Holy Writ. But there ’tis,” -added Mrs. Scattergood reflectively; “it does seem as though ev’rything -smart and progressive is frowned upon by the Elder. He’s always been -opposin’ things ever since I can remember anything about him. He’s -most as obsternate as Abel Snow, and they say he forgot himself at his -own weddin’, an’ when the parson axed was there any objection to the -marriage, Abel spoke up an’ says, ‘I’m agin’ it!’” - -It was on the occasion when she had the Scattergoods in the tonneau -that Janice experienced her first accident--for the amazement of Walky -Dexter’s horse could not really be catalogued under that name. - -Some distance beyond Elder Concannon’s house was a cross road that -went over the mountain through a very beautiful piece of woodland, and -Janice often took that route when driving for pleasure. It was lovely, -for the forest was so dense in some places that the road was always -shady and cool, and there was but one dwelling for miles. - -This one building was a squatter’s cabin, and overflowing with -children--Janice had never been able to count them--of all sizes and -ages. She always ran slowly in passing the house, for she feared one -of the babies, like the lank hounds attached to the place, and the -draggle-tailed hens, might be sleeping in the dust of the roadway. - -When the motor-car passed all the children that were at home ran out -and shrieked at it, as usual. Janice could not make friends with -the wild little things any more than she could with the rabbits -that started up from their forms beside the trail. Mrs. Scattergood -expressed her opinion of the ragged little mob at the squatters’ cabin -characteristically: - -“That’s the Trimmins’ brats. Jest like fleas, ain’t they? And jest as -lively. What Elder Concannon lets them stay up here for, I don’t for -the life of me see! Trimmins, he won’t work; and Miz’ Trimmins, she -can’t work with all them young’uns. It’s a mystery ter me how she kin -keep count of ’em. How they find pork and meal is a wonder.” - -“Is that Elder Concannon’s house?” asked Janice curiously. - -“Why, this whole piece of woods is his!” exclaimed Mrs. Scattergood. -“He foreclosed on the Simon Halpin estate. Simon’s widder finally -went to the poor farm over Middletown way--she came from there. Ain’t -scurcely a cleared acre now, for it’s been let to grow up. And of -course that Trimmins is too lazy to farm it.” - -“I didn’t see quite so many children there to-day as usual, it seems -to me,” Janice said reflectively. “There’s a black-haired girl and a -red-haired boy--about of an age, I should say--who usually come out -to shout. The boy threw a broken bottle in the road one day. That -is another reason why I drive slowly by the cabin. I’m afraid of a -puncture.” - -“For the land’s sake! Then we should have to walk back,” cried Mrs. -Scattergood. - -“Oh, no; I have an extra wheel strapped on here, ready to replace any -that is injured. There is a jack in the tool box, and the loosening -and tightening again of six screws is all that’s necessary to make the -change.” - -“‘Jack,’ eh?” sniffed the old lady. “I don’t know no more’n nothin’ -what that means. The only kind of a ‘Jack’ I know about’s got long -ears and brays. And we gotter get back ’fore long, anyway; I got -sody-biscuit to bake for supper. Ain’t nothin’ but baker’s bread in the -house, and I wouldn’t put a tooth inter that, if I went ’ithout bread -as long as the Children of Israel wandered in the desert. How ’Rill kin -eat it I don’t see.” - -Janice selected a wide place in the road and turned about. The car -acted beautifully and they spun along at a fast pace on the return -trip. There was no likelihood of their meeting any other vehicle; the -woods, save for the bird songs and frogs peeping in the marshy places, -were quite silent. - -The car was still some distance from the squatters’ cabin when, in -shooting around a turn in the forest-masked road, they came upon a lean -hound in the path. Janice shut off the power and braked up, as well as -sounded a warning on the horn. Mrs. Scattergood screamed and Miss ’Rill -likewise cried out. - -The dog seemed to make an attempt to get away; but when he leaped for -the side of the road, something hauled him back with a jerk and he fell -sprawling directly beneath the wheels of the Kremlin car! - -One yelp, and it was all over. The poor creature could not have -suffered a more sudden, or more painless, death. Janice brought the car -to a jarring stop within a few yards. - -She paid no attention to Mrs. Scattergood, who was crying: “Drive right -on! the poor critter’s dead and you can’t bring him back to life. I -don’t see what an ortermobile is for, if ye can’t run away in it when -ye git inter trouble.” - -Out of the bushes appeared a boy and a girl. The girl was bawling very -faithfully, and the boy was all bluster and threats. - -“Ye gotter pay for our dawg! Ye gotter pay for our dawg!” he reiterated. - -“Poor--poor old T-Towser!” sobbed the black-haired girl. “He never done -no harm to nobody. Poor old T-Towser!” - -It would really have been a moving occasion had not Janice seen that -the wailing of the girl was like a chorus in a Greek play--quite -impersonal. She “wailed” very well indeed; but there wasn’t a sign -of moisture in her hard black eyes. Janice was dreadfully sorry about -the dog; but she noted the cut-and-dried nature of the proceedings in -which the Trimmins’ boy and girl were engaged. The scene had been well -rehearsed. - -“You gotter pay for our dawg!” declared the red-haired boy. “We know -who you be and we’ll send a constable after you if you don’t pay.” - -“And we’ll throw glass in the road and bust your tires,” added the -girl, viciously. “Poor old T-Towser!” - -But Janice was examining Towser. There were two frayed ropes tied -around the dog’s neck. Her sharp eyes saw the other ends of the broken -ropes, each tied to a sapling on opposite sides of the road! - -“You little murderers!” she said, sternly, rising to face them. “The -poor old dog! He’s better off I know; but that was a cruel way to kill -him. How could you?” - -“What’s them little imps been doing?” demanded Mrs. Scattergood. - -“They tied the dog in our path so that he could not get out of the -way,” explained Janice, almost crying, herself. “We were bound to run -him down; we couldn’t help it.” - -“You’ll pay for our dawg!” blustered the red-haired boy again. - -“Poor old T-Towser!” added his sister, doubtfully. - -“I’ll Towser ’em!” ejaculated the little old lady, tugging at the door -of the tonneau. “Let me jest git ’em!” - -She hopped out into the road very briskly and the youthful Trimmins -instantly backed away. - -“What them young’uns need,” declared Mrs. Scattergood, “is a good -tannin’. If ’twould do any good I’d tell their mom; but it won’t. She’s -a poor, slimpsy thing without no backbone. If I could lay my han’s on -’em!” - -But finding that their trick was fruitless of anything but a -tongue-lashing from the brisk old lady, the two imps ran shrieking away -into the wood. Janice removed the body of the poor dog to the roadside. -She remembered now that the last day she had come past the squatters’ -cabin the hound was almost too weak to get out of the path of the -automobile. - -“He is better dead,” she said to Miss ’Rill. “But, oh, my dear! I’m so -sorry I was the means of bringing his death about.” - -“It wasn’t your fault, Janice,” said her friend, soothingly. - -“It must be the fault of us all that such children as these Trimmins -are allowed to grow up about us, so hard and heartless! Something ought -to be done for that family, Miss ’Rill--something ought to be done for -them.” - -“I don’t see how you would reach that black-haired girl, for -instance,” sighed the little ex-schoolteacher. “She’s as wild as a -colt.” - -“That’s a problem,” said Janice, soberly. “I wonder if it isn’t a -problem that we ought to solve?” - -“I had one of her older sisters in my school,” rejoined Miss ’Rill, -with a shudder, “and she was one awful girl! I never knew what she was -going to do next.” - -But Janice believed that there ought to be something done for just such -girls as the black-haired Trimmins. She felt as though she might have -been neglectful of her opportunities to _do something_, because of her -new car; and the idea of interesting girls of the age of this one, in -some club or association, took root at this time in Janice Day’s mind. - -The boys’ club, of which her Cousin Marty was so enthusiastic a -member, and out of which had grown the Polktown Public Library, was a -flourishing institution; but the boys would have instantly objected -(“put up a holler,” Marty would have strikingly expressed it) were it -even suggested that a girls’ society be grafted on the parent stalk -of the Library Association. Girls could be only honorary members and -help keep the reading room open in the afternoon. Only a few girls were -interested. The growing misses of Polktown, it seemed to Janice Day, -should have some vital matter to engage their attention, draw them -together socially, and to improve them. - -Janice began to look forward to her own improvement, too, about this -time. For two years she had attended no school, and her last few weeks -under Miss ’Rill’s tuition had been of small value to her. Expecting as -she did her father’s quick return from Mexico, Janice had not at first -looked upon her life in Polktown as a settled thing. - -Her interests were here now, however. If she had the choice she might -not care to return to her old home in Greensboro. The girls whom she -had gone to school with there were already scattered; and she feared -many of them were far ahead of her in their studies. - -Daddy might remain in Mexico a year or two longer. She felt the need of -an advance along the paths of education. Especially did she think of -these things after talking with Frank Bowman about his sister, Annette. - -Janice was anxious to meet Annette Bowman; but a young lady from a -“finishing school” might prove rather awe-inspiring. Janice felt -the need of some “finishing” herself, and knowing that there was a -seminary for girls at Middletown, she decided to drive over and make -arrangements to enter at the opening of the fall term. - -Now that she had her Kremlin car she could run back and forth to the -school morning and night, for it was only twenty miles. In the deep -winter weather she might remain as a weekly boarder, returning to -Polktown on Friday evenings. Aunt ’Mira decided to accompany Janice to -Middletown on this trip of arrangement. - -“Even if I don’t spend a penny, I do just love to look into the -Middletown shop-winders,” declared the fashion-hungry lady. “Them -wax figgers with the latest style robes onto ’em look jest like the -pictures in the _Household Love Letter_ of the lords and ladies that -live in castles in England, or in Europe, and have such wonderful -times. You never read them stories, Janice--an’ I s’pose you air too -young to ’preciate ’em--but they’re a gre’t comfort to me. I know I can -never go to them places, or live like them folks does in ‘The Baron’s -Heart Secret’ or ‘The Beauty of Bon Marone Castle,’ but it helps ter -satisfy that longin’ I’ve allus had to travel.” - -Aunt ’Mira did not often open her heart so freely, even to her niece; -but this conversation finally led to quite an important result. It gave -Janice one of her very brightest ideas; but she felt that she needed -Nelson Haley to talk it over with. - -On the Middletown Lower Road, several miles beyond the Hammett Farm, -Janice and her aunt, speeding happily along, met with Adventure. Around -a turn ahead of them appeared a spirited horse in the shafts of a smart -road-cart. It was not a vehicle owned in Polktown or in the vicinity; -nor was the single occupant of the vehicle anybody whom Janice or her -aunt knew. - -“My goodness!” gasped Aunt ’Mira. “Ain’t she the dressy thing? I guess -she’s one o’ them city high-fliers with more money than brains. But, -dear suz, Janice! ain’t that a _be-you-tiful_ plume in her hat?” - -Janice, however, had something beside the plume in the girl’s hat to -observe. The horse the strange young lady drove was not at all used -to automobiles. Janice stopped the engine and halted the car almost -instantly; but the horse was standing on his hind legs, pawing the air, -and backing the road-cart into the ditch; while the girl foolishly -sawed on the bit and screeched at the top of her voice. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ANNETTE BOWMAN - - -Janice leaped out of her car and ran toward the frightened horse. - -“Stop pulling on the reins! Stop it--do!” she begged of the girl -driving. “See! he’ll come down if you’ll let him.” - -With slackened reins the horse dropped his fore-hoofs to the ground. -Janice seized the bridle and stopped him from backing farther. The girl -in the cart, the moment the peril was over, began to berate Janice in a -most unladylike manner. - -“I declare! you ought to be punished for this!” she cried angrily. -“Suppose he had backed me into that ditch? I might have been killed. -There should be a law against letting a girl like you run motor-cars! -If that’s your mother in the car I hope she hears me say it.” - -“I stopped as soon as I saw you,” answered Janice, mildly, when the -other halted for breath. - -“It’s lucky you did!” snapped the strange girl. “And now I suppose this -silly horse won’t even go past your car when it’s standing still.” - -For the frightened animal that Janice held by the bridle pointed -quivering ears at the car and showed other traces of excitement. - -“I will lead him past for you,” said Janice, without showing the -dislike for the strange girl which she could not help feeling. “Don’t -hold the reins so tight. You frighten him.” - -“Nonsense! who told you so much, Miss?” responded this very unpleasant -person, pertly enough. - -“There! loosen the reins. It will calm him. A horse can feel the -nervousness or fear of its driver through the reins--it _is_ so. Whoa, -boy! be good now.” - -She patted and soothed the creature. He soon began to nuzzle her hand -and rub against her shoulder--which wasn’t altogether a welcome sign -of affection, for the poor animal had champed his bit until strings of -froth were dripping from it. - -“If you don’t know any more about a horse than you do about an auto, -I expect you’ll have me in the ditch after all,” said the girl in the -cart, with a hard laugh. - -But she had relaxed the reins and Janice was quietly leading the horse -along the road, keeping between him and the shiny car. Aunt ’Mira could -not keep her eyes off that plume on the stranger’s hat. Indeed, the -entire outfit was like some of those the good lady expected to see in -the store windows at Middletown; only this one was displayed to much -better advantage. - -[Illustration: Janice leaped out of her car and ran toward the -frightened horse--(_see page 79_)] - -The girl in the cart certainly was dressed in the height of fashion. -The skirt of the dress she wore was so tight that by no possibility -could she have descended from the cart in a hurry. Had the frightened -horse really backed the cart into the ditch she would have had to go -with it! - -She stared now at Aunt ’Mira quite as hard as Aunt ’Mira stared at her. -The large lady was rather a sight, it must be admitted; but as a choice -between the two exhibitions of feminine vanity, it must be said that -Aunt ’Mira was to be preferred. The strange girl’s gown was far from -modest. - -“I suppose one can’t expect much from you country people,” she said to -Janice when the latter had politely led the horse past the car. “If -you chance to get a car you don’t know how to behave on the road with -it. Let me tell you, Miss, if I meet you with my horse again and you -frighten him, I shall have you arrested--I don’t care who you are.” - -“I am sure I am sorry,” Janice said; “but I do not see how it could be -helped. The road is free to all sorts of traffic.” - -“Well, it ought not to be,” snapped the other, and with a flirt of her -whip she sent the horse on his way. - -Janice climbed back into her car with rather a grave face. Her aunt was -still filled with amazement regarding the frock and hat worn by the -strange girl. - -“I never did imagine they looked like _that_ when they was on folks,” -she murmured. “My goodness, Janice! I dunno as I want you to wear one -o’ them dresses, after all. I’d feel as though you warn’t dressed at -all. But that plume!” - -“Her clothes were quite in the mode, I suppose,” the girl returned; -“but her manners were very unpleasant, to say the least.” - -“Them city folks is awful proud--’specially the high-flying kind,” Aunt -’Mira agreed. “But that plume!” - -Janice suspected that her aunt had her heart fixed upon a similar -adornment, and when she picked her up again at one of Middletown’s -biggest stores, after driving to the seminary and seeing the principal, -Aunt ’Mira had a long pasteboard box clasped against her breast, her -round, fat face was hot and perspiring, but she was smiling broadly. - -“I got one, Janice!” she whispered, hoarsely, as she wedged herself -into the car. “It cost me a sight of money. Don’t tell your Uncle -Jason; he’d have a fit.” - -“What did you buy it for?” asked Janice, amused. - -“To put on my new hat. It’s a beautiful purple shade----” - -“Purple!” gasped Janice, with a picture before her mental vision of -Aunt ’Mira’s vast, ruddy face under such a colored plume. - -“It’s a royal shade--so the girl said. Just like royalty wears,” said -Aunt ’Mira in a hushed voice. “I expect them wimmen in ‘The Baron’s -Heart Secret’ likely wore royal purple. And with that salmon-colored -poplin you wouldn’t let me make up last spring, it’ll look striking.” - -“I should say it would!” groaned Janice, foreseeing that she was -going to have a hard time to keep her aunt from appearing in another -ridiculous combination of colors. - -Returning to Polktown, she was watchful all the way for the -reappearance of the girl with the high-stepping horse and the -road-cart, so she drove very slowly; and it was after five o’clock when -they reached the highroad above Mr. Cross Moore’s creek, where the -railroad bridge was to be built. - -From a narrow cross road, running down to the shore, Janice and her -aunt heard voices and laughter, and as Janice slowed down Marty -appeared. - -“Hello!” he shouted. “I vow if this ain’t luck. Hey! come along, Frank! -We can git a ride to town.” - -The car had passed the beginning of the cross road, but Janice heard -the sound of a horse and wagon wheel out upon the main highway as it -started upon the way to Middletown at a fast pace. Frank Bowman, the -remainder of the instruments on his shoulder, appeared in a minute from -the bushes. - -“Why, Mrs. Day! And Miss Janice! Delighted, I am sure,” said the civil -engineer. “Won’t we discommode you?” for Marty had already crowded in -beside his mother and was reaching for the tripod Mr. Bowman carried. - -“There is room,” laughed Janice. “You may sit beside me and see how -well I have profited by your instructions.” - -“Wish you had been five minutes earlier,” said the engineer, getting -quickly into the front seat. “That was my sister.” - -“Oh! has she come?” cried Janice. - -“She’s stopping over at Judge Slater’s. She went to school with a -couple of the Slater girls. But this afternoon she drove over to -Polktown and went to the Lake View Inn to arrange for rooms for us -both. She is determined to be with me while I am building these -bridges. And of course I’ll be glad to have her with me.” But Frank -laughed rather ruefully. - -“She doesn’t begin to know what she’s up against,” the young man went -on. “She has some idea of playing the Lady Bountiful and the Chatelaine -of the Castle, rolled into one. Speaks of the natives of these parts as -‘the peasantry.’ You know,” and Frank chuckled, “that she’s going to -get in awfully bad with some of the people about Polktown if she begins -that way.” - -“But why don’t you explain to her?” asked Janice, in some wonder, as -well as consternation. Frank seemed so sensible himself that it was -hard to believe he could have a sister who would not know better. Yet -come to think of it, there was an air about Frank that suggested he was -secretly laughing at the simple folk of Polktown. - -“Oh, you couldn’t explain anything to Annette,” the young engineer -said, with some disgust. “No more than you could to Aunt Lettie. You -see, Annette lived with Aunt Lettie Buchanan. Auntie left her what -money she had when she died. That is what makes my sister so blessed -independent now. I’m not sure but that little wad of money has half -spoiled Annette. - -“But I guess it’s only one of the things that makes her silly. You’ll -see yourself, Miss Janice, when you meet her, that going to that fancy -private school and having too much money to spend, have turned her -head. I wish she were more like you.” - -“Are you sure you know me well enough to wish your sister were like -me?” asked Janice, lightly. - -“Mart is always singing your praises,” said Frank Bowman, with a -clearing-up smile, “so I feel that I ought to know you pretty well. And -I expect Annette is all right, too; only Aunt Lettie’s influence, and -her association with foolish girls at school, is telling on her now. - -“You see, our Aunt Lettie was on the stage. She married afterward an -old gentleman, who died very soon after the marriage and left her some -property--more than enough to keep her for the rest of her life. - -“Our parents being dead, she naturally took Annette and made a pet of -her. She was all for show and loved publicity. Theatrical applause -had been the very breath in Aunt Lettie’s nostrils for so many years -that she was always attempting to attract attention and get her name -mentioned in the society columns of the papers. - -“She dressed my sister, even when she was a child, in the most striking -costumes. And Annette absorbed her ideas of flaunting fashionable -clothing in the public eye. But I tell her that the public eye of -Polktown will be literally blinded if she attempts to dress so loudly -here.” - -Janice’s quick mind jumped to a sudden conclusion. “Oh, Mr. Bowman,” -she asked, “did your sister drive over here to see you in a yellow -road-cart, with a bay horse with a docked tail?” - -“Yes, that’s the turnout. It’s one of Judge Slater’s. Did you see her -on the road?” - -“We met her as we drove to Middletown,” said Janice gravely. - -“Well, I want her to know you. I know she’ll be delighted, for, when -you scrape down through the silly surface of Annette’s character, she’s -a good girl, after all.” - -Janice was troubled. She was quite sure she did not wish to know -the girl who had been so rude to her on the road that afternoon. In -addition, she was positive that Annette Bowman would not care to become -acquainted with her. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -POLKTOWN’S NEW AWAKENING - - -Yes, this was Annette Bowman, to whose coming to Polktown Janice had -looked forward with such pleased expectancy. Now she was very sorry -she even knew Frank, for she did not see how she could escape being -introduced to his sister. - -There were, however, a few days of grace. It was mid-week when Annette -came to the Lake View Inn and Frank could not very well bring her up to -the Day house before Saturday afternoon. - -Janice shrank from contemplating the awkwardness bound to arise out of -her meeting with the civil engineer’s sister. Frank might be a very -“civil” engineer indeed; but Annette, as Janice well knew, was woefully -lacking in that element of her brother’s character. When Janice and -Annette met, the latter could not fail to recognize the former as -the person who had driven the automobile when Judge Slater’s cob was -frightened on the Middletown Lower Road. And then what? - -“There will be an explosion,” sighed Janice. “I would give a good deal -if Auntie and I had not gone to Middletown that day.” - -Meanwhile Annette was not idle. She made her presence felt in Polktown -from the beginning. Her first parade up the hill to Massey’s drug -store for the purchasing of a new toothbrush and some face powder -was conducted in a manner to strike Polktown--even the feminine -section--with awe. A musical comedy queen, right off the stage, could -have been no more gaily appareled than Annette Bowman. Moreover, her -eyebrows were heavily penciled, her lips rouged, her cheeks tinted and -her nose powdered so thickly that the contrast between cheeks and nose -was startling. - -She wore a dress of pale green, the over-gown of some sheer material, -while the actual frock itself clung as closely to her slight figure -as a glove, and was slit up in front half way to her knees. She wore -dancing slippers with high heels, and as she walked one could glimpse -embroidered silk stockings. - -Walky Dexter, who saw her as he was driving down to the boat dock, -afterward vowed that Josephus was more startled by the sight than he -had been by the apparition of Janice Day’s new car. - -“I snum!” exclaimed Walky; “she looked like one o’ them green -hoppergrasses ye see in a ryefield--a standin’ on its hind laigs -an’ teeterin’ along like our old Ponto when he tries ter beg for a -dog-biscuit. Nor I never did see nothin’ jest like that parasol before, -neither--all lace and do-funnies. Wouldn’t keep the sun off’n a blind -worm in a mole-tunnel, that wouldn’t! Jest as soon hev a colander on a -stick.” - -Whereas Walky was critical and some of the other male observers -inclined to laugh at Miss Annette Bowman, the female portion of -Polktown’s inhabitants was soon divided into two camps--one openly -admiring the stylish young lady, the other speaking harshly of her; but -both in their hearts wishing they could view her wonderful costumes -more closely. - -In the afternoon Annette went for another stroll, arrayed from head -to toe in an entirely different creation of a fashionable New York -costumer. Behind the cover of the window blinds the ladies of High -Street took note of Miss Bowman’s fashion-plate figure. - -Venturing into Massey’s once more, the proprietor, on the strength of -having served her in the morning, introduced a couple of the older -girls to the new arrival in Polktown. Annette was very gracious--nobody -could be more so when she cared to make a good impression--and she -quite charmed Elvira Snow and Mabel Woods. All three strolled up the -shadiest side of High Street. Elvira and Mabel were the sort of girls -who read romantic novels, consider a boy’s attentions a subject to be -whispered about, and who preen before a mirror when they make ready -for an appearance in public. Elvira desired her friends to call her -“’Vira,” while Mabel Woods had long written her name “Maybelle.” - -They were envied by the other girls they met that day because they were -first to become acquainted with the new guest at the Lake View Inn. -There was to be a small party at Major Price’s house that evening, and -when, in the peregrinations of the trio, they came past the Major’s -fine old mansion and spacious lawn, Maggie Price was introduced to the -city girl. No matter what was put on poor Maggie, she always would -look dowdy; and yet in her soul the Major’s daughter worshipped at the -shrine of Fashion. - -She was enamored of Annette instantly. Elvira and Mabel made themselves -friends for life of Maggie Price by tolling the brilliant bird of -passage to the Price gate. - -“Do come up to-night, Miss Bowman--and bring your brother, of course. -It’s quite informal. Pa is acquainted with Mr. Bowman; I’m not and I’m -just dying to meet him. But he hasn’t had much time since he’s been in -Polktown for anybody or anything but Janice Day and her new automobile. -I’m just dying to have a car myself; but pa won’t hear to it. He says -he doesn’t want anything in the stable that he can’t stop by saying -‘Whoa!’ You will come? That’s so nice. You’ll come, too, now--’Vira -and Maybelle--won’t you? Well, now, do!” - -To be invited to the Price house was to enter the Golden Gate of -Polktown society. Annette dragged Frank off to the dull reception after -his hard day’s work; but the young civil engineer attended her with -little complaint. He really loved his sister, and Annette showed him -the most lovable side of her character. - -Some of the young traveling men--drummers Polktown people called -them--had actually stayed over their usual time at the Inn because of -Annette’s appearance at the general table. But the presence of Frank -and the stern oversight of good Mrs. Parraday guarded the foolish -Annette from any unpleasant consequences of her gay appearance. - -“That gal,” the innkeeper’s wife confessed to her neighbor, “ain’t no -more responsible than a butterfly--and she flits about jest as perky -an’ unsuspicious. Her brother left her in my care when he’s off to his -work daytimes, and any of them drummers that try to git fermiliar with -the foolish gal is goin’ to git a broadside from Ma’am Parraday that -they won’t forgit!” - -Annette went to Major Price’s arrayed in a party gown such as never had -been seen in Polktown before. Frank, who knew a little something about -the village standards, made his sister wear some lacy stuff tucked into -the upper part of the frock. - -“Talk about the lilies of the field bein’ dressy,” drawled Marty, who -had chanced to observe Frank and his sister as they left the hotel for -the party, and came home to tell about it, “they ain’t got nothin’ on -Annette Bowman, believe me! I expect Frank’s used to seeing girls in -New York dressed like that; but, crackey, Janice! if you was to put on -clo’es like she wears I’d be ashamed to walk out to the cow-barn with -ye.” - -“Why, Marty!” laughed Janice. “She can’t be dressed as badly as all -that.” - -“I’d love to see that dress,” his mother said, with a sigh. “It must be -lovely!” - -“_Lovely_--huh!” snorted Marty, in deep disdain. - -Annette and her frocks were the main topics of conversation that week -in Polktown. Interest in the new railroad waned and Janice’s automobile -was likewise relegated to the background. After the Prices’ party Mrs. -Hutchins and the other dressmakers of the town were immediately rushed -with work. Mr. Massey, who kept a side line of books and periodicals, -sold out his latest pattern magazines almost at once. A furore of -frock-making took hold upon the mothers of the town. - -It was mostly the girls of about Annette’s age who began this aping -of the ultra-fashions; but the disease spread until many of the staid -matrons of the town were refurbishing their summer frocks, or having -new ones made more in accord with the pictures in Aunt ’Mira’s story -papers. - -It was a bit of male gossip that Mr. John-Ed. Hutchins was scarcely -seen out of the house for the next fortnight. It was a long-established -fiction that Mr. John-Ed. was “weakly” and could not work. At least, he -never did work--much; but he was not too weak to pull basting threads, -and when his wife was “driv with work,” in Polktown parlance, she kept -her otherwise useless spouse busy at this end of the dressmaking art. -Mrs. Hutchins admitted that she hadn’t been so busy before in years. - -Miss Link, the plump, little, near-sighted milliner, who always seemed -to be lurking like a bespectacled spider behind her half blind on High -Street, got near enough to Annette during the first few days of her -stay at the Inn to copy one or two of the city girl’s hats, and she put -them in a prominent position in her show window for “bait.” Harlan, the -shoeman, immediately got in a stock of pumps and spats, and Icivilly -Sprague bought the first pair of the latter ever sold in Polktown. - -Icivilly’s brother, Sam, had a remarkably long neck, and he was -addicted to attacks of quinsy sore throat at all times of the year. The -unfortunate Sam had a bad attack the very night his sister brought home -the spats, and Mrs. Sprague strapped a warm poultice on Sam’s long -neck with one of the spats. - -“There!” said the indignant lady, who had forbidden her daughter’s -wearing the things the instant she saw them. “There! them do-funnies is -good for suthin’, I vum! They jest fit Sam’s throat, an’ mebbe he’ll -git some wear out o’ them.” - -Janice kept out of the way of Frank Bowman’s sister until Saturday -afternoon. Even then she planned to escape by taking Marty for a drive -into the country in reward for his sticking all the week to his job. - -“I gotter see Frank before we start,” the boy said. “Or--can’t we drive -down by the _ho_-tel? I won’t stop but a minute. And say, Janice! Nelse -Haley’s back. Did you know it?” - -Janice was fortunately examining the “innards,” as Uncle Jason called -it, of the automobile, and could hide her face from Marty. “No; I had -not heard of his return,” she said. “I guess this is all right. Anyway, -we’ll start.” - -She could not see how she was to escape going to the Inn with Marty; -and then, she suddenly hoped, by driving through the main street of the -town they might see Nelson. Perhaps he would go with them in the car. -She did not give much attention to Marty’s chatter until the boy said: - -“You’ve sure made a hit with Frank Bowman, Janice. He was saying last -night he wished that sister of his was more like you. She acts like -she ain’t got right good sense, from all I hear tell.” - -“You mustn’t say that, Marty,” Janice admonished him. - -“Huh! why not? It’s true enough. I bet Frank wishes she had half your -sense. For a girl, Janice, you are pretty nice,” added this candid -youth. “There! if that ain’t her now--an’ all dressed up like a hoss in -a circus parade.” - -The car had swung into High Street and was descending the hill. The -Lake View Inn with its pleasant piazzas was in sight. Janice saw the -bird of brilliant plumage in a prominent position overlooking the -street. And by her side, sitting very close to her and listening to -Annette’s vivacious chatter, was Nelson Haley, the young schoolmaster! - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE BREACH WIDENS - - -“You just wait a minute, Janice,” called out Marty, who did not see the -school teacher. “I’ll run back and find Frank.” - -Marty’s voice had great carrying power. Janice dared not look up at -once, for she feared Nelson and Annette were looking down at her, and -she had an unfortunate habit of blushing when she felt the least bit -confused. She heard the girl laugh, and felt that she must be laughing -at her. She did not hear Haley’s voice at all. - -The moments sped by, and she could not appear to be engaged with the -mechanism of the Kremlin forever. Marty did not return, and it seemed -to her that he had been gone a very long time. Finally she plucked up -her courage and, knowing that her cheeks were still ablaze, raised her -eyes to the balcony where the city girl and the school teacher sat. - -They were not looking in her direction at all, and Nelson seemed so -much interested in what Annette was saying that he had neither eyes nor -ears for anybody else. - -Perhaps they could get away from the hotel--she and Marty--without -being seen by the girl and Nelson. She hoped so--yet she felt a pang, -too, that the teacher should seem so much enthralled by Annette’s light -conversation. But Janice had not forgotten that Nelson had gone away -for a fortnight without bidding her good-bye. - -It was a peculiar situation. Never in her life had Janice Day -experienced the least jealousy. She had never had a friend before -whom she was not willing to share with everybody else. Perhaps it was -because it was Annette that she was sorry Nelson Haley was acquainted -with her. - -She knew that Annette must be a very shallow, foolish girl from what -she had seen of her, as well as from all she had heard. Of course, -Frank, being her brother, had made out as good a case as possible for -her; but even he had admitted qualities of character which would make -her rather repellent to right-thinking people. - -And to see Nelson Haley so evidently interested in her inconsequential -chatter, and openly courting the city girl, smote Janice with a desire -to save the school teacher from his own folly, if nothing else. - -She wished to get away from the Inn without being seen by either of -them. She was tempted to turn the car and start up the hill without -Marty. She might stop at one of the shops and go in for something, as -an excuse. But just as she had thought up this scheme, she heard the -voices of Marty and Frank. The young civil engineer was coming with the -boy, and Janice was panicstricken. - -For the first time since she had been running her car she fumbled and -did the wrong thing. She meant to push the self-starter, and she made -a jab at the horn button instead. The siren tooted a raucous note, -proclaiming to everybody in the neighborhood that Janice was there. - -“Dear me, that’s the girl that runs the automobile through the town,” -she heard Annette Bowman proclaim. - -“Why, it’s Janice!” responded Haley, and the girl in the auto heard his -chair scrape upon the piazza flooring. - -“Oh! do you know her? One of your pupils, I presume?” and the other -girl’s voice suggested raillery. Janice could not hear what Nelson -Haley said in reply. Marty, towing Frank Bowman, appeared from around -the corner. - -“Good afternoon, Miss Janice,” said the civil engineer, warmly. “Mart -says you are going for a spin; it’s a lovely day for it.” - -“Y-yes; it is,” admitted Janice. She was conscious of the observation -of the two above; but she did not glance up there. If only Frank had -not come out to the car! Then she might have spoken to Nelson, and the -teacher might even have gone with her and Marty for a ride. Janice -realized that there was something wrong between Haley and herself, yet -she did not know how to straighten out the trouble. - -Marty was pulling at her sleeve and whispering: “Say, Janice, ask him -to go. He ain’t got a living thing to stop him.” - -The suggestion smote the girl sharply with the thought that, in all -probability, the innocent attentions Mr. Frank Bowman had shown her -were the beginning of this estrangement between Nelson and herself. She -desired very much to clear up the misunderstanding that had risen; yet -she could not be ungrateful to the civil engineer who had been so kind -to her. - -Driven to it, knowing that the situation was bound to be worse if she -did so, yet unable to see any way out of it, Janice turned and smiled -upon Frank. In those few moments “Daddy’s little daughter” experienced -emotions that would have surprised Daddy had he known about them. -Afterward, when she came to think it over herself, Janice knew that she -would never again feel so care-free and irresponsible as she had before -this hour. - -It was one of the situations in life that make for character building. -She wanted Nelson, but she said, calling up a smile as well: - -“Won’t you go with us, Mr. Bowman? We shall be back in time for supper.” - -“Come along, Frank,” urged Marty, his face aglow with the worship a -boy often feels for a young man older than himself. - -Nelson Haley had gone back to his chair. Janice felt it, although she -had not raised her eyes to look at the couple above since Frank and -Marty had appeared. - -“We-ell,” said Frank, laughing. “If you think I won’t be in the way?” - -“Aw, stop yer foolin’!” crowed Marty. “Hurry up--do! we ain’t got all -day to wait for you!” - -“Wait till I get a cap,” said the civil engineer, and turning swiftly -he started up the hotel steps. Then he saw his sister and her companion. - -“Oh, here you are, Annette!” he cried. “I’m going to take a little run -with Mart and his cousin. And that reminds me--you must meet Janice -Day. Come down here, Annette.” - -He was evidently unacquainted with Nelson, for Janice saw him look at -the school teacher curiously. Annette arose with an amused expression -of countenance as though she were tolerating the requests of a small -boy. Sisters do hold that attitude at times regarding their brothers. - -“I should be charmed,” she said, in her drawling way. “This is my -brother, Mr. Haley,” and she introduced the teacher easily. “I had no -idea that this--ahem!--young lady whom I have seen in the motor-car was -your Janice Day.” She arrived at the foot of the steps now and put out -her hand to touch Janice’s gloved one. “Re’lly, I’ve been hearing so -much about you from Frankie that I was quite prepared to find you very -terrible. He seems to think you a remarkable girl.” - -Not a word or a glance, not even a flicker of the rather sparce -eyelashes, to show that Annette remembered the meeting on the road to -Middletown! Yet Janice was convinced that the city girl had a very -vivid remembrance of the occasion--was remembering it as she drawled -her long speech, in fact, and that such remembrance pointed her tongue -with venom. There was not two years’ difference in their ages; yet -Annette did her best to make Janice seem a child. - -Nelson bowed rather stiffly from the piazza; he did not come down -to the car. Marty waved his hand to him and called out: “Hullo, Mr. -Haley!” Janice could only bow and smile. Oh, yes, she could smile! The -power of repressing her real feelings and of hiding her hurts under a -mantle of pride had come to her in this time of trial. - -Frank had shaken hands with Nelson perfunctorily and run on in for -his cap. Now he came back and shoved his sister playfully aside as he -stepped into the car beside Janice. - -“Go away, little girl,” he said to Annette, laughing. “You’ll get run -over. We’ll have more time for you some other day. And I want you and -Janice to be good friends--you’ll find lots to like about each other.” - -Janice bade Annette good-day pleasantly, and immediately started the -car. Naturally she was busy making the turn and starting up the hill; -but she did not miss Annette’s languid smile and shrug as she returned -to Nelson. A sudden rush of tears half blinded the troubled girl. High -Street grew misty before her, and Marty yelled: - -“Look out! you’ll run down ol’ Miz’ Cummings.” - -The warning brought Janice to herself. She braced up, cleared her eyes -with a little shake of her head, and began to chat to Frank while -running the car with her usual care. But she could not forget Nelson -Haley. - -They went up High Street and turned into the Upper Middletown Road. Not -far beyond the forks a load of hay came into view. The road was wide -enough here for the hay and the automobile to pass; but when the car -came up behind the load, and Janice tooted her horn, the driver paid -not the least attention. - -“Now, ain’t that mean of him?” cried Marty. “He hears ye, unless he’s -as deaf as Uncle Abram Moles was, and they say he insisted on his -ear-trumpet bein’ buried with him for fear he wouldn’t hear Gabriel on -Resurrection Morn.” - -“Why, Marty! that sounds awfully irreverent,” gasped Janice. - -“It’s the truth, jest the same,” returned her cousin, complacently. -“Uncle Abram was drefful deaf and no mistake. They tell about a city -chap who come up here to take board with Uncle Abram’s people and who -tried to be awful perlite to the old codger. One day at dinner the city -chap refused a secon’ helpin’ and old Uncle Abram urged it on him. - -“‘No, thanks,’ says the chap, ‘I’ve had sufficient.’ - -“‘Been a-fishin’?’ says Uncle Abram. - -“The city chap shakes his head more emphatic and says: ‘I’ve had -a-plenty.’ - -“‘Dew tell!’ says Uncle Abram. ‘Caught twenty!’ - -“At that the other feller gets some mad, and he rips out: ‘Ye old fule!’ - -“‘Broke yer pole?’ repeats Uncle Abram, quite innercent, and that -closed the discussion.” - -“Say!” cried Frank, laughing at Marty’s story. “We don’t want to crawl -on behind this load of hay all the afternoon. What’s the matter with -the fellow?” - -“He’s wot they call a road hog,” proclaimed Marty. “Hey, you! get out -of the way, will you?” - -Janice tooted the horn again, but with no result. The driver of the -hay wagon evidently had no intention of turning aside an inch from the -middle of the road for the automobile. Of course, when heavily loaded -it is often difficult for a teamster to turn out; but the road rules -demand it and the automobile party was quite within its rights when -Janice signaled for a share of the roadway. - -“Wait!” exclaimed Frank. “Isn’t there a wider place in the road right -ahead, in front of Elder Concannon’s?” - -“You’re right!” cried Marty. “We’ll fool him there. And crackey! I’d -like to tell him what I think of him when we go by.” - -“You be still, Marty,” was his cousin’s threat, “or I’ll not take you -out again. We must not quarrel with the country people, no matter -how mean they may be---- Why, see there! he’s turning right into the -Elder’s barnyard gate.” - -“By jinks!” ejaculated Marty, “it was the old Elder himself. No wonder -he wouldn’t turn out for us--he hates these buzz-carts so. You’d -oughter heard him layin’ down the law about ’em in Sunday School class -last Sunday. Your ears ought to have burned, Janice.” - -“I’m sorry the old gentleman does not approve of the car,” sighed -Janice. “And we were just getting to be such good friends, too! -Perhaps--perhaps Daddy’s present is going to bring me more trouble than -pleasure, after all.” - -But this last she said too low to be heard by her companions. She was -thinking of the widening breach between herself and Nelson Haley. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -“THEM TRIMMINSES” - - -Annette appeared at morning service on Sunday in one of her most -striking frocks. The attention of good Mr. Middler’s parishioners was -sadly distraught by the newcomer. It was quite impossible for feminine -eyes to keep from turning in the direction of Miss Bowman’s seat during -the sermon. - -She did not come unattended, but it was not her brother who walked up -the aisle with her just as the bell stopped tolling. The school teacher -was her companion and, noticeably red about the ears, he handed her -into the Beasely pew where he usually sat himself. - -Nelson Haley’s presence as the city girl’s cavalier produced a distinct -shock throughout the congregation. The comment of uplifted eyebrow, -questioning smile, and--in some cases--the pronounced sniff, swept over -the pews like wind over a wheat-field, as the people settled themselves -in preparation for the sermon. - -Elder Concannon, from the amen corner, glared in horrified amazement -at the city girl and her escort. He had not felt very friendly toward -Nelson Haley since the building of the new schoolhouse, and his comment -after service was particularly bitter in judgment upon the teacher. - -“What more could ye expect of a young man that runs after all sorts of -folderols? Woe unto the foolish women! But how about the foolish men -that follow after them?” - -That last was applicable to a goodly number of the younger male portion -of the congregation that day; for they literally followed in the wake -of the city girl and Haley as the couple strolled down High Street to -the Inn. - -Boys of Marty Day’s age nudged each other and giggled to see the funny, -beruffled skirt flopping about Annette’s shoe-tops; the older boys -secretly envied the school teacher his opportunity of knowing this -strange girl well enough to walk home from church with her. - -The girls and their mothers gathered in groups after service to -discuss Annette’s costume. A few pretended to scorn the innovation of -ultra-fashionable apparel in Polktown; but most of the younger ladies -were already planning new frocks and furbelows. - -Old Mrs. Scattergood, who was always outspoken on every subject, -declared flatly that she considered Polktown needed to be awakened in -the matter of dress. - -“I declare for’t!” she said, “there ain’t a town of its size in these -Green Mountains that holds a bigger crowd of frumps than we be. I own -up I’ve had Miz’ Link make my bonnet in one style, spring and fall, -since I came from Skunk’s Holler, endurin’ two year now. It’s a livin’ -truth that the women of the Holler and of Popham Landin’ are far ahead -of us when it comes to style. We wait ev’ry spring for Miz’ Marvin -Petrie to come from Boston with her idees of style--an’ then we copy -her like the lot of copy-cats we be! I’m a-goin’ to have me a gown -that’s up-to-date for oncet, if it’s the last act of my life!” - -From that time on the influence of a silly girl on a more or less idle -community spread with a rapidity that was really remarkable. Of course, -it wasn’t Aunt ’Mira, or Mrs. Scattergood, or Mabel Woods, Elvira Snow -and Icivilly Sprague only, who felt the infection. - -It was true that Mrs. Scattergood appeared at the next meeting of the -Ladies’ Aid Society in a gown with a modest slit on the side showing a -silk petticoat, and despite all Janice could do her aunt had the salmon -poplin made up and wore it with the purple plume on her hat. - -“I vum!” gasped Uncle Jason, when his wife dawned on his vision as he -came up from the barns, “ye look jest like a fodder stack on fire in a -fog. I never see the beat of you, Almiry. When them Vermillion Queen -troupers come here and tried to show at the Opry House, there warn’t -one o’ them dressed as gay as you be. If you old wimmen air a-goin’ to -set sech an example to the gals in Polktown, we’ll come to a pretty -pass. Huh!” - -Perhaps Janice herself was the person least affected by the coming of -Annette Bowman with her airs, graces, and costumes. And yet she was -made to feel the presence of the city girl in Polktown to a degree. - -Janice saw nothing of Nelson Haley, save to bow to him, or speak to -him at church, or in a store, or on the street. He always seemed in -haste to get away when he spied Janice; but she heard of his being in -attendance on Annette almost every day. - -The school committee had held a meeting and voted to increase Nelson’s -salary if he would remain in charge of the Polktown school for another -year. Nelson had agreed to remain. But all this information came to -Janice at second hand. A few weeks before, the young man would have -discussed the matter with her, if with nobody else. But now he did not -come near her. - -Was it because of Annette, or of Frank? Janice could not tell. - -Janice would not have had anybody know how deeply she felt his neglect, -for anything in the world. It did seem as though Daddy’s present of -the Kremlin car had brought her more trouble than happiness. - -In those days Janice’s father was still in trouble, to judge by his -letters. He was doing his best to save the mining property from -confiscation by the new government. There had even been a clash of -authority, and two of the guards at the mine had been wounded. Daddy -had written that he would fight to the end before he would give up what -rightfully belonged to him and to those in the company with him. - -“He’d better give up an’ come back to the U. S. A.,” was Uncle Jason’s -comment. “It’s better to be a poor man than a dead one!” - -“Now don’t you go for to scare Janice,” interposed Aunt ’Mira. “Maybe -it ain’t so bad after all. But I allow them Mexicaners is dreadful -bloodthirsty,” she added, dolefully. - -“Daddy won’t give up. He’ll fight it out to the end--I know him!” said -Janice. And then she went her way with a heart that was very sore -indeed. - -The automobile was her solace. When things went wrong she could escape -the contemplation of her girlish troubles by taking a spin in the car. -Clinging to the wheel and with her well-shod feet resting lightly on -the pedals, the engine purring like a huge tabby cat, and everything -running smoothly, it was a delight to roll over the hilly roads about -Polktown and forget everything else. - -She had wonderfully good fortune in her management of the car. She had -learned from Frank Bowman how to thoroughly clean the parts. Marty -and she frequently spent the long summer evenings pottering over the -automobile. And because of the care she gave it at home, she seldom had -trouble out on the road. - -Janice did not often ride merely for pleasure when she did not take out -her friends. She often went up through Elder Concannon’s woodland where -the Trimmins lived, and always she hoped to find some means of getting -better acquainted with “them Trimminses,” as Mrs. Scattergood called -the squatters. - -One afternoon she carried a bag of popcorn and peanuts with her and -stopped directly before the cabin. Since the time when the poor old -hound had been killed most of the children had been conspicuous by -their absence when Janice drove by. Especially did the black-haired -girl and the red-haired boy remain under cover at such times. - -Nor was this day any exception. They could hear the motor-car coming -for a long distance, of course, and the muddy plot in front of the -cabin was quite empty of children when Janice stopped the car. But she -was not shaken from her good intention. She disembarked and went boldly -up to the open door of the cabin. There was a scurrying and whispering -inside, and she knew some of the children must have taken refuge there. - -But all she saw was the slatternly mother in the doorway. Hers was a -bulky figure. Not as bulky as Aunt ’Mira’s; but her dirty calico dress -was worn with more baggy effect that it would seem really possible. -Aunt ’Mira, when first Janice had come to Polktown, was a queen of -neatness beside this poor creature. - -“How-do!” she drawled, favoring Janice with a sickly smile. “You wanter -see someone?” - -“I have brought something for the children. I didn’t know but they -might enjoy a little treat,” said Janice, smiling in return. - -“Hey?” - -Growing wonder was displayed on Mrs. Trimmins’ flabby features and they -lost their innocent, weak smile. “Ye don’t want nothin’?” she babbled. - -“Why, no, Mrs. Trimmins!” cried the girl, cheerfully. “I just wanted to -give the little folks a good time.” - -Gradually an expression that Janice could not fathom was hardening Mrs. -Trimmins’ face. A light flickered in her dull eyes. She slowly shook -her head. - -“Y’ don’t need ter bring we-uns anythin’ ter eat. We git our own -vittles,” she drawled, yet with a note of finality that surprised -Janice. “Mebbe ye mean well--ye’re only a gal. But jest ’cause we live -po’ don’t make us objicts of charity, I wantcher should know. We-all -are as good as you-all Yanks!” - -“Oh, Mrs. Trimmins!” gasped Janice. “I had no intention of offering -you charity, or of insulting you in any way. Do, do believe me! I just -thought it would be nice to treat the children. I love children and I’d -like to make friends with yours--if they will let me,” she added. - -The woman looked at her as though she scarcely understood. “Wan’t it -you-all that killed our old Towser?” she drawled. - -“My machine killed him, and I was very sorry. But I guess you know how -he came to get under the wheels of my car,” Janice said, with some -sternness. - -“Wal--I s’pose I do. That Jinny an’ Tom is alius up t’ capers.” - -“But I’d like to have them look on me in a friendly way,” Janice urged, -thrusting out the bag of goodies again. “Do, Mrs. Trimmins, give this -to the children and tell them I left it with my best wishes.” - -In spite of herself the woman took the bag, and Janice ran quickly back -to the car. When she went out of sight past the woods Mrs. Trimmins’ -bulky figure still filled the doorway of the cabin, but she had not -dropped the paper bag. - -At least--so thought Janice--she had made a small beginning in her task -of getting acquainted with “them Trimminses.” She had learned that the -girl she particularly wished to get at was named “Jinny”--probably -short for Virginia. Janice was sure the black-haired girl was bright, -if she was mischievous. - -Janice had never met just such people as these squatters before. -Indeed, they were quite as foreign to the Vermont soil as European -emigrants would have been. By Mrs. Trimmins’ speech it was easy to tell -that she came from the South; and had all the dislike for the “Yanks” -that a certain class of Southerners are still supposed to retain. - -“But they must be reached with kindness. Perhaps nobody, since they -came here, has shown them friendliness. A lot of these old farmers -haven’t forgotten the Civil War yet; they’d have nothing but contempt, -anyway, for shiftless people like these Trimminses. - -“How amazed she seemed just because I wanted to do her children a -kindness. It is dreadful to think that all the neighbors round about -have been so careless and hard toward them. I must find out more about -the Trimminses--and how they came to be away up here.” - -She found out something more about the Trimmins children, at least, -that very day. When she drove the car back along the wood road, she -drove slowly by the cabin, as usual. Not a child appeared, nor was the -woman herself in sight. - -Just beyond was a piece of road bordered by a thick hedge of brush on -either side. Janice was still driving slowly. Suddenly, out of the mask -of bushes, rose a series of yells that would have done credit to a band -of wild Comanches. - -Involuntarily Janice shut off power. She should have speeded up -instead, for through the brush on either side of the road charged the -whole crowd of young Trimmins--from the sixteen or seventeen-year-old -boys down to the toddlers. But “Jinny” was without doubt their leader. - -“Give it to her!” shrieked the black-haired girl. “Give it to the -nasty, stuck-up Yank! We’ll show her we don’t want her old charity -presents! Give it to her!” - -The shrieks were accompanied by a shower of popcorn and peanuts. Janice -was bombarded as though with confetti, a lot of it falling in the -tonneau as she accelerated the speed and shot away from the yelling, -dancing crew. - -She was disappointed, and, at first, a little angry. Then she had to -laugh at the remembrance of her own chagrin. - -And to think of that dancing, shrieking, black-haired Jinny leading -such a charge and bombardment. What control she must have over her -brothers and sisters, to make them give up the peanuts and popcorn. It -must have been a wrench for the babies to throw away the goodies. - -Then Janice began to look more closely at the missiles with which she -had been showered. There wasn’t much of the pink and white popcorn; -and the nuts seemed all to have been shelled out before the husks were -thrown at her! She was sure this was not according to Jinny’s plan; the -little virago had been too much in earnest. But her small brothers--and -perhaps the big ones--had fooled her. They had shelled the “goobers” -before flinging the waste at Janice and her car. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE LAWN PARTY - - -The Ladies’ Aid gave, as it did every summer, a lawn party in Major -Price’s front yard. The big mansion, which had been built by some Price -ancestor, was always thrown open to the guests at that time. Mrs. Price -and her two maids, with Maggie’s help, cleaned and furbished for a week -previous to the annual event. New curtains were hung, the rugs were -beaten, and of late years a vacuum-cleaner was imported to do much -of the heavy work for the women-folk. Major Price was not a niggard, -although he was “as old-fashioned as the hills,” his wife declared. And -the Vermont hills are very old-fashioned, indeed! - -The Major was a portly man who advertised his station as the magnate -of Polktown by the wearing of a white shirt with a stiff, short bosom, -every day in the week. The linen was immaculate, but his torso, swollen -by good feeding, seemed about to burst through the shirt. - -The old man had a jovial voice, a great mop of silvery hair, watery -blue eyes which usually held a twinkle swimming in their moist depths, -and enormous, hairy hands which of late had begun to shake a little. He -was smoothly shaven--scrupulously so every morning--and his complexion -was ruddy. This was fortunate, too, for it made comparison less odious -between his sagging cheeks and his nose. The latter was swollen and -angry-looking and it was whispered that the Major was a secret drinker. - -However, the old gentleman and his family placed the full resources -of their house and grounds at the disposal of the church ladies. The -latter and all the young girls and boys they could enmesh in the scheme -worked for two days preparing the tables, decorating the trees with -strings of Japanese lanterns, putting up bunting, gathering flowering -branches from the woods, and doing a thousand and one things to -decorate and make the old yard more attractive. - -Janice and her car were requisitioned, and it brought many a load to -the gate of the Price place. That week was a busy one for her, for in -a few days more the seminary would open and she was brushing up the -studies that she had dropped months before. - -This lawn party was really the first public entertainment at which the -younger element of Polktown society could display the influence exerted -upon it by the coming and appearance of Annette Bowman. Mrs. Hutchins -(and presumably Mr. John-Ed., head of the basting-pulling department) -had been very, very busy for more than a fortnight. Every other woman -who pretended to do dressmaking in Polktown had likewise been engaged -to the full. - -And certainly an amazingly-dressed crowd of girls and younger women -began to flutter through Polktown’s streets to the Major’s place next -to old Bill Jones’ market, as evening dropped. - -Some of the girls had come earlier to make ready the tables and help -the ladies of the Aid Society. But these girls included most of the -steady ones. Vira Snow, Maybelle Woods, and Icivilly Sprague, and their -kind, did not come to help, but to be observed. - -And they most certainly were observed! - -Those who had essayed the tighter effects in skirts had not yet -practised walking so mincing a gait as was necessary; and it was told -afterward that Phin Pollock, who was with Icivilly, grew impatient and -picked her up in his arms and strode along with her for a couple of -blocks, to the delight of some small boys. Icivilly could not struggle -much, she was too tightly sheathed for that, and all the attention big -Phin gave to her sputterings was: - -“Wal, dern my hat! ’f you air bound to tie yerself up in a hard knot -this a-way, ’Villy, don’t blame me. I wanter git there b’fore old Elder -Concannon eats up all the ice-cream.” - -The Elder had gradually become a perfect volcano of repressed emotion. -On this evening the volcano boiled over. - -Annette was wonderfully garbed in a frock that suggested nothing so -much as it did a brown moth. It really was pretty, saving that the way -Annette wore it, and her own light actions, served to make the dress -seem immodest. And she did the very thing to-night that her brother had -warned her against. She went exactly opposite to the conventions of -Polktown. - -Although this lawn party was not held within sight, even, of the church -premises, it was engineered by a church society and the profit went -into the church treasury. There was, therefore, in the mind of the -Polktown public some simple reverence to be shown the occasion; and -before those to be served first sat down at the tables, Elder Concannon -asked a blessing. - -Ten minutes later Annette, with the help of Maggie Price, had gathered -together a crowd of the older girls and boys. They had rolled the big -talking machine out upon the veranda, and finding several records of -the newer dance tunes, Annette insisted upon starting one. Of course, -young folks could not hear that music and keep their feet from fairly -itching to dance. - -Frank hurried from a far part of the grounds to try and halt his -sister; but she was in the midst of the dance when he arrived, her -partner being one of the traveling men who had come up from the hotel. -He knew the modern steps, and so did Annette. They were almost the -only couple dancing, but the crowd was increasing at the edge of the -veranda. Polktown’s eyes were being opened. Nothing just like this had -ever been seen before! - -The ladies could scarcely get people enough to fill the tables, and pay -their quarter apiece for ice-cream and cake, or for smoking baked beans -and brownbread. The Elder (who preached “temperance in all things” but -never seemed to consider that it might apply to eating) left the table -to see what was attracting the crowd to the broad veranda. - -His amazement and rage can be better imagined than explained when he -saw Annette and her brother Frank (she having discarded the salesman -for the benefit of Maggie Price) giving exhibition steps of the -fox-trot, the dip, and various other terpsichorean athletics. - -The Elder was, after all, a gentleman; this was a private place -offered to the women of the Ladies’ Aid by the courtesy of the host -and hostess. He could say nothing; but he strode away in unspeakable -indignation, refusing his third dish of ice-cream, and afterward -favored poor Mr. Middler with a diatribe against all intemperate living -and dressing. - -“The town is being cursed by it!” he declared, having cornered the -little pastor and laying down the law to him in his usual dogmatic -fashion. “The women and young girls have gone crazy over fashions and -furbelows. This girl from the city that her brother’s brought here is -stirring up the whole community to vanity and foolishness. - -“Such a disgraceful scene as is being enacted on the porch our town -council would not have allowed exhibited on the ungodly stage of the -Opera House. Our people are becoming contaminated, Mr. Middler, with -the bacilli of the modern craze for amusement. I tell you, our church -is in danger. Were I once more the occupant of that pulpit,” added the -Elder, with angry desire, “I would thunder forth such a denunciation of -these goings-on as would rock Polktown to its foundations, sir.” - -“I am not sure,” rejoined mild Mr. Middler, “that denunciations count -for much in these days, Elder. The people have learned to think and to -choose for themselves. As for this silly wave of overdressing among the -younger women, to oppose it would be like trying to stop water from -seeking its level.” - -“Hah!” snorted the Elder, his head high and his eyes glowing. - -“The rage for vain adornment will run its course--it is bound to,” -proceeded Mr. Middle, “like the scarlet fever. Nothing that is not -fatal can stop it. Our girls are not wicked even if they are silly. -And perhaps all is not even silliness. Polktown is growing; we are -advancing in many ways----” - -“Tut, tut!” exploded the Elder. “I am tired of that ‘progress’ idea. We -have had too much of it. I am sorry I ever countenanced the first new -thing.” - -“You surely would not say the Public Library is not a good thing, -Elder?” cried Mr. Middler. - -“I don’t know but I would. It was a wedge--a wedge driv’ by that -little Day girl. And now she’s flittering about the roads in one -of those devil wagons that I am convinced, Brother Middler, was -prophesied against in the Book of Daniel.” Here, having reached a more -satisfactory subject for discussion, the old Elder spread forth before -his ministerial friend the prophetical statements of the great hero of -Biblical history anent the automobile craze of the present day. - -Janice had helped all afternoon to prepare the feast of the evening, -and then waited on table. She did not even go to watch the dancing on -the veranda, and she was glad to see that Nelson Haley was not in the -crowd at the house. Indeed, she served him at one end of a long table -that was about half filled with guests. - -“It is too bad, too,” she confided to the teacher, “for that dancing -is just ruining the ladies’ chance of making enough money to get new -shades for the church parlors. You know that was what they held this -lawn fête for.” - -“What’s the matter with everybody?” asked Nelson, good-naturedly. “Not -that I ever could see the reason for insulting one’s stomach with -hot beans and brownbread, and cold cream and cake, even in the most -righteous cause.” - -“But these are the viands expected,” said Janice, her eyes dancing. -“New England combinations of food were a mystery to me when I first -came here. And one combination still remains a puzzle.” - -“What’s that?” asked Nelson, entering into the spirit of kindly -raillery which she had evinced. - -“Why, oh, why, do they always serve cheese with pie? It is like the -pilot-fish before the shark, or that bird they say always accompanies -the rhinoceros; one can never be seen without the other. No housewife -in Polktown would serve a piece of pie without putting a slab of cheese -on the plate beside it.” - -“Good gastronomic reason for it,” declared Nelson, confidently. “As -the Frenchman says, ‘Ze cheese, he cor-r-rects ze reechness of heem.’ -However, Janice, if you please, you may bring me another helping of -beans--I recognize their flavor--they are Mother Beasely’s; and I will -have my ice-cream and some of Miss ’Rill’s chocolate cake afterward.” - -“I see you like to insult your stomach once in a while, too,” she -laughed, as she tripped away to fill his order. - -Annette’s dancing exhibition seemed to promise a distinct gain for -Janice Day. Nelson did not go near the veranda, but sat and talked with -her during her flittings to and fro. There was so much interest shown -by the spectators in the music and dancing that the Ladies’ Aid did -suffer in pocket and Janice had plenty of time to talk. - -She learned that the board of the college which had called Nelson had -agreed to keep the position open for him for another year, so he was to -stay in Polktown. The increase in his salary he could send to the old -aunt who had helped him get an education. On her part, Janice explained -her reason for attending school in Middletown, and what a great help -Daddy’s present was going to be to her in getting back and forth. - -But the real source of the difference between them--the barrier o’er -which their confidences could not leap--was touched upon by neither. -Nelson could not speak about Frank Bowman, nor could Janice open her -lips about Annette. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -ONE SATURDAY AFTERNOON - - -From the evening of the lawn party (the Ladies’ Aid was bitter about -that) Annette Bowman’s influence upon the younger element of Polktown -was established. Contrary to her brother’s expectations, Annette did -not find the little provincial town a bore. Indeed, she began to “have -the time of her young, sweet life,” as Frank confessed, with chagrin, -to Janice. - -“I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I thought -she would be disgusted with the place in a day--dead sore on it in a -week--and desirous of never hearing the word ‘Polktown’ mentioned as -long as she lived, when she turned her back on it and hiked for New -York, where we have a lively bunch of cousins. - -“But what do you think?” continued the amazed young civil engineer. -“She is talking now of our taking a house, if one can be found, hiring -a woman to do the work, and remaining all winter. For I shall be on -this job, I expect, all this year and next. She declares she is going -to wake Polktown up. She is going to innovate carpet dances, and hopes -to see frequent balls in the Odd Fellows’ Hall, and wants to stir up -the whole place as it hasn’t been stirred since the Year One. - -“Believe me, Miss Janice! I didn’t think it was in her. I thought -she would make everybody laugh at her, or angry with her, inside of -a week--everybody she met, I mean. And I declare! Old Mrs. Parraday -almost worships her already. That funny little Mrs. Scattergood--the -mother of your friend--has been to call on her, and Annette put herself -out to delight the old lady. - -“Old Dexter is beginning to stop and talk whenever he meets her; and -if you’ll believe it, she was in Massey’s drug store yesterday with -Maggie Price and Mrs. Price, and she was teaching those old loafers -that congregate there--Cross Moore, and Dexter, and Len Phinney--some -dancing steps. - -“She says what they need and what she is going to import--if she can -get one--is a dancing teacher. What do you know about that? A dancing -teacher, no less! Says people ought not to be allowed to grow up and -just exist, as folks do here, until Death reaps ’em, without getting -any joy out of life.” - -“I guess she’s right as far as that goes, Mr. Bowman,” said Janice -reflectively. - -“Well, I think she got it all out of a book,” said the young engineer, -rather doubtfully. “You never heard such talk in your life! I imagine -it’s just a pose of Annette’s. She’s a nice enough girl, but she’s got -Aunt Lettie’s idea of always being in the public eye. I don’t know how -long the Polktown public will stand for her.” - -There was a branch of it already that was displeased with Annette -Bowman, as Janice very well knew. The ladies of the Aid Society laid -it all to her that they had not made a financial success of the lawn -party. People had been so much interested in the exhibitions of dancing -on the Prices’ porch that they had forgotten to spend their money at -the tables. So, much of the food prepared had been wasted. - -Elder Concannon led a party, too, who opposed the régime of the city -girl, though that was a chronic opposition that did not count for much, -after all. And Miss Bowman set out at once to charm away the grouch -of the Ladies’ Aid. She succeeded to a degree, for she was willing to -be interviewed upon the subject of dress morning, noon and night, and -idling about the village as she did all day, she was always ready to be -questioned, and offered advice in the matter of style, in and out of -season. - -Janice and Annette did not meet frequently. The former could not -complain of any particular neglect upon the part of Frank’s sister--not -at all! Nor did Miss Bowman slight her when they were in company -together. Only the girl from the fashionable boarding school appeared -to set Janice in her place as a girl of much tenderer years; which -might have hurt Janice had she been sensitive about her lack of age. - -Frank often expressed his desire that Janice and Annette should be good -friends; but, to tell the truth, neither girl desired any intimacy. -They had few tastes in common. Whereas Janice Day was as ready and as -eager for a good time as any normal girl possibly could be, her idea of -amusement was not always in accord with the ideas of Annette and the -crowd of girls whom she very quickly won to her train. - -Janice had her car, and she could have filled it every afternoon with -a party of girls of her own age, and ridden about the country, or to -Middletown or some neighboring hamlet. But Janice found most of the -girls distasteful to her. When she had first come to Polktown the big -girls in Miss ’Rill Scattergood’s school had been very unkind. Their -treatment had driven Janice to find companionship and friends in other -directions. She visited more people like Miss ’Rill and her mother, -Hopewell Drugg, the Hammett Twins, and the like, than she did houses -where there were girls of her own age. - -She did not wish to be considered arrogant, or selfish; therefore -she had asked many of the girls to ride with her. But almost always -her companions talked of things that did not interest Janice in the -least. Of late the conversation of most of the girls of a companionable -age was made up of fashion and dress, while they sang the praises of -Annette Bowman, what she was doing and what she was going to do. - -“I am afraid I must be jealous of her,” thought Janice, with some -horror. “I even wish Mr. Bowman would stop talking about her. And I am -sure she dislikes me. I never did feel just so about anybody in my life -before.” - -So she took out older ladies in her car almost entirely. Sometimes she -went to call on the Hammett Twins--Miss Blossom and Miss Pussy. Neither -of them had plucked up sufficient courage to ride in Janice’s car; but -they loved to have the girl come to see them. - -And when she was alone, she liked to ride around by the squatters’ -cabin in Elder Concannon’s woods. Not that she could get near to the -Trimmins children, nor did she meet their mother again. But she had -such a deep interest in the black-haired girl, Jinny, that Janice -actually could not keep her out of her mind. - -“There must be something I can do for her. There is something to do -for all the girls around town of her age. They are running wild--a -good many of them; and they will grow up to be as silly as their older -sisters are now, if something isn’t found to interest them.” - -Not that this problem occupied all Janice Day’s thought. Since the lawn -party she had hoped that Nelson Haley would become more friendly again. -She heartily wished that she had been able that evening to broach the -subject of their estrangement, but there had been too many people -around to enter into any private conversation. - -He did not seem to be with Annette so much during these few days before -the school opened, but Janice did not happen to run across him save -in some public place. She was looking forward to the next Sunday and -determined to try to get the school teacher to stroll home with her, as -he had formerly been so fond of doing. Saturday, however, intervened; -and Saturday was a fateful day. - -If Janice had but known it, Nelson Haley was quite as desirous of -being friendly with her as she was with him. In spite of his careless, -easy-going manner, the young man was sensitive in the extreme. The -sight of Frank Bowman speeding about town with Janice in her car had -hurt Nelson. - -Then slighting little remarks that Annette had let drop served to fan -the flame of Nelson’s jealousy. Annette continued to speak of Janice -and treat her as though she were a little girl. But she intimated -that Frank had become strangely enamored “of the child.” She chose to -consider Frank’s praise of Janice as intimating that her brother was in -love with her. Her sneering, laughing little quips about this supposed -attachment cut Nelson to the quick. - -For underneath Nelson Haley’s easy-going exterior was a serious -character that he seldom showed to the world. Janice knew it was there; -she had seen flashes of sentiment and of strength that few people -who met the school teacher would ever have suspected was back of his -semi-humorous smile and light-hearted speech. To Janice he had confided -his desires and hopes regarding his future career. It had been her -suggestion that perhaps, after all, he should teach another year in -Polktown before accepting the offer from the small college which he had -received a few weeks before. - -Nelson missed his quiet little talks with the girl. She had been a -help and an inspiration to him and he had long since learned to think -much of her. The way she seemed to have taken Frank Bowman, the civil -engineer, into her confidence, and to have made a companion of him, -did not please Nelson at all. He could not understand Janice’s being -fickle; yet it seemed as though she must be. Why--the day she and Marty -came to the hotel and drove off with Frank in the car, Janice had not -even suggested his going along! And there were seats for four. He and -Bowman’s sister might have been asked to join the party, crowding Marty -in with them. - -Take it all in all, Nelson Haley had spent a very uncomfortable -summer. It had been nothing like what he expected when school closed in -June and he had come to Janice with the offer he had received from the -college faculty to join it in the fall. He thought he had “made good” -with her then; and she had been more than kind to him. Now he felt -Janice was becoming a stranger. - -It bothered Nelson in his studies (he had spent most of the summer in -preparing for his work in the Polktown school for the coming winter) -and finally, on this Saturday before the opening of the term, he -determined that he must have a fair and square understanding with -Janice, and free his mind. - -He came downtown immediately after dinner, did some errands, and then -walked up Hillside Avenue to the old Day house. Had he glanced into the -rain-soaked roadway (it had showered the night before) he would have -seen the wheel-tracks of Janice’s automobile; but he saw with a pang -that the garage door was open when he reached the house. - -“I declare for’t, Mr. Haley!” exclaimed Aunt ’Mira, coming to the door -to meet him. “Janice? If she ain’t jest gone! Didn’t you meet her? -I declare for’t! She gits about in that ortermobile as lively as a -water-witch. Marty, he’s gone fishin’, so Janice said she’d run over -an’ take Miss ’Rill and her mother out for a run. She’ll be back ’long -about five. Won’t you stop, Mr. Haley?” - -But the disappointed school teacher refused her polite offer, and Aunt -’Mira went back to the wonderful gown she was making with a sigh of -relief. Haley returned to Mrs. Beasely’s cottage. As he passed Hopewell -Drugg’s store he heard the storekeeper’s violin and saw the flutter of -a white dress on the side porch between the store and the dwelling. - -“Why, there’s Miss ’Rill now!” he thought, in some surprise. “Can it be -possible that Janice is with her?” - -But he saw no sign of the car anywhere about, and was quite sure that -Janice would not have lent it to anybody. Nelson walked across the -street for a nearer view of Drugg’s vine-enshrouded porch. Hopewell -was sawing away at the gay little tune he now played so much, “Jingle -Bells.” Miss ’Rill and he were alone. - -Nelson felt almost a physical pang at the discovery. Surely Aunt ’Mira -could not have been mistaken as to what Janice had told her. Nor could -the girl have already taken out the Scattergoods and returned. - -Suspicion took hold upon the young man’s mind, and it was all the -keener as jealousy tinged it. Almost in spite of himself he began -to walk toward High Street. The Scattergoods lived just around the -corner, having half of a double cottage, with a pretty flower-garden in -front and a bit of lawn. - -He came in sight of this and there was old lady Scattergood, in her -sunbonnet and garden gloves, working in the flower-bed. Surely she had -not been automobiling, nor did she expect to go this afternoon. - -Nelson stopped, hesitated, then turned on his heel with the sudden -stiffening all through his body that proclaimed indignation. It looked -as though Janice had not told her aunt the truth. He would never have -suspected the girl of speaking a falsehood! He strode down the hill -toward the hotel. He was determined to find out if Frank Bowman was -there. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -A GRIST OF SMALL HAPPENINGS - - -Unconscious that Fate was putting her in a very unhappy position with -Nelson, Janice was experiencing a number of small adventures on this -Saturday afternoon. - -She had arranged with Miss ’Rill and her mother to take them to -Middletown for some shopping; but they were not, after all, ready to -make the trip. It must be put off for another week, and Janice agreed -to the change in the arrangements. Having the car with her she did not -feel like staying at the Scattergoods’ little home for a call, so drove -on up the hill. - -There was a little flock of women out in front of Frederica Morgan’s -house. Her cousin from Montpelier was dressed for departure, and -had her bags piled on the sidewalk in a small pyramid. Frederica’s -daughter, Cala, was likewise dressed for a journey. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Janice, stopping at the horse-block, and -seeing that the whole party was excited over something. - -“That plagued Walky Dexter jest sent word that his old Josephus has -gone an’ fell lame and he can’t take us to the train. Drat the man!” -exclaimed Mrs. Morgan, who was a gaunt-looking, masculine sort of -woman. “Mahala here has sent word to her folks to meet her to-night -with their carry-all at the Montpelier station, and Cala was goin’ with -her on a visit. Now they won’t ever know what’s become of Mahala and -Cala till some time Monday. Polktown is sure enough the sawed-off end -o’ nothin’! We could all be wiped off the earth here and nobody outside -the town would know it for three days.” - -Janice had begun to smile as Mrs. Morgan talked. Now she broke in with: - -“Let me help you out, please. I have nothing particular to do, and I -can take you over to Middletown in ample time for the train.” - -“Gracious, Janice! we couldn’t all pile into that ortermobile with our -baggage,” gasped Cala, who was a freckled, stringy girl, promising to -be just as awkward as her mother. - -“Is your mother going?” asked Janice doubtfully. - -“She ain’t gotter,” spoke up Frederica promptly. She was a widow, and -masterful, and everybody called her by her first name. “I dunno but I’m -bridle-shy of them gasoline things, anyway. And I can kiss Mahala and -Cala right here jest as well as though I went dean to the Middletown -station with ’em.” - -So it was quickly arranged. Mahala and Mrs. Morgan’s daughter got into -the tonneau, and the various bags and extension boxes were piled in -about them and about Janice on the front seat. The car was started -slowly, amid a chorus of “good-byes” and Janice took the longer way to -Middletown over the mountain. There was plenty of time, it was a lovely -afternoon, and the rain the night before had laid the dust. - -They passed few other vehicles,--no other automobiles--and experienced -no accidents at all during the drive. Janice left the pleased ladies -at the station a good half hour before the train was due. Then she -drove out to the seminary to speak with the assistant principal about -the purchase of some text books. Her work at the school would begin on -Wednesday of the next week. Already some of the girls who came from a -distance were at the school, and Janice was introduced to two or three. - -They seemed pleasant, and Janice was bound to be popular because of her -car, if for no other reason. The girls admired the Kremlin and finally -climbed in and were driven downtown for an ice-cream “orgie.” It was, -therefore, late in the afternoon when Janice left by the Lower Road for -Polktown. - -“I like those girls--and they are city girls, too,” she thought, as she -sped along. “They are not a bit like Annette Bowman. And how prettily -they were dressed! Perhaps I do not pay as much attention to my dresses -as I ought. Aunt ’Mira may be right. I will buy some new ones,” she -determined, for Daddy had sent her a sum of money for deposit in a -Middletown bank, and she could check out against this and pay her own -personal expenses. - -She was very glad, indeed, to find the girls she was to associate with -at school so different from Frank Bowman’s sister. And thinking of the -civil engineer--there he was right in the road ahead! - -His appearance startled Janice. She had heard from Marty that Frank had -to take the evening boat for Popham Landing and be away over Sunday on -a business matter connected with the building of the railroad bridge. -So his presence half way between Middletown and Polktown, less than an -hour before the departure of the boat from the Polktown dock, certainly -did amaze the girl. - -“What has happened?” she demanded shrilly, stopping the car just behind -Frank, who was stooping over a bicycle lying in the road. - -He jumped up quickly, evidently not having heard the quietly running -car. - -“Janice Day!” he cried, in joy. “And you are running empty?” - -“There isn’t anybody hiding in the tonneau,” she said, laughing. “What -has happened?” - -“I’ve broken down. I had to run over to Middletown this morning, and I -started back right after luncheon. Had plenty of time, I thought. But -see that sprocket-wheel! Must have been a fault in it somewhere. I’ve -tried to tinker the thing and make it go until I am pretty near mad!” - -“Marty says you have to go away to-night?” suggested Janice. - -“I’m due to go on the boat; but unless you help me I can’t catch it,” -said Frank. - -“Put your wheel in the car and hop in yourself, Mr. Bowman,” said -Janice briskly. “I’ll get you to the dock, all right.” - -She did as she promised, although there were none too many minutes to -spare when they came down to the Polktown dock. The councilmen, without -any knowledge of what it meant in wear and tear on a motor-car engine, -had long since made an ordinance ordering motorists to travel within -the town limits at a speed not exceeding eight miles an hour; and -Janice really tried to conform to the law. - -Janice knew that the town constable had timed her doubtfully on several -occasions; but all he had was an old silver watch as big as the nickel -star on his bosom, the second hand of which was broken, and before he -had the Kremlin’s speed computed, Janice was usually out of sight. - -The constable was not in evidence on this occasion as the car came -down to the wharf. But Nelson Haley was. Janice did not see the school -teacher, and as the _Constance Colfax_ was already blowing her whistle -at the dock, Frank had little observation for anybody. He leaped out -of the car, lifted down the broken bicycle, left it in Walky Dexter’s -care, and then turned to bid Janice good-bye. - -“I’m a thousand times obliged to you, Janice Day,” he said, shaking -hands with the girl warmly. “You are a friend in need. I do believe -that car of yours helps more people than we realize. It is a regular -institution--Polktown could not get along without it.” - -Janice laughed, and waved her hand to him as he ran to cross the -gangplank. The steamer pulled out at once and the girl turned her car -carefully upon the dock, and went back up the hill. - -It was then that she saw Nelson standing at the corner of the freight -shed. She was about to slow down, and she nodded to the school teacher -and smiled. Nelson responded very stiffly, and turned away. He did not -offer to speak to her, and Janice drove the Kremlin up the hill with a -new feeling of despondency. - -She could not hope to see the young school teacher very frequently -thereafter, for his work began on Monday morning. The Polktown school -had increased in membership until Haley had to have two assistants. -Pupils remained for higher studies than had been the custom in the -old school, and fewer Polktown boys and girls went to the Middletown -business college and academy. - -Marty, after some sulking, went back to school. The thing that -encouraged him most to do this was the fact that Frank Bowman had -explained to him the impossibility of his ever being a civil engineer -unless he at first secured a good, all-round education. - -“It’s goin’ to be powerful lonely about the house with ev’rybody gone, -I declare for’t!” sighed Aunt ’Mira. “I should think you’d be satisfied -with the book-larnin’ you’d already got, Janice.” - -Just the same, she was desirous that Marty should remain in attendance -at the town school; and she put up a very attractive basket of luncheon -for Janice to take in the car. Janice did not have to start until about -eight o’clock to reach the seminary by the time recitations began. Day -scholars were not required to report at chapel. - -Aunt ’Mira did find the time hang heavy on her hands after her -housework was done. One could not read love stories all the time. In -fact, the supply of _Household Love Letters_, and its ilk, ran out. -But it was about this time that Polktown was introduced to something -entirely new--and by Annette Bowman. - -A little dapper man, with black curls and a waxed mustache, appeared -at the Lake View Inn. Although Mel Parraday and his wife were glad to -see guests come so late in the season, had he not been vouched for by -Annette, this stranger would never have received a cordial welcome, to -say the least, at Polktown’s single hostelry. - -In the beginning, he was a foreigner. Mel “opined” at first that he was -a “Canuck,” which was the local appellation for Canadians of French -extraction. Polktown people did not welcome any influx of foreigners. - -Mr. Bogarti engaged the use of the Odd Fellows’ Hall for the -afternoons. Then he sent a boy around with cards announcing that his -mission in life was to teach dancing--especially the modern steps. -Annette had done good missionary work for Mr. Bogarti. As he was to -give much individual attention to his pupils, and the dancing classes -were for only three hours in the afternoon, he very quickly had all he -wanted to do every day save Sunday. - -He took private pupils for his off hours, going to their houses if they -so desired. - -He was wise enough to invite visitors to his public classes, and Aunt -’Mira was one of several ladies who went to look on. She dared only -sit on a bench at first, perspiring enviously as she saw some women -quite as old as herself essaying the graceful steps that make up some -of the simpler new dances. - -At last she was invited to try, she was tempted, she fell! Not -literally, luckily for the foundations of the Odd Fellows’ Building. -Secretly Aunt ’Mira tried to become a dancer. Years before, when she -was a young girl, although always plump, she had been very light on her -feet and had enjoyed the old-fashioned square dances. Hope was awakened -in Aunt ’Mira’s soul. She greatly wished to go back to the Land of -Yesterday; and if youth could be overtaken, as they said, by more or -less painful gyrations on the dancing floor, she was determined to do -her very utmost to attain the proper movements. - -She put none of Janice’s board money in the bank that month. For the -extra twenty dollar bill, Mr. Bogarti patiently taught her in private. -He was really a lover of his art and he believed faithfully that anyone -could, with patience, be taught to dance. - -Poor Aunt ’Mira groaned and wept in secret at first. She had carried -around a superabundance of flesh for many years; and what it did to her -at first to joggle and shake herself upon the polished planks of the -Odd Fellows’ floor was, as Marty would have said had he known about -it, “a shame!” - -Marty was safe at school. Janice was away all day at the seminary. -Uncle Jason had taken the contract to build Hiram Bulger’s new barn. -And that fall in Polktown there were more women than Aunt ’Mira keeping -secrets from their husbands and families. - -Early one morning while Marty was at the barn and Janice was making a -more lingering toilet than usual in her room, Uncle Jason happened to -shuffle in at the kitchen door unexpectedly. The rich odor of frying -pork filled the room and was wafted invitingly out of doors. The blue -smoke from the huge griddle on which the flapjacks were baking made a -halo about Aunt ’Mira’s head. - -“I vum, Almiry! Be ye gone clean daft?” gasped her husband, in horror. - -Aunt ’Mira had been so earnest in her endeavors that she had not heard -his approach. A strip of pork was poised on the fork held in her left -hand, while the cake-turner waved aloft in the other; and Aunt ’Mira -was counting: - -“One, two, dip; one, two, dip; one, two, three, slide.” - -She came up, facing Uncle Jason, after a sweeping “sink” that would -seem impossible for a lady of her build to accomplish. - -“Almiry! what air you doin’?” ejaculated her husband again. - -“Dancin’,” said his wife meekly. - -“Doin’ _what_?” - -“Dancin’. Them’s some of the new steps.” - -“‘Steps’? Them warn’t steps, Almiry.” - -“So they call ’em, Jason,” she said, meekly enough. “They say them -steps will help ter remove super-floo-ous flesh, and build up tissue.” - -“Great Cannibal Islands!” exploded Uncle Jason. “Ye don’t mean ter say -ye think that you air made of _tissue_? That’s too thin--huh!” and he -snorted his disgust. “And what’s become of your rheumatism? You was -gruntin’ an’ groanin’ here a spell back if ye had to stoop and pick -up the poker; and now ye air slinkin’ an’ slidin’ about here like an -overgrown eel. I never seen the beat! Have all ye wimmen gone plumb -crazy? Don’t, for massy’s sake, let the children see ye--an old woman -like you!” - -That last finally struck a spark from Aunt ’Mira. She had meekly -returned to the turning of the pork and flapjacks; now she exclaimed: - -“I ain’t! I ain’t old--nor you ain’t old, Jason Day! That’s jest it--we -let our elves sag back an’ feel old! But we oughtn’t to--no, sir! It’s -our duty to keep young. Dancing helps do it, and keeps us limber. We’re -only in the prime o’ life, you an’ me, Jason. We ain’t no right to act -like one foot was in the grave an’ the other all but. No, sir! - -“‘Don’t let yourself sag!’ That’s what the dancin’ teacher says. Keep -it in mind ter walk straight, an’ hold yer head up; when ye can, take a -few steps for exercise.” - -“My soul an’ body, Almiry! _Stop it!_ Don’t wiggle that-a-way again,” -gasped Uncle Jason, as his good lady executed a few more posturings. -“’Tain’t decent! And here’s Marty a-comin’ in with the milk.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -LITTLE LOTTIE’S HOME-COMING - - -Janice was having a good time at school. She found the girls attending -the Middletown Seminary quite to her taste. They were hearty, healthy, -sensible; and most of them were very kind to her. The management of the -school was excellent. The teachers had just enough oversight of the -girls, out of classes as well as in, to keep up the proper relationship -between the pupils and themselves. - -Mrs. Protherick, the principal, was a very lovely lady, Janice thought; -and the under teachers all treated the day scholar from Polktown with -most delightful friendliness. Janice was very busy with her studies, -for she felt her deficiencies. Two years makes a long break in one’s -education. But such time as she had to spend with her fellow pupils -delighted the girl from Polktown. - -One change in Janice which the school soon made pleased her aunt. She -bought several ready-to-wear dresses in Middletown, and Aunt ’Mira -was allowed to go along and help pick them out. Nor did Aunt ’Mira -lack good sense in the selection of frocks for a girl of her niece’s -age; it was only in her own adornment that she was inclined to go to -extremes. - -The run back and forth in the car was usually a very pleasant one. -The Vermont woods were aflame with fall glories. Sometimes on the way -to the seminary she loaded her car with gorgeous branches for the -adornment of her friends’ rooms; or, going home, she stopped to pick up -glossy brown chestnuts under the trees, or shake down hickory nuts in -their golden-brown sheaths. - -She seldom failed to take the Upper Road coming home from school, and -had found a short-cut through a private lane into the wood road that -passed the Trimmins’ cabin. So she saw much of those wild children, -including the girl with the black hair. - -Not that she spoke much with them, for usually if Janice undertook -to address one of them, there was a pert response, especially from -Jinny or the red-haired boy, Tom. But the little ones began to be more -friendly, for she secretly bought their confidence with lollypops and -other goodies. - -Virginia had had some schooling, it was plain. Janice frequently caught -the wild little mob playing school, and the black-haired girl was -always the teacher. Janice tried to interest her in a meeting that had -been planned for on a Saturday afternoon in the old vestry of the Union -Church. - -“You will like it, Virginia,” she said to the scowling, doubtful young -Arab. “It’s just a society for girls of your age--nobody there to boss -you, or make you do anything you don’t like. And after the society is -organized, the girls are going to have lots of good times.” - -“What doing?” demanded Jinny. - -“For one thing, they are going to sew dolls’ clothes. There will be -somebody there to teach you just how to cut them out, and fit them, and -sew them. And----” - -“Ain’t got no doll!” snapped Jinny. “That’s baby-play. Don’t want t’ -come to church. Ye always have to take money.” - -“There will be no collection taken up,” Janice assured her. “There will -be tea and cakes and a little entertainment of some kind every Saturday -afternoon. And if it is too far for you and your two sisters to walk, -I’ll come and get you in my car.” - -That last was a temptation. It was Janice’s high card and she played it -knowingly. Jinny hesitated--but she was not lost. She shook her head -stubbornly, and poked her bare toe into the sand--for these children -ran bare-legged long after frost. - -“Won’t come!” she snarled with finality. “We-uns don’t want nothin’ t’ -do with you Yanks, no-ways. I ain’t got no doll. I hate ’em! Go ’long!” - -But Janice was sure that the maternal instinct was just as strong in -Virginia Trimmins as it was in any little girl in Polktown. She saw her -so many times nursing the baby; and she looked after her small brothers -and sisters with all the solicitude of a mother-hen with a flock of -chicks. Indeed, these days, the baby of the family, a wan little boy, -seemed seldom out of Jinny’s arms. He was sickly; but what was the -matter with him Janice could not find out. - -With her new interests at school, Janice had not forgotten her desire -to help and interest the younger girls; and out of this desire -had grown the society with which she was endeavoring to net the -black-haired Trimmins girl. Janice had interested Mr. and Mrs. Middler, -and they were enthusiastic for the plan. The good minister knew that -something should be done to counteract the influence of Annette Bowman -and the people whom she had enthralled. The little girls should be -taught to be happy and sensible at the same time. The large class of -girls of Janice’s age and older were becoming more and more frivolous. - -Mrs. Middler agreed to teach the sewing class; Janice arranged novel -little entertainments for the girls--stereopticon pictures; once a real -Punch and Judy show; marionette entertainments; and an occasional talk -by one of the teachers from the Middletown Seminary, whom she easily -interested in the new society. Chocolate and cakes were supplied by -the ladies of the Aid Society, and the new club became popular after -the very first meeting. - -Thus Janice’s mind, and heart, and hands were very full. Yet she had -time to plan for another long expected event. Little Lottie Drugg was -coming home, and Janice determined that her return should be celebrated -in some way to delight the storekeeper’s child. - -She conferred with Miss ’Rill and together they swept and garnished -the living-rooms, bought Lottie a dainty white and gold chamber set, -painted and re-papered the child’s room--making it the daintiest nest -that a little girl ever could have. Janice bought lanterns and flags to -decorate the front of the old shop, too; and Hopewell overhauled his -stock, re-dressed his windows, and otherwise prepared the old place for -the return of the little girl who could _see_. - -Janice and Miss ’Rill went to meet her with the car. One of the -teachers traveled from Boston with her, and when little Lottie came -down the car steps it was almost impossible for the two friends to -believe it was she, she had grown so, and was so changed in other ways. - -No more groping in the dark, with hand outstretched to guide her! Nor -did she skuff her feet on the platform as so many deaf and mute people -are apt to do when they walk. Her tread was as light and springy as -that of any child. Her eyes never had appeared blind, but now there was -a light in them that they had not held before. - -She hesitated just a moment when she saw Janice and Miss ’Rill; but -she knew them both, and with a happy little cry flew lightly to them. -She hugged them both; and she clung to Janice’s hand after the first -greeting was over. - -“Janice! Janice! I love you,” she whispered. “If it wasn’t for you -I wouldn’t see at all, and, maybe, I’d fall down the cellar opening -again.” - -The school had wonderfully improved Lottie. She chattered volubly, -and although she watched the movements of her friends’ lips alertly, -she really heard very well, indeed. The tones of her voice had become -modulated--were sweeter and less shrill. - -When they came in the swift-moving car to the path that led down to -the abandoned old wharf at Pine Cove, which had been Lottie’s favorite -haunt, she begged to run down and hear if “her echo” was there. Janice -went with her and Lottie made her way out upon the wharf rather -gingerly. In her blindness she had run over the shaking timbers without -the least fear; now she could see the black tide swirling among the -piles beneath her feet. - -“He-a! he-a! he-a!” she shrieked, and the echo answered promptly her -cry: “’E-a! ’e-a! ’e-a!” - -Lottie turned to Janice, pale with delight. “I heard it! it’s there!” -she gasped. “I know you writed me it was, but I couldn’t hardly expect -it to wait so long for me. What a nice, nice echo it is; isn’t it, -Janice?” - -Lottie was delighted, of course, with the motor-car; and when they -swung up to the wide stoop before the grocery store, she was only -sorry the ride had been so short. When she saw Hopewell standing in -the doorway, with his arms outstretched and the tears running down his -cheeks, Lottie flung herself at him with a cry of delight and forgot -all about the automobile, and everything else. - -The reunion was a touching one. Janice and Miss ’Rill left at once -in the car, and Miss ’Rill only went back at supper time to prepare -the meal for the father and his little daughter. Hopewell could play -nothing but lively tunes _that_ night on his old fiddle, and “Jingle -Bells” and “Aunt Dinah’s Quilting Party” were scarcely lively enough to -express his exuberance of spirit. - -Now Miss ’Rill was willing to set the time for her wedding. Little -Lottie was delighted at the idea of having her for a “new mamma.” She -confided to Janice one day soon after her return: - -“You know, Janice, the other little girls where I was all talked about -their mammas, and how good mammas were to have, and I couldn’t say a -word, ’cept about my father. Of course, I told ’em he was better than -most mammas; but they wouldn’t b’lieve me. So I jest prayed hard that -I would have a mamma--and there couldn’t be one nicer, I’m sure, than -Miss ’Rill. - -“I’m going to call her ‘Mamma ’Rill’--it’s such a pretty name,” went -on Lottie. “She says she’ll not mind what I call her so long as I love -her. Who wouldn’t love Miss ’Rill?” - -“That is true, Lottie,” agreed Janice. “And I know she will be devoted -to you, just as though you were her owniest own little girl!” - -“And we’re going to make papa happy together--she says so,” declared -Lottie. “He isn’t sorry any more; and he plays real lively tunes on his -fiddle. I like them best, too, for I can hear them now; and the sad, -quavery tunes make me cry.” - -Winter was coming on in earnest. The cornfields were dreary looking -and the puddles in the roadway of a morning were mirrors of black ice -as Janice’s car whisked over them on her way to school. She must look -forward now to bad weather and heavy snows, when she would be obliged -to remain in Middletown until Friday evening, and come back home with -Walky Dexter, returning with him to school on Monday morning. - -While the weather remained brisk and dry there was still much enjoyment -to be had out of her car. Every close friend she possessed in Polktown, -as well as at the seminary, had ridden once or more in the Kremlin, -except Nelson Haley. So far he had never stepped foot into her car. - -And it seemed that Nelson was drifting farther and farther away from -her. She seldom saw him during these autumn weeks to speak to, even at -church. In the usual public places he was almost always in attendance -on Frank Bowman’s sister. Annette selfishly acquired all the male -attention possible; Nelson was not alone in her train. But it was -Nelson’s case that troubled Janice. - -For the younger girl was sensible enough to see that the school -teacher was hurting himself in the eyes of Polktown people by dancing -attendance upon the city girl. Annette had led social affairs for some -time now; but she overstepped the bounds of what many of the quieter -people of the town considered decent. - -Until her brother stopped it--and stopped it with indignation--she had -allowed the traveling salesmen that came to the inn to take her about -to country dances, boating parties, and the like. At several parlor -dances, too, Annette had been Bogarti’s partner in new and daring -expositions of the modern steps. And her evening frocks were very, very -décolleté. - -Gradually the nicer people began to fall away from Annette. Even some -of the bolder and faster girls were made by their parents to keep away -from Miss Bowman. When a girl begins to be talked about in a country -town her reputation is very likely to be ruined for life; and although -the city girl did absolutely nothing that Gossip could point at as -wicked, she was traveling a very narrow path along the Precipice of -Public Opinion. - -Janice feared that Nelson’s influence in the school would be hurt -because of his attentions to Annette. Was it her business to try and -save him from his own folly, and from the influence of the city girl? -That query long puzzled and worried Janice Day. Her desire was to -save the school teacher from the results of his course of action; but -the puzzle was how to do so without bringing unpleasant comment upon -herself. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -AN ERRAND OF MERCY - - -The Girls’ Guild was a growing and popular institution by this time. -Mothers declared it a great help, for they could trust their girls to -be in the old church vestry on Saturday afternoons, instead of parading -High Street in imitation of some of their older sisters. - -The boys had recently opened a gymnasium in the basement of the Public -Library Building, and Marty Day and his chums seldom hung around the -livery stable or the groceries nowadays. Their younger sisters were -given the opportunity to enjoy themselves in an innocent yet lively way -under Janice’s management and Mrs. Middler’s care. - -Janice had been unable to get Virginia Trimmins and the two sisters -nearest her age to the Guild. The black-haired girl repulsed every -attempt Janice made to lead her. - -Not that she wouldn’t stop to talk to Janice now. Indeed, almost every -day that the Kremlin car bore Janice through the wood, Jinny exchanged -a few words with her. Almost always the black-haired girl bore the -sickly baby, wrapped in a ragged blanket, in her arms. - -“Haven’t you had the doctor see him?” asked Janice, pitying the poor -little fellow’s peaked face and his staring, almost expressionless, -eyes. - -“Doctors cost money, Pap says,” muttered Jinny. “We ain’t got none. We -hain’t never done had none!” she added desperately. - -“I am sure Doctor Poole would be able to help the little fellow if you -would take him to his office,” suggested Janice. - -“He’d want money, too.” - -“No. I am sure he would help the baby for nothing. He is the health -inspector of Polktown and gets a salary for it.” - -“Pap wouldn’t like it if I took him,” said Jinny reflectively. “An’ I -couldn’t kerry him so far.” - -“I’d take you both in the car,” urged Janice. - -“Nop,” said Virginia Trimmins, shaking her obstinate head. “I don’t -want no ride in your car. I reckon Buddy is a-gittin’ better,” and she -walked away with the poor little fellow. - -But there came a day when, as Janice drove up to the clearing in the -wood, she heard screams and wailing from the cabin. The door was open -but nobody appeared. She stopped the car and jumped out, venturing to -run to the door. - -“Oh! what is the matter?” she inquired, looking in. - -All the children except Virginia and the smaller ones were off in the -woods somewhere. The mother sat in a sway-backed rocker and moaned -to herself as she swung to and fro, her dirty apron over her head. -Virginia was hovering over the trundle bed in the corner, and Janice, -receiving no answer, tiptoed to her side. - -The poor little baby lay on the outside of the bed. A single glance -told the dreadful story. He was in convulsions. - -“Jinny! Jinny!” murmured Janice, seizing the black-haired girl by the -arm. “He must have a doctor! Let me get Doctor Poole!” - -“No, no!” wailed the mother, who heard her. “His pappy can’t never pay -for no doctor comin’ yere.” - -Jinny looked into Janice’s face dumbly. The latter motioned to her -quickly, whispering: - -“Wrap him up. Bring him quickly to the car. We’ll take him to the -doctor in spite of everything!” and as the other still hesitated, she -demanded: - -“Do you want to see him die, you cruel girl?” - -At that the black-haired girl wrapped the blanket around the suffering -baby and started for the door. - -“You want yo’ pappy should skin you alive, Jinny?” shrieked her mother, -but unable to rise. - -“Let him skin!” returned Virginia, as she darted out of the door. -Janice ran after her, and both girls leaped into the car. Janice -started it instantly and the Kremlin darted away along the wood road, -quickly leaving the squatters’ cabin out of sight. - -The two girls scarcely spoke a word all the way to Polktown. Janice -drove the car just as fast as she dared, and kept her eyes on the -road ahead. Virginia Trimmins hung over the baby boy, her hungry eyes -watching every change in his poor, pinched features. - -The car flew along the wood road and out upon the main highway. Elder -Concannon’s place was in sight when suddenly a tall figure rose up out -of the bushes beside the road. It quite startled Janice, although she -almost instantly recognized the Elder himself. - -The severe old man held his watch in his hand as the car dashed -by. Janice knew very well that she was exceeding the county speed -limit; but she would have pulled down just then for little less than -a gattling gun. And right ahead--they were on him in less than a -minute--was the constable, who darted out from behind a hedge, likewise -with his watch in his hand. - -“Stop that there car!” he yelled, holding up an admonitory hand. - -It was a trick. Janice knew instantly that the Elder and the constable -had engineered it particularly to catch her. She had been already told -that the Elder had reported more than once that she exceeded the -allowed speed for automobiles in passing his house. - -She not only exceeded the speed now, but she refused to obey the -constable’s mandate. To stop and try to explain to the two angry and -excited old men would delay getting for little Buddy Trimmins the -medical attention he needed. - -Janice did not even hesitate. - -The Kremlin car roared past the constable, who was fairly dancing at -the edge of the highway, and in a flash was out of sight. Janice knew -her escape was but for the moment. The Elder would undoubtedly press -the case against her. She would have to pay for refusing to stop, as -commanded; and her punishment might be severe. - -These thoughts flashed through her mind, it is true, but her heart was -set upon getting to Dr. Poole’s. All the time she was praying silently -that the good physician might be at home and able to do something to -help the baby. - -They roared down into High Street, the car going just as fast as she -had ever dared drive it. Fortunately there was not a vehicle in sight; -but pedestrians halted to watch her in wonder as she drove on and -stopped abruptly before the door of the doctor’s office. - -Virginia seemed dazed. The baby lay in her lap, unconscious--Janice -feared he scarcely breathed. But the older girl leaped out and ran up -the walk to the office door. It opened before she touched the knob and -the doctor himself appeared. - -“Who’ve you run over, Janice Day?” he demanded. “I’ve been expecting -it, and I saw you coming!” - -“It’s the little Trimmins baby. He’s in convulsions, Doctor. Do, do -help him!” - -“Convulsions? Run over? Strange result, Janice.” - -“Oh, don’t wait! it wasn’t I!” gasped the girl. “Don’t you see? I found -him in convulsions at their house and I made Jinny bring him on in my -car.” - -“Hah!” grunted the physician, and strode out to the sidewalk, where a -curious little crowd was gathering. One glance at the baby’s face, and -he exclaimed: - -“Bring him in! Quick, child!” - -This awoke the black-haired girl. She hugged the baby to her thin -breast and jumped out of the automobile. Dr. Poole hurried her into -the office and shut out the prying neighbors. Janice was the only one -he allowed to help him--and he found her during the next few minutes a -very practical helper, indeed. - -“Child! you ought to be a nurse,” he said finally, when he could talk -again. “You’re as handy as an old woman, and lots sprier. Now, now! -he’s coming out all right. You brought him just in time. Tell me about -it.” - -Janice told the story, and Virginia never said a word. She was a -strange, silent child in the company of adults. But she watched -everything that the doctor did for the baby and, without doubt, could -repeat all his ministrations herself if little Buddy had another ill -turn. - -“The old Elder held a watch on you, too?” chuckled the doctor, when he -heard the last of Janice’s tale. “That means business, then, Janice. -Like enough, they’ll put you in jail for the rest of your natural life. -It’s a terrible situation.” - -“Don’t make it out worse than it is, please, Doctor,” she begged, with -a rather feeble smile. “I am afraid they will make trouble.” - -“I know they will!” declared Dr. Poole, with assurance. “But we’ll -fix it so they’ll not do it till to-morrow. I’ll drive little sissy -here and the baby back to their home. I want to see that Trimmins man, -anyway.” - -“He ain’t got no money, Pappy hain’t,” here interposed Virginia gruffly. - -“But he’s got some little common sense, I hope!” snapped the good -doctor. “If he hasn’t, I’ll feel like knocking some into him. I’m going -to treat this child and I’m going to cure him; and I’m not going to -have ignorance and laziness stand in the way of his growing up to be a -bright, hearty boy. - -“I’ve thought,” said Dr. Poole reflectively, “that you children living -up there in the woods were all hearty and healthy, if you were not much -else. Perhaps I’ve neglected my duty about you; I’m not going to do so -any more. - -“There, Janice Day!” he added, turning again to her, “you are forever -starting something in this town. I’m inclined to think you are a -regular nuisance--I had enough to do before.” - -“Really, Doctor,” murmured Janice mildly. “This was quite involuntary. -I couldn’t very well let the poor little thing die.” - -“Hah! neither can I,” grunted Dr. Poole. “That’s what I mean. I’ve got -to _do something_ about these Trimmins people. I can see that plainly. -I don’t know that I’m so dreadfully grateful to you for awakening my -conscience in their behalf.” - -Janice drove home carefully, glad that little Buddy Trimmins was -out of danger; but it must be confessed that she feared what the -morrow--Saturday--would bring forth regarding her breaking of the speed -law on her errand of mercy. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE ELDER’S INDIGNATION - - -Marty came home full of it from the village that evening. Janice had -not said a word about her adventure of the afternoon, and Aunt ’Mira -had been too involved in her own particular troubles to notice the -gravity of her niece’s face. - -Aunt ’Mira had essayed the making of a pegtop skirt for street wear. As -she told Janice, “it fitted jest beautifully” over the hips. But when -she came to try it on, it was so narrow around her shoe-tops that she -couldn’t walk in it “no better than a hobbled hen!” - -“And I can’t slit it up the side same’s Miz’ Scattergood did hern,” -confessed Aunt ’Mira; “for Jason wouldn’t stand for it. He’s a -mild-tempered man; he kin be coaxed or led jest so fur, but he’d never -stand for me wearin’ a slit skirt. If I went to church in it I b’lieve -I’d find the door locked ag’in me when I got home. An’, b’sides,” -whispered the troubled lady, “I never can keep my stockin’s from -wrinklin’, and they might show! That Bowman girl’s do.” - -“Dear Auntie!” sighed Janice. “Why do you do it?” - -“Do what?” asked the large lady, startled. - -“Why are you a sheep? Why do you follow after all the other sheep? I’m -sure you can’t think these extremes of fashion pretty or modest.” - -“You talk like a reg’lar old woman, Janice Day!” exclaimed her aunt. -“What’s prettiness got to do with it? Ain’t it the _style_? Ye might as -well be dead an’ buried, an’ so save yer board, as to be out of style,” -declared the excited Mrs. Day. “And I’m a-goin’ to keep up with the -fashions, if it don’t break either my back or my pocketbook. If I can’t -lead the fashions, I kin foller them an’ make a decent showin’ for the -Day family.” - -“That’s exactly it,” murmured Janice. “Is it decent?” But Aunt ’Mira -did not hear. Marty came rushing in at this point and sprung his bomb. - -“My goodness, Janice!” he cried. “What you goin’ to do? They say Elder -Concannon’s swore out a warrant for you!” - -“What’s that you’re sayin’, Marty Day?” demanded his mother. “You’re -always comin’ home with your jokes; but you needn’t try to frighten -Janice.” - -“Well, it’s so now! Isn’t it, Janice?” - -“You behave, Marty!” commanded his father, without waiting for Janice -to reply. - -“Perhaps Marty tells the truth,” said his cousin quietly. - -“What?” gasped Mrs. Day. - -“Swore out a warrant? The old Elder? What fur?” demanded Mr. Day. - -“Is it really so, Marty?” asked Janice, herself surprised. - -“Yep. I got it straight. Saw him comin’ out of Judge Little’s office -with the constable.” - -“What’s he swore out a warrant for against your cousin, I want to -know?” demanded Aunt ’Mira. - -“Speedin’,” said Marty, grinning. “I knew they’d git her yet. Goin’ -to make an example of her, so they say. That’s what the Elder says. -’Course there’s so many other autermobilists in town, they need an -example. Mean old hunks!” - -Uncle Jason fairly grew gray under his tan and his watery eyes caught -fire of his wrath. - -“If that ain’t jest like that old psalm-singin’ hypocrite! If he dares -have our Janice fined it’ll be the sorriest day he ever spent with his -hat on!” - -He wanted to know all about how it had happened. Janice told him the -exact truth, as far as the racing of the automobile along the Upper -Road went, but she was too excited to make dear all about the Trimmins -and the sick baby. - -“Mebbe you’d ought to have stopped when they told you to, Janice,” said -Aunt ’Mira timidly. - -“She hadn’t nothing of the kind!” declared her angry husband. “You be -still, Almiry. I glory in the gal’s spunk. If she’d stopped, they’d -mebbe had her in jail till this time. The Elder’s got one of his -mean fits on and he’s gotter have satisfaction. But I’ll give him -satisfaction.” - -“Oh, Jason!” quavered his timid wife. “Don’t you git inter no law-fight -with Elder Concannon. He’s got more money’n us, and he’ll beat ye.” - -“I’d like ter see him!” declared Uncle Jason valiantly. “I’m going to -stick by Broxton’s gal if it takes the last dollar I got. An’ I’d be -glad ter fight old Concannon, anyway.” - -“Hurray for Dad!” burst out Marty. “He talks right, he does!” - -“Oh, I hope it will make nobody any trouble but myself,” murmured -Janice. “Really, I never did travel so fast on the road before to-day; -and there was a reason----” - -“It don’t matter. He shows a mighty poor sperit,” grunted Uncle Jason. -“I shell tell Concannon so.” - -“Seems mighty small pertaters,” quoth Aunt ’Mira, “for them two men to -pitch upon a girl.” - -Uncle Jason put on his hat without eating his supper. “Never mind -the victuals,” he grunted. “I kin eat any time, Almiry. I’m a-goin’ -downtown ter see what kin be done about it.” - -Uncle Jason was as good as his word, and his interest brought forth -fruit that rather staggered Janice. In the first place, the constable -never served the warrant; but early in the morning the farmer took -Janice down to the justice’s office, all the way advising her not to be -frightened, “for all her friends would stand by her.” - -And it really did look as though many of Janice Day’s friends intended -literally to do that thing. Judge Little held court in a big room over -the feed store. Flour and meal dust powdered the stairway going up, had -searched out the crevices through the floor from the warehouse below, -and masked the spider-webs in the windows with a curtain through which -the winter sun had hard work to penetrate. - -There were few benches, but the men of the town stood four deep all -about the room. It being Saturday forenoon, there was less business -than usual going on and even Walky Dexter was on hand. Such a gathering -had not been seen in the justice’s court since a half-crazy Canuck had -attacked and injured his employer on a farm at the edge of town, half a -score of years before. Most of the grist that came into Judge Little’s -mill was engendered by picayune neighborhood quarrels, that in local -parlance “didn’t amount to a hill of beans.” - -This was a different matter, it seemed. The bespectacled old Justice -of the Peace, who had been settling neighborhood bickerings for half -a lifetime, took a hasty squint at the docket to make sure that he -had not waked up on the Day of Judgment with more than his share of -important cases to dispose of. There was just the one case of speeding, -the accusation sworn to by Elder Concannon. - -“This here matter of ‘J. Day’s drivin’ an automobile on the Upper -Middletown Road, faster than the law allows,’” the old man repeated, -reading from a paper before him. “‘Complainant, Josiah Concannon.’ I -see ye present, Elder. Constable, is J. Day here?” - -There was a murmur in the room and Uncle Jason, with a light hand on -Janice’s arm, urged her to rise. There were no ladies in the room; -according to Polktown ethics, women had nothing to do with courts or -court matters. Janice felt herself very much alone, despite Uncle -Jason’s presence. All the friendly faces she saw about her were very -grave. Nobody smiled at her. She failed to take into consideration the -New England reverence for Court proceedings. - -“This here is my niece, Jedge Little,” said Uncle Jason, in rather a -shaking voice, for he was unused to public speaking. “She done the fast -driving. Her name is Janice Day, and she’s Broxton Day’s only child. -She’s livin’ with me and my wife, in our care. She’s as fine----” - -“Thank you, Mr. Day,” interrupted the justice politely. “You’ll be -given an opportunity to testify as to the character of the accused a -little later. Let’s have things reg’lar and orderly. We’ll hear Elder -Concannon first. You can sit down with your uncle, young lady,” he -added to Janice. - -The old Elder, towering like a figure of wrath, scowled at Janice and -shook an admonitory finger while he talked. He spread before the Court -in solemn accusation how Janice had sped by his house and along the -Upper Road “time and time again” at a speed that made the traffic for -other vehicles and pedestrians quite perilous. - -“Better come to the event in question, Elder,” advised the Squire -easily. “I take it these previous times when you say you saw the young -lady drivin’ fast, you had arranged no means of timing her. That so?” - -The Elder admitted the truth of this suggestion. - -“Then let us hear about yesterday’s happening,” said Judge Little. - -“I told the constable to come up by my place and we’d time her. I knew -what time she us’ally gets along,” said the Elder. - -“You set a trap for the young lady?” queried Judge Little, and there -was a low angry murmur all over the room. The old Elder shook his mane -back and held up his head. His eyes glowed. - -[Illustration: The old Elder, towering like a figure of wrath, scowled -at Janice.] - -“I had a right to do so,” he declared. “She was breakin’ the law. -She’s made that devil wagon she drives a nuisance on our roads. Me and -the constable waited for her, and we timed her by our watches. At the -rate she was going when she passed us, she was goin’ nigh fifty miles -an hour! She was goin’ as fast as the cannon-ball express on the V. C.! -Any other wagon on the road would have been in danger----” - -“Were there any other wagons in sight, Elder?” asked the justice. - -“No, sir. Didn’t happen to be just then.” - -“It was a lonely piece of road?” - -“But she kept right on at that pace. They tell me she came down into -High Street at a turrible speed.” - -The justice nodded, and called up the constable. The latter -corroborated the testimony of the Elder. He showed no animosity against -Janice, however; although under other conditions he might have done so. -He was a man of much policy, and he saw that the courtroom was filled -with people friendly to the accused. - -As the constable mumbled his observations, Dr. Poole came into the -room. But he stood at the back and nobody noticed him. The justice -said, looking at Uncle Jason and Janice: - -“This seems to be a serious matter, I am sorry to say, Mr. Day. The -case is aggravated because of the fact that the young lady did not stop -the car when she was ordered to do so by the constable. Of course, we -have to do with only this single case of speeding; the other occasions -mentioned have no influence upon my mind. It is always the duty of the -Court to stick to the proven facts. - -“Now, does the young lady wish to speak in her own behalf? Does -she wish to tell her side of the story? Does she deny any of the -accusation--the evidence regarding yesterday’s happening, I mean?” - -Before Uncle Jason got his mouth open to speak, Janice rose quickly, -and said in a shaking voice: - -“No, sir. What Elder Concannon and the constable have said is true. -About yesterday, I mean. I _was_ going fast, and I _did_ refuse to -stop.” - -She sat down. The justice shook his head with gravity and pursed his -lips. “It’s a very serious matter, young lady,” he said. “I wish that -I might find some excuse for your action. It seems a particularly -flagrant one because of your refusing to obey the command of our -constable to stop. You know, we are a law-abiding people, and we -appoint peace officers for the purpose of admonishing those who -overstep the bounds of the law, rather than to punish law-breakers. - -“In this event it seems that you aggravated the case by refusing to -obey the constable. You offer no excuse for your action----” - -“May I speak, Squire?” said Dr. Poole, suddenly, and came forward. - -“Why--yes--certainly,” said the Justice of the Peace. “Always glad to -hear you, Doctor. Is what you have to say pertinent to the case before -the Court?” - -“Very much so,” the physician said bruskly. - -“You are a witness for the defense?” - -“I most certainly am. From what I hear I believe this girl,” and he -laid his hand upon Janice’s shoulder, “has not made out a very good -case for herself.” - -“She has made no defense, Doctor,” said the Squire. “She admits the -facts as put forward in the evidence of the reputable witnesses against -her.” - -“And claimed no extenuating circumstances, eh?” ejaculated Dr. Poole. -“I can understand that she’d do that. She’s that sort of a girl, I -guess. She’s not one to beg off. Ha! What did she tell you made her -drive so fast yesterday, and refuse to stop on the road when she was -told to?” - -“Why, Doctor, she has made no excuses,” said Judge Little, rather -severely. “She was given an opportunity to tell her story, and merely -admitted the truth of the accusation.” - -“Truth? Half-truths, more likely,” growled the doctor. “I reckon she -didn’t tell you that she was driving home from school and came to a -house where there was a baby sick unto death and nobody with sense -enough to do anything for it? She didn’t tell you that she made the -child’s sister jump into her car with him, and how she was driving the -sick baby to my office to save its life when these two old grouches,” -and the wrathful physician glared at the Elder and the constable, -“tried to stop her? She didn’t tell you that, did she? - -“If she’d stopped, the baby might have died in the car. They got him -to my office just in time for me to save him. Suppose they had stopped -while Janice tried to explain to these opinionated old men what she was -doing? The death of the baby would have been at their door! They ought -to feel grateful that she didn’t obey them!” - -The murmur that went through the room brought a sudden flush of tears -to Janice Day’s hazel eyes. It was like a subdued cheer. Uncle Jason -put his arm around her--and right in public, too! Uncle Jason was not -given to open expression of his affections. - -Dr. Poole prepared to go. His testimony was not under oath, nor had -anybody been sworn before the justice, whose administration of the law -was very informal, indeed. - -“Lemme tell you,” said the physician, as he started for the door, “I -drive all over this county, and I meet a good many of these motor-cars; -if their drivers were all as careful as this girl, we’d have few -accidents on the road caused by motors. Excuse me, Judge. I’ve got to -hurry to a case.” - -“I thank you for coming and testifying, Doctor,” said Judge Little -warmly. Then he turned toward the place where Elder Concannon had -stood. The old gentleman, however, had reached the street before Dr. -Poole. The constable stood alone to bear the brunt of any displeasure -that might be due. - -But Judge Little was a fair-minded man. He merely shook his head at the -officer of the law. “We seldom know all the ins and outs of a case,” he -murmured. “You were perfectly right, constable; the law was broken. But -under the circumstances I think I shall allow the defendant to go under -suspended sentence.” He smiled gravely at Janice. “I hope, my dear -young lady, that you will not allow the remembrance of this experience -to keep you from doing any similar act of helpfulness that may come in -your way. Your standing with this Court is favorable.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON - - -The next time that Janice chanced to stop before the squatters’ cabin -in the woods, her welcome was very different from what it had ever been -before. Dr. Poole had been calling regularly to see the baby; he had -somehow overcome “Pappy’s” objection to medical attendance for the poor -little mite. And he had sung Janice’s praises and told how she had been -arrested for taking Buddy to town in her car. - -Black-haired Virginia was quite heated over the matter. “I’d ha’ done -gone t’ town an’ told ’em what you done for Buddy, if I’d knowed about -it,” she declared to Janice. “That old Concannon man is the meanes’ ol’ -critter! He owns this yere house, he does. I’d like to go an’ set fire -to his barns an’ burn ’em all up.” - -“Oh, Virginia! don’t say such dreadful things!” begged Janice. “Think -how the poor animals in the barns would suffer if they burned.” - -“I’d take the hawses an’ cows out fust,” observed Virginia; “but I’d -jest like t’ see the fire a-lickin’ up his barns.” - -Janice had won a victory with Virginia. Their leader’s prompt -acceptance of the character of “Turncoat” amazed the rest of the -Trimmins tribe. Tom, the red-haired boy, would not believe that his -chief aid and abettor in all mischief had proclaimed a truce with -Janice and her motor-car. - -But he very soon discovered that his sister’s present intentions -were not to be trifled with or ignored. Just before Janice appeared -before the cabin one day Virginia caught the red-haired little scamp -scattering broken bottles in the roadway. She went for him like a -cyclone, and when the car did arrive the two were rolling about on the -muddy ground, Tom striking out masterfully with his fists, while his -sister had her hands clenched in his hair, by the aid of which grip she -was battering his head into the soft earth. - -“Dear me! Don’t! I beg of you, stop!” gasped Janice. “Oh, Virginia! you -might hurt him.” For Jinny had gotten on top of the red-haired one and -held him face downward in the mire. - -“You kin bet I’ll hurt him,” she said, giving the red-head lad a -vicious wrench. - -“Do let him up,” begged Janice. - -“I’ll let him up when he promises to pick up ev’ry mite o’ glass he’s -flung in the road yonder. He wants t’ hear your tire go bust! I’ll bust -him!” declared Virginia, and began to maul the unfortunate Tom again. - -But Janice leaped out and pulled her champion off the prostrate boy. -“Do let him get up. I’m sorry Tom doesn’t like me; but your pounding -him like this, Virginia, won’t make him fond of me; that’s sure!” - -“He ain’t got no call to be fond o’ ye,” snarled the black-haired girl. -“But he’s goin’ t’ let you alone or I’ll give him wuss than he got now.” - -“You wouldn’t ha’ done nothin’ t’ me if I’d been watchin’ out,” -sniveled Master Tom. “Ye jumped on me, that’s what ye did.” - -“And I’ll jump on ye ag’in if ye don’t pick up that glass, ev’ry mite -of it!” threatened his sister. - -“Wal, ain’t I goin’ to?” he growled, and commenced to remove the broken -bottles from the way. Janice thanked him when he had finished; but he -only hung his head and slouched away. - -With Virginia and the mother, however, Janice had made herself welcome. -The unkempt and shiftless mother of this big brood of “Trimminses” -loved them and did her best for them; at least, while they were little. -At a certain age they really had to get out and do for themselves. - -Most of the older boys disappeared, one at a time, from the cabin and -did not come back. The family heard of the wanderers occasionally. When -they were in funds they sometimes sent a little money home to their -mother; but they were not of the breed that gets ahead and is saving. -How could they be? - -Some of the older girls had had a little schooling; but it was a -long way to Polktown and the district school was almost as far in -the opposite direction. Two of Virginia’s older sisters were out -at service; the family spoke of it in whispers as a misfortune and -disgrace. Mrs. Trimmins told Janice: - -“There’s a lady over yonder likes our Phoebe Ann so much she ’vited -her t’ come an’ stop awhile. ’Course Phoebe Ann helps the lady; she -couldn’t do no less when the lady’s so kind t’ her. An’ ’Mandy, she’s -stoppin’ with Mrs. Jedge Wright in Middletown. There’s another gal -there, an’ they hev right good times goin’ t’ pitcher shows, an’ -dances, an’ sech. Makes it nice fo’ ’Mandy, fo’ she’s of a right lively -disposition.” - -“’Mandy and Phoebe Ann might bring us young’uns home some of the good -times they’re havin’,” Virginia confessed to Janice. “Bet if I ever git -my paws on any money I’ll git maw a new gownd an’ dress the baby up -fine. Pappy kyan’t more’n airn enough to feed us.” - -“Pappy,” Janice seldom, if ever, saw. He was a long, lean, slow-moving -man, and whether Mrs. Scattergood’s opinion of his laziness was a just -one or not, he was seldom loafing about the cabin when Janice stopped -there. - -The girl was satisfied for the time being regarding the Trimminses, -for she had established an unbreakable alliance with Virginia, and the -mother endured her for the baby’s sake. Virginia allowed herself to be -brought to the meeting of the Girls’ Guild. After she had been there -under Janice’s protection two or three times, she was willing to bring -her two sisters, Mayrie and Elsie. Virginia dominated them just as she -did the younger fry of the Trimmins household; they had to do whatever -the black-haired sister said. - -The winter so far had been an open one. The snow held off, to the -amazement of “the oldest inhabitant”; but it was very cold and Janice -found the run back and forth to the seminary so trying that she did not -always come home the long way by the Trimmins cabin. Besides, Elder -Concannon never had a word for her now, only a scowl and a black look -when she passed him. The whole town had talked about his complaint -against Janice, and had not talked in his favor. - -Indeed, Janice found herself quite a heroine after the hearing before -the Justice of the Peace; and the way people spoke to her about it made -her feel very uncomfortable. They seemed to think that she had done -some wonderful thing in getting the Trimmins’ baby to Dr. Poole’s in -time to save the poor little fellow’s life. She felt that anybody in -her place would have done the same, of course! - -She did not realize that her desire to “_do something_” had brought her -into the position where she could help the unfortunate baby. Daddy’s -advice to her bore fruit most unexpectedly. She had become his “do -something girl” in very truth. - -“Oh, if only I could do something for Daddy,” Janice said to herself. -Another letter had come from Mexico, and matters down there were no -better. She had written, asking her father if it wouldn’t be best for -him to come home and he had replied that it was his duty to stick to -his post. The Mexican authorities were getting very ugly, and the -guards at the mine had been increased. But Broxton Day wrote that she -must not worry. As if she could help it! - -“I’d go down there myself, if it would do any good,” Janice confided to -Marty. - -“Huh! you stay right here,” said her cousin. “They don’t want no -girl-folks down there, I bet you!” - -“I know, Marty! But, oh! if something should happen to Daddy!” and -Janice’s face showed her deep anxiety. - -In those early days of winter her time was so fully occupied that it -did not seem to Janice as though she had a waking minute to herself. -But she found time for frequent visits to Hopewell Drugg and Miss -’Rill. Little Lottie was often her companion in the car after school -hours and on Saturdays. The child was increasing in knowledge very -rapidly, for Miss ’Rill took great pains with her improvement. - -Lottie was a very observant child and it was not long before she made -a discovery. Before she had gone away to be treated for her blindness -and other deficiencies, Nelson Haley was one of her greatest friends. -Now Lottie discovered that Nelson did not appear when Janice was at the -store. Even if he was at his boarding house across the street, he did -not come over to the store until Janice had gone away. - -“What’s the matter with Mr. Haley?” she asked Janice, point-blank. - -“I guess there is nothing the matter, my dear,” said the older girl. “I -haven’t heard that there was.” - -“But he used to be here so much,” declared Lottie, “and now he’s never -here when you come.” - -“I expect he’s too busy with his school to bother with girls,” laughed -Janice. - -“But he didn’t used to be,” said the child, very thoughtfully. “If you -came to see me he was almost sure to come, too.” - -“And doesn’t he come to see you now?” asked Janice quietly. - -“Oh, yes! And he’s awfully nice to me. But he never comes when you’re -here. Say, Janice! are you mad at him?” - -“Not at all, my dear.” - -“Then he must be mad at you,” declared the little girl, with -confidence. “What for, do you suppose, Janice?” - -But Janice could not satisfy her childish curiosity. Indeed, she did -not see how she could talk about the differences between Nelson and -herself to little Lottie. - -“I tell you what,” Lottie said, with decision, “I’m going to ask him.” - -“Oh! I wouldn’t, my dear!” gasped Janice. - -“Why not? Don’t you want to be friends with Mr. Haley?” - -“Yes, of course,” admitted the older girl. - -“Then we’ll ask him what he’s got a mad on for,” decided the child -briskly. - -Janice would not go over to Mrs. Beasely’s with her and make the -inquiry on the spot, and Lottie thought that strange. - -“Perhaps sometime we may,” was all the satisfaction the little one -gained from Janice. But when she had gone away Lottie proceeded to put -her suggestion into execution. She went over to see Nelson in his study. - -“Hullo, Lottie Drugg!” cried the school teacher jovially. “Are you -ready to take up algebra and the higher mathematics yet? You know, I’m -going to be your schoolmaster when Miss ’Rill graduates you.” - -“I can say the multiplication table pretty good,” Lottie confessed. -“Guess that isn’t very far along the way to higher math’matics, is it?” - -“Not very, I am afraid. But it’s a beginning,” Nelson assured her -gravely. - -Lottie was standing directly in front of his desk now, and fixed him -seriously with her blue-eyed gaze. - -“Say, Mr. Haley!” she exclaimed, “have you got a mad on at Janice?” - -“‘A mad on’? And at Janice?” he murmured, rather begging the question. -She had taken him by surprise, and Nelson Haley blushed. - -“You don’t ever come to the store when she’s there no more,” declared -the child, shaking her head. “You used to take her to walk and I used -to go with you; don’t you ’member? I used to hold your hands and walk -between you, ’cause I couldn’t see; you ’member? And we used to go down -to try if my echo was there. And you and Janice used to talk a lot.” - -“So we did--so we did,” agreed Nelson, in a low voice, looking away -from her. - -“Then why don’t we go to walk any more?” pleaded the child. “Can’t you -come to see me when Janice is there?” - -“Sometime--sometime I’ll come,” said Nelson uncomfortably. “You know -I’m dreadfully busy.” - -“That’s what she says. Janice says you are drefful busy. But you can -come to see me when she isn’t there. Why can’t we all be friends again? -You ain’t got a mad on at her, have you?” - -“God forbid!” exclaimed the young man, with sudden warmth. - -“Then has she got a mad on at you?” demanded Lottie. - -“Perhaps. I don’t know. I can’t talk about it, my dear,” Nelson said -hastily. “I guess Janice doesn’t care to have me about very much now. -She’s always got Mr. Bowman with her, hasn’t she?” - -“Yes, he does come a lot,” agreed Lottie. “He’s a real nice young man, -I think. But he isn’t like you, Mr. Haley; and I guess Janice misses -you jus’ as I do.” - -“No. You’re wrong there, my dear, I feel sure,” said Nelson hastily. -“She doesn’t miss me. But I’ll come and see you whenever I can, Lottie.” - -It was never, however, while Janice was at the store. Nelson saw -to that. And every time he observed Janice with Frank Bowman the -insinuations of the latter’s sister rose in Haley’s mind. The teacher -had never made friends to any degree with the young civil engineer; but -he remained in close association with Annette. He seemed, indeed, to be -more frequently her companion than was her own brother. - -On the Sunday evening following little Lottie’s attempt to bring her -two friends together again, Haley and Annette drifted into the back -of the vestry of the church and sat through the prayer and conference -meeting. There was really nowhere else to go on Sunday evenings, or -Annette could not have been coaxed into the church. Polktown frowned -severely on anything like social gatherings on the Sabbath Day. - -Toward the end of the service two or three boys, among them Marty, came -in brushing the snowflakes off their shoulders and caps. Ma’am Parraday -had a huge green umbrella that she insisted upon holding over Annette’s -hat after service. The snow was coming then thick and fast. But when -Miss Bowman saw Nelson beside Janice in the doorway and starting to -speak to her in a low voice, she made a point of calling her cavalier -back to her side. - -“There’s plenty of room for three of us under Ma Parraday’s umbrella, -Mr. Haley,” Annette called, with a laugh. “Come on, now! we must hasten -home.” - -Haley shrugged his shoulders impatiently. But he opened Janice’s -umbrella and thrust it into the younger girl’s hand. Of course, as he -had come with Annette, he must see her home, such being the unwritten -law of the community. - -Janice started off rather blindly through the snow, holding the -umbrella low to hide her smarting eyes. It seemed as though every time -she and Nelson had a chance to come to an understanding, Annette -Bowman or Frank came between them. She had no suspicion of the little -scene between the school teacher and the engineer’s sister when they -arrived at the Lake View Inn and were warming themselves before the -open fire in the parlor. - -“Annette, you are a terribly ‘bossy’ girl,” grumbled Nelson. “Nothing -suits you but having folks go your way all the time. You didn’t need me -to come home with you. You had Mrs. Parraday.” - -“And you wanted to go with that Janice Day,” said Annette, with a hard -laugh. - -“Well, what if I did? She and I were very good friends long before you -came to Polktown. I’ve been spending a lot of my time with you.” - -“Just as though you didn’t want to! You’re awfully polite--I don’t -think!” - -“Now, don’t get on your high horse,” said Nelson coolly. “You know you -don’t care a fig for my company. You just like to have a whole lot -of fellows hanging around. That’s what made trouble for you with Jim -Brainard.” - -“You just stop!” commanded Annette, flushing hotly. “You’ve no right to -criticize my conduct, as he did.” - -“No, thank heaven!” rejoined Nelson Haley, with more emphasis than -courtesy. “But don’t you see, Annette, that your foolish way of acting -with other fellows is what has made trouble for you? I’d like to see -you----” - -“You just mind your own business, Nelson Haley!” snapped Annette. “I -don’t care! I don’t care what folks think of me, or what they say!” and -she burst into a torrent of tears and rushed from the room. - -“Humph!” muttered the teacher, as he left for his boarding place. -“Guess I’m always putting my foot in it. And it does seem as though -whenever I start to try and make it up with Janice, either Annette or -her brother interferes. Confound it!” and he shrugged down into the -collar of his coat and plodded on through the gathering storm. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE BARN DANCE - - -Annette Bowman had kept up her association with the Slater girls. Judge -Slater’s place was fully ten miles from Polktown and on a road that -branched south into the valley from the Lower Middletown pike. Annette -went over to see the Slater girls at least once a week, or they came to -visit her at the Lake View Inn. - -Like Annette, the Judge’s daughters had been of the ultra-fashionable -set that attended the private school in which the civil engineer’s -sister was supposedly “finished.” Frank confessedly did not like them. -He told Janice that they were “cacklers,” and that “they didn’t have an -ounce of sense in their heads.” - -The civil engineer liked girls who were of a practical turn of mind. -He was jolly enough, and was good company; but of small talk he had -little. He took life rather earnestly, did this young engineer, and he -had an object to aim for, which, although he did not confide in Janice, -she strongly suspected. - -Frank had nothing to do with the barn dance that was arranged to take -place at Judge Slater’s soon after the first heavy snow had fallen. The -roads quickly became well packed, as they do in the Green Mountains, -and sleighing promised to last until the February thaw. Annette was the -prime mover in the barn dance, but Judge Slater and his wife saw to it -that the invitations to Polktown people were quite general. The Judge -was looking for an election to the State Legislature, and he ran no -risk of offending anybody. - -The Slater barn had an enormous floor, and the planks were in very good -condition. There had been so much interest in dancing that fall in -Polktown, that a big crowd made preparations to attend. Everything on -runners owned in and about the village was requisitioned long before -the evening named in the invitation. - -Annette herself had gone over to Judge Slater’s the day before. “You’ll -surely come, Frank, now, won’t you?” she said to her brother. “You -know, dancing men will be awfully scarce. These ‘hicks’ are just about -as graceful as cows on a dancing floor,” and she laughed carelessly. - -“My goodness, Annette, but you are a hypocrite!” growled her brother. -“You make me sick. Butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth when you’re -talking to these people, while behind their backs you only make fun of -them.” - -“Well, what they don’t know won’t hurt them, will it?” she demanded. -“Goodness! I have to let myself go once in a while, or I would burst! -They are regular barbarians----” - -“You don’t have to live among them,” interrupted Frank sternly. - -“Neither do you,” snapped his sister. - -“I have to be on the job. There’s not much doing on the construction -work now, I know; but I’ve got to watch it. I tell you frankly, -Annette, I’d feel better if you took a trip to New York and stayed -there. You’ll do or say something yet that will get you in bad with the -whole town.” - -“‘Bah! bah! black sheep! have you any wool’?” laughed Annette. “But if -you have, you can’t pull it over my eyes. You want me away so you can -run around with that Day girl----” - -“Now stop, Annette!” exclaimed her brother angrily. “You don’t know -Janice, and you have taken a dislike to her and so are determined not -to know her. I don’t run around after her. I like her. She is a good, -jolly girl; but there’s no foolishness between us, and you know it!” - -As she saw that he had become seriously angry, Annette began to make -her peace and smooth over the trouble. - -“You’ll come over to the barn dance, anyway, won’t you, dear?” she -concluded. “It will be a failure without you.” - -“I don’t suppose there’s a rig to be got for love or money,” Frank -objected. “About everybody’s going.” - -“Oh! you can find somebody that will let you squeeze in.” - -“Have the Days been invited?” quickly inquired Frank. - -“I’m sure I don’t know,” snapped his sister impatiently. “Goodness! -that big, fat woman would be a sight on the floor--you know it. She -dresses like an Italian sunset.” - -“They’ve got a span of good horses,” said Frank firmly, “and a roomy -double-seated sleigh. If they are invited they might ask me to go with -them,” said the foxy engineer. - -For Marty had expressed a desire to go to the dance, and said that his -mother was fairly crazy to attend; but that no invitation from the -Slaters had come to the Day house. Annette saw when she was beaten, and -the very next day the belated invitation arrived for “Mr. Jason Day and -family.” - -Of course, Uncle Jason would not attend. Somebody had to stay at home -and take care of the stock, and keep the fires up in the kitchen and -sitting-room stoves. For the thermometer was below zero and wood fires -have to be frequently tended. But Aunt ’Mira declared she was going if -she had to walk! - -“Well, yeou’d manage ter keep up a gentle perspiration, I reckon, if -you walked clean from here to Slater’s, Almiry,” drawled Uncle Jason. -“And I see by that book on physical culture ye got upstairs thet the -doctors advise that so as ter help git flesh off a body. My soul! if -you cut all the capers that’s pictered out in thet there book to try -an’ git off your fat, it’d tickle me more’n a case of hives ter see -ye--it sartain would!” - -Aunt ’Mira was not to be ridiculed out of her attempts to get the -best of her too fleshy figure. She studied the physical culture book -as faithfully as she did the fashion magazines. One day, the family -sitting downstairs, felt the whole house jar as though the foundations -had suddenly settled. Uncle Jason and Marty stared at each other. - -“Never heard a tree burst in the forest so early in the winter in my -life before, I vum!” declared Uncle Jason. - -“That warn’t no tree bustin’,” returned his son. “It must be blastin’ -up to the marble quarries. An’ it was some blast, at that!” - -“Why, Marty,” said his father, “they don’t work in the marble quarries -in the winter. You know that well enough, son--I snum! there it is -again!” - -The house rocked--it continued to rock. The floor above shook. A dish -rattled down from the dresser shelf and was broken on the floor. -Janice jumped up with an exclamation and whisked upstairs. The two men -followed her. - -Mrs. Day’s chamber door had jarred open. The bed and other furniture -had been moved back and there the unhappy lady was rolling on the -floor, puffing and blowing, red of face and perspiring, but determined -to follow the directions in her book for attaining “a sylph-like form.” - -“What in all tarnation be yeou wallerin’ there for?” demanded Mr. Day. -“Fust yeou know, Almiry, ye’ll hev the poller ornymints down off’n the -what-not.” - -At any rate, Aunt ’Mira was going to the dance. Marty wanted to go, -too; and as he still worshiped at the shrine of Mr. Bowman, he asked if -that young man could not occupy the fourth seat. - -“But how do you suppose Mr. Haley will get over?” Janice asked -doubtfully. - -“Shucks!” said her cousin. “Teacher’ll have a dozen chances to go; but -Frank Bowman was sayin’ to me yesterday that he didn’t suppose he’d be -able to hire a horse and sleigh anywhere in town.” - -So Frank was invited--as he expected to be. Nelson Haley went with -Walky Dexter in his big pung, that seated a dozen people. Hopewell -Drugg and Miss ’Rill, with little Lottie, crowded into a one-horse -sleigh and went off to the dance to the tune of “Jingle Bells” in very -truth. It had been many and many a long year since the little old maid -and the storekeeper had been to any social affair together. Of course, -Mrs. Scattergood had her comment to make: - -“I sh’d think you was makin’ enough of a fule of yourself, Amarilla, -by marryin’ that Drugg, an’ him a widderer with an unfortinit child, -without your flirtin’ abeout the country with him to dances, and sech. -And you air dressed scanderlous, too!” - -Janice had picked out the dress Miss ’Rill wore--and she saw to it that -it was a pretty one. With her cheeks pink with excitement, her hair -fluffed up prettily, and the soft, lacy gown clinging to her arms and -neck, ’Rill Scattergood was far more attractive than many younger women -at the ball. - -When the Slaters did anything in this line, they did it well. The -Judge, who was a politician, as has been pointed out, could not afford -to skimp anything. There was supper for an army--and an army came! - -The crowd around the dancing floor--some even climbing into the -haymows--had come to see as well as to participate in the dancing. More -than the ladies and young people of Polktown had taken up the dance -craze. And those who were ashamed to try the steps, or who did not know -how, were eager to observe the gyrations of the others. - -Bogarti was present--was a sort of Master of Ceremonies, in fact. The -simpler dances, played by the orchestra in one end of the haymow, were -for the guests in general. But when the measures rang out to which the -tango, fox-trot, and such complicated steps were danced, the dancing -master and his most successful pupils were about all who ventured on -the floor. - -Annette, the Slater girls, Maggie Price, and a few other young women, -with Frank Bowman and some young men who had come out from the city for -the occasion, exhibited the fancy dances. This was all very well, as -far as it went. But once when Frank was out of the barn, Bogarti seized -Miss Bowman, and they danced in a way to utterly scandalize many of the -plainer people present. - -The girl seemed utterly reckless on this night. She did not care what -she did, or what she said. Knowing the temper of his constituents, -the Judge sent his wife to speak to the girl and advise her to deport -herself in a quieter manner. Annette’s actions really sent some of the -stricter people home from the dance early. - -Janice was sorry for Frank. At first he did not understand why the -people were whispering together, and staring at Annette. He knew she -was acting pretty recklessly; but he had not seen her fancy dancing -with Bogarti. When Mrs. Slater, her face very much flushed and her eyes -hard and angry, came to him and asked him to take his sister home, the -blow to the young man’s pride was a severe one, indeed. - -“I am sorry to seem harsh, Mr. Bowman,” said the Judge’s wife; “but -I have my own daughters’ reputation to think of. Annette is utterly -reckless. The exhibition she made of herself just now on this floor, in -the arms of that silky, oiled foreigner----” - -“What foreigner?” demanded Frank. - -“Bogarti.” - -“Oh--that chap!” Frank would have laughed had not the Judge’s wife been -so serious. “His real name’s O’Brien, and Annette and I have known him -since we were kids. O’Brien isn’t a bad sort, and he’s the husband of -our old nurse. That hair and mustache of his are dyed.” - -“But people don’t know it,” said Mrs. Slater. “She has disgraced -herself and you. I could not countenance such a thing. The Judge could -not countenance such a thing. It would be as much as his nomination is -worth. You must take her away, Mr. Bowman. I am very sorry to ask you -to go.” - -Frank was chagrined and very, very angry. He blamed the Slaters more -than he did his sister. He came to Janice with the trouble even before -he sought out Annette. - -“Can we get away? Could she be squeezed into that pung of yours? The -seats are quite wide----” - -“Of course, Mr. Bowman,” Janice murmured. “I will get Auntie and Marty. -We will be glad to go home at once. Don’t tell your sister anything -about what has been said, Mr. Bowman. Just make up some reason for -your wanting her to go home with you to-night.” - -“By George! you’re a good one, Janice Day,” declared the civil -engineer. “And if Annette had any sense at all she’d be grateful to you -the longest day she lives. But, of course, she won’t. I don’t know what -possesses her--has possessed her, in fact, since she came out of that -fancy school she attended. I wish to goodness,” concluded the worried -young man, “that she’d sow her wild oats and get over it. No boy could -ever be as much trouble and worriment as she is. I vow, if she were a -few years younger I’d--I’d spank her!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -AFTER THE DANCE - - -That form of chastisement might have had a salutary effect upon Annette -Bowman. Certainly, as it was, she behaved no better on the way to -Polktown than she had at Judge Slater’s dance. - -In the first place, she objected audibly to being crowded in between -Mrs. Day and Janice on the back seat on the sleigh. “It does seem -to me, Frank, that you might have obtained transportation for us in -some other vehicle,” she said aloud. “And why you should need me in -Polktown, just because you might be called away to-morrow, I fail to -see. I think you might have some feeling for me, Frank. You are just as -selfish as you can be.” - -“Now, young lady, don’t you be a-fussin’ and a-fumin’,” said Aunt ’Mira -comfortably. “The closer we air packed in here, the warmer we will -be goin’ home. Jest you snuggle right down and keep out o’ the wind. -Wind’s on my side, anyway; and I be sech an elephant that both o’ you -gals kin be sheltered.” - -Aunt ’Mira began to chuckle. “I don’t keer, Janice, I did dance two of -them funny dances. Miz’ Cora Pease an’ I done ’em together, and I bet -we looked like two circus elephants a-waltzin’. But ’twas fun--I ain’t -done the like at a public dance since Jason and I was courtin’. - -“Goodness me! That was a long spell ago, warn’t it? But we ain’t got no -business to be old before our time. I gotter wake Jason up--I sartainly -have!” - -“I’d like to see you git Dad out to a dance,” remarked Marty. “That -would foretell the Crack o’ Doom!” - -“Don’t you keer,” said his mother cheerfully. “Ye’ll likely see a hull -lot o’ surprisin’ things b’fore you die, Marty. And if you see your -father and your mother a-growin’ younger, instead of older, you’d ought -to be glad of that.” - -“Crackey!” exclaimed Marty, “if that happens where’ll I be? Pretty soon -I’ll be back inter pinafores. Good-night!” - -Janice laughed and said: “And I’ll be curling him’s pretty hair and -dressing him for Sunday School. I always did wish I had a baby brother, -and you’ll do very well, Marty. Hurry up and grow backward, dear. I -want to see how cunning you’d be in pinafores.” - -“Huh!” snorted Marty. “Don’t you think you’re smart?” - -Annette entered into none of this simple fun, whereas her brother was -soon the life of the homegoing party. He did not wish his sister to -suspect that he had anything to trouble him, and he succeeded very well. - -Annette took all of the seat she conveniently could, ramming her elbows -on either side into her companions. Aunt ’Mira was too “cushiony” to -mind this; but Janice was made very uncomfortable physically as well as -mentally by the selfishness of the older girl. - -Everybody was glad when the sorrel team struck into High Street. It -was midnight and the town was asleep. They were almost the first of -the revelers to return. Marty drove to the Inn, where the Bowmans -disembarked. Frank thanked the Days warmly for their courtesy; but -Annette stalked into the Inn without even bidding them good-night. - -“I’d like to have that girl for a sister,” grunted Marty, when they -turned into Hillside Avenue. “Huh!” - -Janice had not found much enjoyment in the barn dance, although she was -asked to dance frequently, and had been on the floor as much as was -good for her. The athletic instructor at the seminary had insisted on -even the day scholars attending the dancing classes twice a week in the -school gymnasium, and Janice knew how to dance some of the more modern -dances approved by saner people. - -Although Nelson Haley was at the dance he had not come near her -and Janice was disappointed. She was always hoping that at some -informal party like this one, she would find an opportunity to speak -confidentially to the school teacher. But that occasion never seemed to -present itself. - -Now that snow covered the ground she could use her car no more, and -she was away from home from Monday morning until Friday evening. She -boarded with a widowed lady near the seminary. - -Janice missed her rides in the automobile, for jogging along behind -Walky Dexter’s old horses was not much fun. There was a week’s vacation -at Thanksgiving, and at the very beginning of that recess the weather -unaccountably changed. The thermometer rose with a bound, rain fell in -torrents, and all the snow was washed off the hillsides. It cleared -off warm, too--an unseasonable change that did nobody any good. Colds -and other physical troubles were immediately prevalent and the local -physicians had their hands full. - -The roads were so well drained about Polktown that they dried -immediately. Janice got out the car and ran up into the woods to -see how the Trimmins family were getting on. Dr. Poole was still in -attendance on little Buddy and he saw to it that the other children -were prevented from getting any childish ills at this time. She met the -good doctor at the squatters’ cabin. - -“Put out your tongue and let’s feel your pulse, Janice,” he said, -gruffly. “I don’t want you getting sick. I’ve got some serious cases of -grippe in town and one I’m afraid will result in pneumonia. I warned -that stubborn fellow; but he thought he knew more than I did. Ought to -have gone to bed two days before school closed; but he said he’d wait -and be sick during this vacation--and he _is_.” - -“Whom do you mean, Doctor?” asked Janice, with sudden apprehension. - -“That Nelse Haley--reckless fellow! His temperature this morning was a -hundred and three, and still going up.” - -“The school teacher!” cried Janice, in sudden alarm. - -“Yes. Mrs. Beasely has got her hands full with him. He’s not an easy -patient to nurse. Won’t obey orders,” said the doctor, as he climbed -into his gig. - -This worried Janice a good deal. She stopped at the Scattergoods on her -way home and asked about Nelson. - -“Yeou better go in an’ try nussin’ him, Janice Day,” said the old lady, -nodding her head emphatically. “I jest come from there an’ Miz’ Beasely -is a-flyin’ ’round like a hen with its head cut off. She never was no -hand with sick folks and she can’t manage him wuth a cent.” - -Miss ’Rill followed her out to the car and whispered: “I’ll let you -know how he’s getting on, Janice. Of course, he isn’t as bad as mother -makes out. She is always making a mountain out of a mole-hill.” - -But Janice was very much worried. That evening she sent Marty over to -Hopewell Drugg’s to get the latest news of the teacher’s illness, and -the boy came back looking very serious indeed, for him. - -“Doc Poole’s been there again this evening,” Marty reported. “They say -he’s out of his head and the Doc is ’fraid it will turn into pneumonia. -My goodness! it would be mighty tough if we lost Nelson Haley. He’s the -best teacher we ever had in the Polktown school.” - -Janice listened to the kindly comments of her uncle and aunt, but she -had little to say herself. When she went to bed she added a petition -for Nelson to her evening prayer; and it was a long time ere she got to -sleep that night. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -DARK DAYS - - -Early in the morning Janice went to Mrs. Beasely’s cottage. She was -diffident about offering her services to the widow; but she was sure -Aunt ’Mira would see nothing wrong in her doing so. She just couldn’t -enter into any discussion of Nelson’s illness at home, that was all. - -Not many people were astir on the side street; the front blinds of the -widow’s home were closed, and that fact startled the girl. Mrs. Beasely -was in her kitchen, clearing the breakfast table. - -“It’s the first chance I’ve had to do ’em,” she said, referring to -the dishes. “That poor boy’s an awful one ter care for. Out of his -head most of the time; and when he ain’t, he’s fussin’. Dr. Poole says -there’s something on his mind--his school work, like enough. Mr. Haley -works awful hard. Some folks says he gads about with that Bowman gal -too much; but I must say he spen’s enough time over his books. He’s the -one that burns the midnight ile, if anybody does.” - -“Is he better this morning?” asked Janice. - -“I dunno. The doctor ain’t been. He never left him till midnight and -I jest caught cat-naps on the sofa in his room until daybreak. Thank -goodness! Mr. Haley’s asleep now. But his room looks like the wrath o’ -doom had struck it.” - -“Can’t I help you?” queried Janice. “I can clear up his room and dust. -I won’t make any more noise than a mouse.” - -“Well--if you _would_,” said Mrs. Beasely, with a sigh. “And if you’d -watch till he wakes up, I could git another little nap and feel fresh -for the day. He ain’t to be waked for his medicine; but when he does -wake you can run and tell me and I’ll give it to him.” - -“I’ll do that, dear Mrs. Beasely, gladly,” said Janice. “He needn’t -know that you haven’t been with him all the time. Maybe he wouldn’t -like anybody else to be in his room.” - -“Humph! I don’t know as it would hurt him. But it might fret him, as -you say. So we’ll say nothing about it.” - -The girl went rather tremblingly to the big chamber in which Nelson -slept. It was easily “ridded up,” as Polktown housewives expressed it. -Nelson lay quietly on his bed and at first Janice did not even look at -him. She feared if she approached the bedside she might disturb the -young man. - -But when he groaned and turned uneasily, she came nearer. His face was -so pale and wan that it troubled her. The veins in his closed eyelids -were startlingly blue. He had not shaved for two days and the sparce -down upon his cheeks and lip made him look even more boyish than usual. - -He did not awaken; but Janice saw that his pillow was rumpled and must -be uncomfortable. She slipped her strong arm under his neck and lifted -him a little, while with the other hand she plumped up the pillow. - -Nelson groaned and muttered something. His wandering hand caught at -hers as she drew it away, and clung to it for a moment. - -“Janice! Janice!” he murmured. - -The girl was really frightened. She stood with palpitating heart, -fearful that he had recognized her. What would he think if he knew that -she had come to his sick room after they had been so long estranged? - -But Nelson was not conscious. He might have been dreaming of her--the -thought afterward thrilled Janice; but he actually knew nothing of her -presence. She finished tidying the room and then sat down by the window -where a little light came through the blind, and waited. - -What would Daddy say if he knew she was doing this? She tried to -remember all her father had written regarding her feeling for Nelson -Haley and his feeling for her. During those months when circumstances -had separated them, Janice had missed his companionship sorely. - -Had he missed her? Was he as unhappy as she was regarding the breaking -off of their friendship? - -Daddy had said that one of the finest inspirations for a young man -just starting out in life was the friendship of a young girl. Janice -was sure that she had never done anything to harm Nelson; quite the -contrary. - -But Annette Bowman! Janice distrusted the civil engineer’s sister. Her -influence over Nelson could not be good. - -Since the barn dance at Judge Slater’s Annette had not been so popular -in Polktown. The tongue of gossip wagged industriously about her. It -was told that she had been requested to leave the barn dance because of -her disgraceful actions. Her name was coupled with “that foreigner,” -Bogarti. The very ladies who went to the dancing master for instruction -sneered at Annette for having been so familiar with him. - -Had Janice been a revengeful girl she could have gloated over Annette’s -fall in public estimation. Not that the city girl’s pedestal had been -one to envy from the beginning. She had gained no faithful friends, -nor any real place in the public estimation. She had catered merely to -the thoughtless and frivolous and had influenced only such people as -desired to be showy and up-to-date. - -Annette was another kind of “do something” person. She had stirred -Polktown, it was true; but Janice doubted if the girl had stirred it -to any good purpose. Dress, and dancing, and social life played a very -small part, after all, in the real progress of the town. - -Unfortunately, Nelson Haley had been swept into the current of -Annette’s influence. The fact had been publicly commented upon. Janice -knew that it was very fortunate for him that he had not chanced to -attend her at the barn dance and that her own brother had brought -her back to town. Otherwise the tongue of scandal would surely have -been busy with his name, too. Why, right now, Janice knew, there were -mothers who had forbidden their girls to speak to Annette on the -street, or go to houses where she was made welcome. - -There was a feeling, too, throughout the town, that the person in -charge of the children, delegated to instruct and lead them, should -not be too frivolous. Nelson’s association with Miss Bowman might be -used as a lever to oust him from the principalship of the school. Elder -Concannon did not like the young man and would be glad to put him out -if he could. - -“And it would be a dreadful thing,” thought Janice as she sat quietly -in the sick chamber, “if this third year in the Polktown school should -injure Nelson’s career instead of helping him. Those people at the -college are watching him sharply, I am sure. He can fail just as surely -this year as he could last. - -“Oh, dear me! I wonder if he does really care for Annette? I don’t see -how he can admire her; yet her brother loves her and overlooks her most -glaring faults. I suppose there is nobody so mean that they haven’t -some good traits. And Annette Bowman is pretty, accomplished, bright, -and can be pleasant company. I expect she has all the airs and graces -that attract young men--and she knows how to use them. - -“Am I doing right--have I been doing right since last summer--to let -Annette have him without a struggle? He was my friend before he was -hers. For his own sake, should I have put forth more effort to win -Nelson away from that girl?” - -The thought made Janice blush; yet now she seriously contemplated the -question, which she had refused to do before. Her natural delicacy had -kept this phase of the situation at a distance. But why shouldn’t she -think of it? Now that Nelson was ill, she wanted to do everything that -she could for him. If he was entangled in the skein of Annette Bowman’s -machinations, then he was mentally and spiritually ill and needed her -assistance quite as much. - -Nelson was without a single relative save his old aunt; and she was -at a distance. As far as Janice knew, he had few close friends, even -among his college associates. She had been as close to him as anybody. -Why shouldn’t she undertake to save him from Annette just as she might -help save his life now that he was ill? Was her duty not the same in -either case? - -There was a movement from the young fellow on the bed. Janice sprang up -and tiptoed to his side. Nelson suddenly started into a sitting posture -and his eyes were wide open. - -“You get her to come here--you get her,” he murmured, clutching at -Janice’s hand. - -“Yes, yes! Lie down, Nelson, do,” she said, firmly, trying to put him -back upon the pillow. - -“Is she coming?” he whispered, hoarsely. His poor voice did not sound -at all as it used to sound. - -“Yes, yes!” Janice declared. “Do lie down.” - -“You tell her I’ve just got to speak to her. I’ve got to!” went on the -hoarse voice, wildly. - -Janice feared he would awaken Mrs. Beasely. He would not lie down. - -“Yes,” she promised him. “I’ll get her to come and see you. You--you -mean Annette, don’t you?” - -The name did not seem to catch his ear, and he kept muttering that he -“must see her.” - -“She shall come, Nelson,” Janice promised again, her own voice broken. -“You mean you want to see Annette?” - -“Annette? Yes--Annette,” he muttered. “Poor Annette--and--and----” - -He allowed her to replace his head upon the pillow. His words faded -into incomprehensible murmurings. His eyes closed. He seemed to breathe -more easily and regularly. - -Janice tiptoed away from the bed. Nelson seemed appeased and relieved -when she had promised to bring Annette to his bedside. The girl -experienced a pang that hurt her physically. She could feel her heart -throbbing under the hand with which she attempted to still it. - -There must be a serious attachment between Nelson and Annette. -Otherwise, it seemed to her, he would not be worrying about the city -girl when he was delirious. Janice’s experience with seriously ill -people had been very limited indeed. - -She sat down by the window again and waited. The doorbell rang and Mrs. -Beasely was awakened. Janice heard her go heavily to the door. - -“Good morning, Doctor!” the widow said, and Dr. Poole’s heavy voice -replied: - -“Just as bad as ever, Mrs. Beasely. How’s the patient?” - -Janice whisked out of the room and went into the kitchen. There she -waited until Mrs. Beasely came back for hot water with which to -sterilize the doctor’s instruments. - -“What does he say?” asked the girl, breathlessly. - -“Seems encouraged. But I ain’t,” groaned the widow. “Nobody can live -long and refuse vittles like Mr. Haley does. It was the trouble with my -Charles,” she continued, referring to her husband, who frequently was -the subject of Mrs. Beasely’s conversation. “If he could have kep’ on -eatin’ he’d ha’ been alive to-day,” with which unanswerable argument -she stalked back into the sick chamber. - -Janice waylaid Dr. Poole as he was going out. “Hello, Janice Day!” he -exclaimed, cheerfully. “Are you on the job? Then I’m sure my patient is -going to get better right away.” - -“I am only helping Mrs. Beasely a little,” she said. “But I wished to -ask you, Doctor, if it would hurt Mr. Haley to--to see people?” - -“Not a bit! Go right in and see him--only keep quiet. Your cheerful, -pretty face is better than any drug----” - -“Oh! I don’t mean myself,” gasped Janice. “But he has expressed a -desire to see somebody else.” - -“Hah! I knew there was something on his mind. Who does he want to see?” -demanded the doctor. - -“A--a young lady.” - -“Hah!” snorted the physician again. “I thought he had more sense! Well, -who is she?” - -“Miss Bowman, who lives down at the Inn with her brother.” - -“Hah!” and the doctor’s third snort was greater than those that had -gone before. “I did think Nelse Haley had more sense. But if he wants -her he might as well have her. But only for a few moments, and tell -her to humor him. She can cross him as much as she wants to when he is -well; but his mind must be at rest now, or I shall not answer for the -consequences,” and the gruff old doctor strode away, shaking his head -as he went. - -And he went before Janice could finish her observations. She had wished -to ask the doctor to stop in and speak to Annette himself. But, it -seemed, the duty devolved upon her. - -When she left Mrs. Beasely’s, having done all she could to help the -troubled lady, she went straight to the Inn. She knew that Frank was -away and that made her visit all the harder. At this time of year Ma’am -Parraday, as the traveling salesmen called her, kept but one maid to -help her--a Swedish girl so blankly ignorant that she scarcely knew -enough “to lift one foot out of the way of t’other,” as the innkeeper’s -wife expressed it. There was no use giving her name to this girl, for -she wouldn’t have remembered it till she got to Annette’s sitting-room -door; so Janice followed on behind the hulking figure and waited while -the girl thundered a summons on the portal. - -“For the love of the land, come in!” cried Annette’s querulous voice -from within. “You’ll be the death of me, Amalia. My nerves are all -frazzled by your pounding on the door. What is it--towels? or a pitcher -of water? Or---- My goodness! Janice Day! What do you want?” - -The welcome she received did not help Janice in her errand; but perhaps -it brought her more bluntly to it. - -“Mr. Haley is very ill,” she said. “He is threatened with pneumonia. -Dr. Poole says he seems troubled about something, and he has expressed -a desire to see you.” - -“To see _me_?” gasped Annette. “Oh! I don’t like to see sick people. -I--I’m not a bit of good in a sick room.” - -“But you can help make him well by calling on him for a few minutes, -can’t you?” demanded Janice, sharply. - -Annette caught the tone, and seemed to see something in Janice’s face -that displeased her. - -“I suppose you are in close attendance upon him, Miss Day?” she -drawled. “Dear me! I shouldn’t think he would want anybody else.” - -“I am not in attendance on him,” Janice said, sternly. “And he has not -asked to see me. It is you he wants. I should think that you would have -no hesitancy in going at such a time.” - -“Oh, dear me!” said Annette, with one of her silliest smiles. “I have -my reputation to think of. To go to a young man’s boarding place--of -course, he’s ill----” - -“Mrs. Beasely will be there, and Mrs. Beasely is above reproach,” said -Janice, wearily, and turning toward the door. “You will come?” - -“Now, really, I’d like to, of course. Poor Nelson! And he wants to see -me? Just fancy!” - -“And she never expressed any feeling for him at all,” Janice said over -and over to herself as she trudged home. “What a wicked, heartless -girl!” - -Nelson was not so well that evening. Janice learned that Annette had -called, but had remained only a few moments and had refused to enter -the sick chamber save with Mrs. Beasely. That good lady said, with a -sniff: - -“Poor gal! if she’s in love with him she must ha’ felt turrible bad, -for of course she couldn’t tell him so with me there. She said folks -had talked so mean about her that she didn’t dare give way as she’d -like to an’ come right up here and help nuss him. I’m awful glad _you_ -air sech a practical, sensible gal, Janice. An’ ye air a mortal help to -a body.” - -Janice was curious enough to ask if Mr. Haley seemed to recognize -Annette and be aware of her presence. - -“Oh, yes! he cheered up right away,” declared Mrs. Beasely. “But he’s -as flighty as an unbroken colt again now. I guess we’ll have a time -with him to-night.” - -For Janice, having gained her aunt’s permission, had brought a wrapper -and felt-soled slippers, determined to help watch with the patient that -night. Mrs. Beasely was grateful for her help, too, before morning. -Nelson was very uneasy and excitable. He seemed to have forgotten that -Annette had come, and was talking all the time about her--wishing she -would come, and declaring that he must speak to her. - -In the morning the doctor shook his head more gravely than before. -Nelson was very weak. The drugs he took seemed not to take hold upon -him as they should. - -“Trouble here,” said Dr. Poole, tapping his forehead. “But what it is I -don’t know. That girl came to see him? Well! it didn’t seem to relieve -his mind any.” - -That was Thanksgiving Day; but there was little thanksgiving in two of -the homes of Polktown. It was a worrisome day at the Widow Beasely’s -and at the old Day house Marty declared there “warn’t no taste to -nothin’, not even to the turkey, without Janice.” - -That, and several days that followed, were indeed dark days for Nelson -Haley. His name was mentioned in the Friday night prayer meeting at the -church, and Mr. Middler spoke feelingly of the young man who had given -so much of himself for the benefit of the children of Polktown. - -If there had been those who criticized Nelson’s association with -Annette Bowman, they were shamed to silence now. The shadow of death -hovered over the young schoolmaster, and the tongue of slander was -stilled. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A QUICK CONVALESCENCE - - -School was to have re-opened on Monday; but the trustees postponed it a -week, for it was hardly possible to hold the older classes without Mr. -Haley. Miss ’Rill offered her services; but she admitted that the new -methods were quite beyond her and that probably many of Nelson’s older -pupils knew more than she did herself. - -On Sunday night, however, Nelson’s condition changed. Dr. Poole had -“staved off” pneumonia, as he expressed it, and the young man began to -gain. That gain was manifested on Monday morning, to Mrs. Beasely’s -delight, by the patient’s consumption of a bowl of chicken broth. - -“If he kin eat he’ll live,” she declared, with conviction. “That’s all -he needs now--good food and plenty of it. If I’d ha’ got my Charles to -see it that way an’ put forth an effort to eat, I jest know he’d got -well,” and she went over to stand before the enlarged crayon portrait -of her husband in the dining-room, and wipe away the tears that gushed -over her faded cheeks. - -Old Mrs. Scattergood often said that, “Miz’ Beasely worshiped at the -tomb of an idee. Charles Beasely was as mean an’ meachin’ a man as ever -stepped in socks, and ’twas a marcy to Miz’ Beasely when he was taken; -but you couldn’t make her believe it now to save your soul!” - -“But why should you want to take the woman’s comfort from her, Ma?” -queried Miss ’Rill. “It makes her more tender-hearted and sweeter, to -believe that her husband was a saint.” - -“Humph! like other fules I might mention, she’d ruther cling to a false -idee than know the trewth,” said the birdlike old lady, shaking her -head. “Some wimmen air plumb crazy abeout men. Me? humph! I wouldn’t -worry my head over the best one that ever lived.” - -Mrs. Scattergood could not content herself with the prospect of her -daughter’s marriage. The closer the event approached the more she -nagged. Her opinion of Hopewell Drugg was freely expressed throughout -the length and breadth of Polktown. She had got so that she couldn’t -even be nice to little Lottie, and Miss ’Rill had to make the little -girl understand that she mustn’t visit around the corner on High Street -any more. - -That gave Lottie more time to go over to Mrs. Beasely’s and listen for -news of Nelson Haley, in whose illness she was deeply interested. When -she was allowed to enter the room to see him, she was almost afraid of -the school teacher, his face was so white and his hands so thin. - -“I--I feel like I’d ought to be introduced to you again,” she -stammered, coming close to the bed. “Oh! you poor, poor thing! Let me -_feel_ if you’re the same.” - -For little Lottie had never got over that trick of “seeing with her -fingers,” and often preferred to examine an article that way, to sense -its shape, texture and colorings, rather than by visual means. Now she -ran her sensitive finger-tips over Nelson’s face. - -“Yes! You’re Nelson Haley,” she sighed. “But oh, my dear! you don’t -look like him.” - -At that Nelson gave a weak laugh, and Mrs. Beasely came hurrying in to -see what was the matter. - -“Goodness me! you mustn’t make him laugh, Lottie,” cried the anxious -widow. - -“What shall I do?” asked Lottie. “Make him cry? It don’t seem as though -that would make him any better,” and Nelson laughed again, sat up in -bed, and demanded more broth. - -“For the land’s sake!” ejaculated Mrs. Beasely. “You’re talking like a -re’l convalescent now. And this young lady,” and she tweaked Lottie’s -ear, “is a-doin’ you more good than the other one.” - -Nelson looked up quickly. “What other one?” he asked. - -“Oh my! don’t you remember of her comin’ to see ye?” asked the widow, -smiling and smirking. “Oh my!” - -“Do you mean----?” - -“Miss Bowman,” said Mrs. Beasely. “You axed to see her, you know, -and she was mighty kind to come, I should say. She sent them flowers -yonder. Got ’em from Popham Landing.” - -Nelson’s brow was knitted while he sipped the broth. “So I asked to see -Annette?” he murmured. - -“Quite wild arter her,” said the widow. “’Course, I wouldn’t say -nothin’ abeout it. Young men have funny fancies, I ’xpect, when they -air sick.” - -“And she came up and saw me? Yes! seems to me I remember of her -being in the room once. But my memory is rather hazy,” confessed the -young man. “It seems to me at one time that the room was full of -people--shadowy people---- Wasn’t there anyone else to see me?” - -“Oh no,” said Mrs. Beasely, bridling a little, and of course not -considering Janice’s practical attentions in the same class with Miss -Bowman’s call. “I should hope not. I wouldn’t have allowed it.” - -“Dear me!” said Nelson, whimsically, “you’d be careful of my reputation -as a respectable young man, Mother Beasely, I know.” - -“I most sartainly would,” declared the lady, firmly. - -“So Annette was the only girl who came to see me?” Nelson mused, and -put away the broth. “I don’t want any more,” he said, and sank back -into the pillow. - -Janice did not come to help now that he was better. In fact, as the -weather remained open, she ran back and forth to the seminary every -day, stopping before the widow’s house night and morning to inquire -after the patient. But she did not go in now that Nelson was conscious -and likely to ask questions. - -He heard the motor-car come to a halt and then start on again, more -than once; and finally he asked the widow if it wasn’t Janice’s car. - -“Sure it is. She’s just taking little Lottie out for a ride,” said the -widow, having already given her bulletin of the patient’s convalescence -to Janice, and now peering through the shutters of the blind. - -“I suppose she comes to Hopewell’s on errands,” sighed Nelson, and said -no more about it. Nor did Mrs. Beasely imagine for an instant that -Nelson Haley had more than ordinary interest in Janice Day and her -doings. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -FINANCIAL TROUBLES - - -Nelson was well enough by the end of the week to announce that school -would be opened the following Monday. The scholars would make up their -missed recitations in Christmas week and at Easter. Janice had been -keeping up with her studies at the seminary with difficulty during this -time of stress; and she ceased appearing at the Beasely cottage as soon -as the school teacher was really out of danger. - -As long as snow held off, Janice was determined to sleep at home and -run back and forth in her automobile; but she went for her luncheon to -her boarding place in Middletown each day. - -Mrs. MacKay was a cheerful, bustling Scotchwoman whose life and -interests were entirely centered in her big son, Archie. She had -educated Archie by sewing and washing and other domestic labors for -Middletown people; and although the MacKays had occupied a humble place -in the past, Archie’s position in the Middletown Bank and his own -friendly, accommodating nature, were fast putting the devoted couple on -a higher social plane. - -Archie never went anywhere save to work without his mother; they went -to church together and came home together; he never seemed to have eyes -for any woman but her, and she was so proud of Archie that she could -talk of little else. - -But Janice found the couple less cheerful after the Thanksgiving recess -than they had formerly been. Archie seemed distraught at the luncheon -table, and when he had gone she caught Mrs. MacKay crying softly. - -“My dear!” the girl said. “What ever is the matter?” - -“Oh, I can’t tell you, Miss Janice,” said the Scotchwoman. “It’s -trouble at the bank, and I’ve no right to speak about it.” - -“Goodness! Archie is surely not in any difficulty?” - -“Thank God, no! ’Tis not him. But ’tis one that’s helped him and been -kind tae him. Got him the place there, indeed.” - -Now Janice knew this to be Mr. Crompton, the vice-president of the -Middletown Trust Company. Mr. Crompton was said to be a man with -expensive tastes and an expensive family in the bargain. She had heard, -more than once, remarks made about the extravagance of the Cromptons. -But only lately had Mr. Crompton been of much importance in the bank. - -The president and his family were in Europe; Mr. Crompton had -succeeded to more power and now what Mrs. MacKay said led Janice to -fear that the vice-president had misused this power. - -“Archie says the expert accountants are coming into the bank to-morrow. -He will be questioned. He has been forced to make some entries in his -books that he believes he should not have made. He can explain; but the -facts may hurt my Archie if he is obliged to look for another position. -And we were getting on so well! Ah, me!” - -Janice did not give the matter much attention at the time, although she -sympathized with Mrs. MacKay. The widow knew well enough that she could -trust Janice to say nothing regarding the expected trouble in the bank. -The girl’s own money was in the keeping of the Merchants & Farmers -National, and she had no reason to worry about it. - -Indeed, it never entered Janice’s mind that the trouble at the trust -company was likely to bother the depositors, and that some of those -depositors might be her friends and acquaintances, until the next -evening at supper time. Uncle Jason chanced to remark: - -“Wal, them that has got it already, has it handed to ’em on silver -salvers, by jinks! D’ye hear what that old tight-wad Concannon’s gone -and done? He’s got that piece of sawmill land that belonged to the -Protherick Estate--got it for sixteen thousand dollars. Paid a thousand -down, and his mortgage on the Steamboat Company for fifteen thousand -come due last week and was paid. He’s got the fifteen thousand in the -Middletown Trust--told me so himself--to pay the rest of the purchase -price of the sawmill tract. - -“I’ll say one thing for him,” added Uncle Jason, wagging his head in -one direction and chewing solemnly in the other, “he took a risk. He -ain’t no piker, the Elder hain’t. He risked his thousand dollars when -he paid it down, fur he didn’t know fur sure as the Steamboat Company -would take up their mortgage; and he’d had trouble gittin’ fifteen -thousand on any security he could offer at this time. Banks won’t lend -on timber land or farm property, ye know.” - -These remarks made small impression on Janice’s mind at the moment. -She was not much interested in Elder Concannon’s affairs. But sometime -during the night it must have been, the two ideas combined. Mrs. -MacKay’s anxiety about her Archie and the Trust Company, and the fact -that Elder Concannon had fifteen thousand dollars that he needed to use -at once on deposit in that same financial institution. - -Janice drove around by the Lower Middletown Road that morning, which -brought her past Hopewell Drugg’s, of course. Little Lottie ran out to -hail her joyfully. - -“Oh, Janice! come see my dress--do, do! It’s so pretty. And Miss ’Rill -says I’m to have flowers on it, and a wreath on my hair.” Lottie was to -be one of the flower-girls at the wedding, and she, as well as Janice, -was much excited by the forthcoming event. - -“I can’t come in this time to see it,” Janice said. “I’ve got to hurry -on to school. When I come home, perhaps.” - -The Beasely door opened and Nelson Haley came out. He was not very -robust-looking yet; but he spoke cheerfully, as usual. - -“’Morning, Janice! Nice, brisk morning, isn’t it? Hello, Lottie Drugg! -are you well to-day?” - -“Good morning!” returned Janice, hastily, and started the car again. - -“I’m going to walk with you, Nelson Haley!” cried Lottie, and ran to -meet him. - -Nelson was looking after the little touring car as it rolled swiftly -down the hill, past Mr. Cross Moore’s, and out of sight. He sighed. - -“What’s the matter?” demanded Lottie, abruptly, squeezing his hand. - -“What’s the matter with what?” he returned, smiling down at her. - -“You sighed when you looked after Janice--just so!” and the child -repeated the expulsion of breath that Nelson had unconsciously made. - -“Did I do that?” he said, rather wistfully. - -“Yes! And sometimes when she looks over there where you live _she_ -sighs--just the same.” - -“No!” - -“Yes she does,” declared little Lottie. “She was always doing that when -you were sick.” - -“But she never came near me,” said Nelson, suddenly, speaking to -himself more than to Lottie. - -The little girl stared at him in return. “Why! what a story!” she -gasped. - -“What’s a story, Lottie?” he demanded, with sudden surprise that the -child should look so earnestly at him. - -“You said my Janice never came to see you while you were sick!” - -“Well, she didn’t. She came to your father’s store, I guess; and -perhaps she inquired after me----” - -“Why, Mr. Haley!” interrupted Lottie, so excited that she was rude. -“That’s a _nawful_ story! She come ev’ry day to help Miz’ Beasely. And -sometimes she stayed all night. Miz’ Beasely told Miss ’Rill, and I -heard her, that she wouldn’t knowed what to do without Janice.” - -Nelson stopped at the corner of High Street and leaned against the -fence, while he stared down upon the child in amazement. - -“Janice helped to nurse me?” he murmured. - -“All the time you was out’n your head,” declared Lottie. “You ain’t -out’n your head now, are you, Mr. Haley?” for the young man’s face -radiated a sudden emotion that little Lottie had never seen there -before. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE ELDER’S AWAKENING - - -A young girl’s head is “full of such a number of things.” This was -true, indeed, of Janice Day’s. She had her school work to think of; her -home interests; the Girls’ Guild; her work on the executive committee -of the Public Library Association; the membership she held in the young -people’s society of the church which called for more than a little -thought and attention. All these--and her secret anxiety regarding her -relations with Nelson Haley. - -Is it any wonder that she put no significance upon Elder Concannon’s -money and the trouble at the Middletown Trust Company, until she went -to luncheon that noon and found Archie’s place empty? - -“Where’s Archie?” asked Janice, cheerfully, dropping into her seat at -the table. Everybody called the yellow-haired young Scot by his first -name. - -“He’ll nae come home the day,” sighed Mrs. MacKay, dropping into the -burr that was native to her tongue. “Trouble--trouble.” - -“Oh, dear! have the experts come?” - -“They’re an th’ books now,” said the woman, shaking her head. “Belike -the bank will close its dures this very nicht. Maister Crompton has -been forbidden tae leave town at all, my Archie tell’t me. It’s sad -times, Janice--it’s sad times.” - -The girl stopped eating. The bank closed! Then Elder Concannon could -not draw his money out to take up his option on the sawmill lands. The -fact shot an illuminating ray through her mind. The significance of the -happening struck home deeply. - -“’Tis little ye air eatin’, Janice,” said the widow. “Is’t nae tae yer -taste?” - -“It is all right, Mrs. MacKay,” Janice hastened to assure her. But all -the time that she tried to eat the food on her plate she was wondering -what her duty was under the circumstances. - -Janice certainly would not have gone into the town and spread abroad -the rumor that the trust company might close its doors at the end -of this day’s business. But the information had been given her with -no promise, asked or implied, that she should not speak of the bank -trouble. - -Elder Concannon was likely to lose a thousand dollars, perhaps; -besides, his plans for profit out of the sawmill contract would come to -naught. It might be months before the troubles of the Middletown Trust -Company would be settled and the old gentleman be able to get hold of -his money again. - -Janice went back to school with her thoughts now fixed upon this -subject. Was it her business to do anything to help Elder Concannon? -Would it be wrong if she told him what she had learned from Mrs. MacKay -about the Middletown Trust Company? - -Janice did not trouble her mind about her own relations with the stern -old elder. Not for a moment did she remember that he had sworn out a -warrant against her for speeding and hailed her into court. She wasn’t -the kind that hugged the thought of revenge. - -But she hesitated because she did not know which was the right thing -to do. The matter of the trouble at the bank had been imparted to her -with no idea of its being repeated; yet she was not under the bonds of -secrecy. - -How would Elder Concannon feel if his money was tied up? And suppose it -caused him to lose the thousand dollars he had already paid down upon -the option? - -Janice had gone into recitation ere this; but her mind was not on -her work. She asked to be excused by the teacher in charge and went -directly to the principal of the seminary. - -“Mrs. Protherick, I wish you would excuse me at once. I have to go -back to Polktown. I learned something at lunch time that leads me to -believe it is my duty to help somebody at home. I cannot explain just -now what it is.” - -“Why, Janice,” said the principal, smiling, “I have found you so far -to be a most sensible and trustworthy girl. If you told me you had -business in the moon I should be inclined to countenance your absence -while you attended to it. Of course you may go, my dear,” and she -kissed the flushed girl warmly. - -Janice’s car was parked on the school grounds. She ran out to it, took -the blanket off the radiator, tried the starter and the gas, found that -everything seemed all right, and prepared to depart. As she wheeled out -of the seminary grounds the clock in the tower struck the half hour -after one. - -The roads were still in good condition. The sky had threatened a storm -for several days; but it was still in the clouds and the rags of mist -hanging from the higher peaks of the Green Mountains. The car hummed -along over the Upper Road, and Janice met few other vehicles. The -people at the farmhouses she passed stared at her, as they always did. -She took the direct route to the Elder’s home, for there was haste. Had -the constable been timing her to-day he might have made out a very good -case of speeding against her, for the trust company closed its doors at -half past three o’clock! - -“I wish I had told him last night--or had gone back at once this -noon,” thought the anxious girl. “Suppose something happens? Suppose -the car breaks down?” - -But she watched everything very carefully. Although she coaxed the car -along at a high rate of speed, she took no chances. She did not travel -at near the speed she had on the day she had taken the sick Trimmins -baby to Dr. Poole’s office. - -The Elder’s white-painted house and his big barns finally came into -view. Janice drove right into the open gate and to the side door. The -roaring of the exhaust before she shut off the engine brought the old -man himself to the door--in his dressing-gown and slippers and with a -book in his hand. - -The moment he identified Janice he scowled, demanding: - -“What do you mean, girl--coming in here with that thing? You are bold -indeed to drive that chariot of Satan into my yard.” - -“Wait, Mr. Concannon! do wait!” begged Janice, hastily getting out from -behind the wheel. “I’ve got something to tell you.” - -“To tell me?” he asked, amazed. - -“Yes. Let me come in. I must talk with you.” - -“I don’t know what you mean, girl,” declared he. “I want nothing to do -with you. I feel----” - -“Oh, wait! wait!” half sobbed Janice, so excited that her nerves were -on the jump. “It’s about your money.” - -“My money?” repeated the Elder. - -“Your money in the Middletown Trust Company. I heard uncle say you had -fifteen thousand dollars there.” - -“Your uncle is a busybody,” snarled the Elder. “What business is it of -his or yours?” - -“But you may lose it!” cried Janice, desperately. - -The old man’s hand was uplifted and he was about to utter some -malediction for which he might have been sorry. The girl’s earnestness, -her clutch at his arm, or, possibly, the mention of the word “lose,” -stayed him. He said, huskily: - -“Come in.” - -“You haven’t a minute to lose, Elder Concannon,” declared Janice, in -conclusion, when she had told what she knew of the trust company’s -affairs. “Your clock there on the mantel says it is half past two -already. The bank closes in an hour. I believe--in fact I am almost -sure--it will not open for business to-morrow. If you don’t reach there -by half past three you may not be able to use your money.” - -“I’ll be ruined! ruined!” exploded the old man. - -He rose totteringly to his feet. Janice saw the change in his face and -was frightened. She was afraid the Elder was going to be ill, and she -was not sure that there was anybody else in the house. She had not sat -down, and she sprang forward to steady him. - -“You can’t help me, girl,” he said. “’Tain’t that kind of help I need. -If I get that money tied up I shall be ruined--ruined! I’ve got too -many eggs in the one basket--and that basket just now is the Middletown -Trust Company.” - -“But go get it out!” cried Janice. - -“I couldn’t get there in time. My horses would never get me there.” - -“Isn’t my car here? I’ll get you there in an hour--in less time,” urged -Janice. “That’s what I came for. I came to help you get your money. It -would have been nothing to tell you about it, if I could not give you -practical aid.” - -“My goodness, girl! in that devil wagon?” - -“I don’t think you ought to call it that,” said Janice, softly. “I -carried little Buddy Trimmins to the doctor in it, and saved his life. -God helped me get him there in time,” said Janice, her eyes filling -with tears. “I am sure He will help me to save your money that you -need.” - -“Go on, girl!” said the old man, huskily. “I’ll get my coat and hat. -But to get to Middletown in an hour!” - -“We’ll do it in less than that if all goes right,” cried the girl, and -ran out to turn the machine about. - -The Elder came after her in half a minute. She noticed that in his -excitement he had slipped his overcoat on over his dressing-gown and -still wore the carpet slippers. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -“A RUN FOR HIS MONEY” - - -Elder Concannon jerked open the tonneau door and plunged inside. “Go -on, girl!” he gasped. “Heaven forgive me! I don’t know that I am -doing right. But it’s any port in a storm. If you can get me there in -time----” - -The rest of his speech was jerked back into his throat by the leap the -Kremlin gave as Janice threw in the clutch. She bothered little with -the low speed, but sent the car on, out of the yard, and along the -country road at a pace that made the old man cling to the robe rail. - -Fortunately there was nobody in sight at first to see him. The Elder -felt that something dreadful ought to happen to him for riding in the -automobile. It would be a judgment upon him if something broke! - -Faster and faster flew the car. Janice, sitting well under the wheel, -paid no attention to him, but was watching the road ahead as keenly as -a terrier watches a rat hole. - -The Elder leaned forward and shouted something to her. She paid no -heed, though she thought it was something about her driving. But Janice -was not driving her car recklessly; she was only driving fast. - -When, on coming to a cross road, they took a sharp turn, the Elder -uttered a loud and prayerful ejaculation. He leaned forward again, -tried to say something, but the wind of their passage choked him. - -He lost his hat. His long hair and beard whipped about his austere -face. His cheeks grew pink. His lips parted and his eyes brightened. -There was something very exhilarating about this speedy traveling. He -had not felt the same emotion since he was a young boy and had raced -colts on the county road with his young and godless friends--and that -had been more years before than Elder Concannon cared to remember. - -A wagon came into sight. The teamster kept the middle of the road, -although he was not heavily laden and he must have heard the tooting of -the horn. His horses jogged right along without giving way one inch. - -“Why don’t he get out of the way? Why don’t he?” the Elder suddenly -found himself shouting. He had forgotten the day he had kept to the -middle of the road himself with his load of hay, and held this very car -back. - -But Janice was not to be balked. She did not slow down an atom. She -knew this Upper Road to Middletown like a book now. - -“My soul, girl! you ain’t going to ram that wagon, air you?” called the -excited Elder, clinging with both hands to the back of the front seat, -his beard almost over Janice’s shoulder. - -“Hang on!” the girl advised, grimly, and suddenly turned the wheel a -little. The automobile darted to one side, ran up the smooth bank, and -passed the wagon on a long curve, roaring down into the plain pathway -again with scarcely a jounce. - -The Elder was worked up to a high pitch now. He glared back at the -amazed driver of the team and yelled: - -“Whee!” - -Then he instantly dropped back into the seat, and gasped: “My soul -and body! what will Bill Embers think of me?” For if he had led -three rousing cheers from his place in the amen corner at prayer and -conference meeting, the Elder could have no more surprised himself. - -The car rushed on, Janice hanging to the wheel, and without a word -for her companion. They passed some of the dwellings along the way so -swiftly that it is doubtful if the occupants recognized the Elder’s -well-known figure in the back of the vehicle. Certainly, it was the -last place they would have ever expected to see him. - -The car came in sight of Si Littlefield’s barns, and there they were -just turning the young stock out of one yard on one side of the road -into another yard on the other side. The Elder uttered a wild yell and -Janice punched the siren button a couple of times. - -Si’s hired man--a lout of a fellow--did not know enough to shut the -gate and so keep the remainder of the herd off the road. He merely -stood and gaped, while the heifers and young steers bawled, and ran up -the road ahead of the automobile, tails in the air and heads down. - -Si ran out of the house and came down to the road, yelling and waving -a club. Janice had reduced speed and was picking her way between the -frightened creatures as best she could. - -“Go on! go on!” the Elder was yelling. “Drat the critters! they’ll stop -us.” - -“Sit down, sir, do!” begged Janice. “You’ll be out of the car.” - -“Dern my hide!” bawled old Si. “I’ll have the law on ye--scarin’ my -cattle. I ain’t surprised none that they arrested ye in Polktown an’ -had ye up before the Jestice of the Peace, you Day gal! I’ll sue aout a -warrant for ye myself---- Good Land o’ Daybreak, Elder! Be that yeou?” - -“Don’t you git in my way, Si Littlefield!” cried the Elder. “If you do, -it’ll be the sorriest day of your life. We’re in a hurry. I gotter get -to the bank quick.” - -Janice, saying nothing, had worked the car through the huddle of -frightened animals. They raced a calf for ten rods farther, then the -roar of the exhaust sent the creature fairly into the ditch and they -were free of the whole herd. - -Had they looked back they would have seen Si Littlefield pulling his -long beard, standing like a stock in the roadway, gazing after the -wonder of Elder Concannon riding in one of those “devil wagons” that he -had talked so wildly against. - -“Goodness me!” the Elder groaned, after a minute, and when the car -was purring along again on high speed, “whatever will I say to these -people? I dunno, Janice Day, but if I save my money, it’s goin’ to cost -me dear in other ways.” - -“You’re going to save your money,” returned Janice, with a glance at -the clock. “We’ve half an hour yet, and we’re more than half way to -Middletown.” - -“I hope so,” said the old gentleman, with fervor. - -But his hopes fell the next moment. Something began to knock under the -car. Janice, startled, shut off the spark and the flow of gas. The pace -was quickly reduced. Elder Concannon leaned over the back of the seat -again and snarled: - -“What’s the matter with the plagued thing now?” - -Janice began to giggle. She could not help it. The metamorphosis of the -staid and stern old Elder within the last few minutes was too funny -for anything. - -[Illustration: “GO ON! GO ON!” THE ELDER WAS YELLING--(_see page 243_)] - -“I’ll fix it, Elder. Don’t be worried,” she said, jumping out. “We’ve -plenty of time.” - -“‘Plenty of time,’ girl!” repeated the old gentleman. “Your clock says -ten minutes after three right now!” - -“Twenty minutes is ample time to reach the bank,” she mumbled, crawling -under the automobile. - -“Great goodness!” he groaned. “How can you say that? We’re only at -Timothy Warner’s. And I declare! I believe they are all at the windows -looking down here.” - -“I shouldn’t wonder,” Janice returned in a muffled tone. “They usually -stare at me when I come by.” - -“Humph!” groaned the Elder. He didn’t like the idea of being made a -spectacle of on the public road. He knew the Warners were gossips. Of -course the tale of his wild ride in the automobile would be spread -broadcast all over the county. And if he had come thus far only to be -too late at the bank in the end! - -He opened his lips to say something tart to Janice, when she backed out -from under the car again. She had a smudge across her face, one of her -fingers was bleeding, and her hat and coat were rumpled. It struck the -Elder suddenly that this young girl, who had every occasion to dislike -him, was doing her very best to save him trouble and misfortune. He -shut his mouth grimly and said nothing. - -“We’ll try it again,” Janice said, cheerfully, and got into the car. - -It started smoothly and soon they left the Warners’ house far behind. -The speed increased until that strange exhilaration again seized upon -the old gentleman. The faster they traveled the faster he wanted to -travel. The bacilli of speed mania had got into his blood in some -mysterious way. - -His grim mouth relaxed. His eyes shone again and he could not keep -his face straight. He felt that there was a grin widening on his hard -countenance and he could not control it. - -It wasn’t merely a facial grimace, either. He felt different inside! -There had been a change enacted within him as the motor-car whisked him -over the frozen road. - -He was an austere man, having lived for years a strictly virtuous life, -but without being touched much by that greatest grace, charity. He had -nothing but a frown for the failings and weaknesses of humanity in -general. He never made allowances for the natural desire of healthy -human beings for amusement. His idea of a normal man was one who spent -his spare hours in studying the prophecies of the Old Testament; who -went to each service of the church, save, indeed, the young people’s -meeting which the Elder believed was ungodly; who sat in the amen -corner and responded loudly at the proper times; who worked hard all -the week; who opposed everything, political and religious, that savored -of progress; and who amassed money. - -He had been unable to appreciate any other attitude toward life, and -he disagreed with that phrase of the Constitution that spoke of “the -pursuit of happiness.” - -But on this afternoon there was something novel aroused in Elder -Concannon. His condition of mind was a throwback into his youth. He -hadn’t thought of those horse-racing days for many and many a year. -He had not relaxed his grimness since long before he had given up the -pastorate of the Union Church. The gentle influence of a young wife had -been lost to him so long before that it positively hurt him to think -back so far. Josiah Concannon had once been a different man from the -being that bore that name to-day. - -He had been ashamed of that old man, whenever he thought of him. Now he -was not quite sure that he was right in being ashamed of him--thus did -the swift ride and the stirring of his pulse affect the old gentleman. - -He leaned upon the back of Janice’s seat, clinging with both hands -to it, and watched the play of expression upon her fair face. Here -was youth, beauty, the joy of living, all that he had opposed, had -quenched in his own existence, had tried to quench in others. - -She turned suddenly and gave him a most brilliant smile. “There’s the -Soldiers’ Monument, Elder,” she said, “at the head of Main Street. -There’s Mrs. Protherick’s School that I attend. We’ll be at the bank -in two minutes--and it is only twenty-five minutes past three by the -school clock.” - -The old gentleman drew a long breath. He sank back in the rear seat, -and his usual expression returned to his gray features like a mask. - -He had been excited, the blood was still pumping rapidly in his veins, -and he felt that strange stirring of life within him that he had not -known for so long a time. - -But he appreciated the fact that certain things were expected of Josiah -Concannon. He was known in Middletown almost as well as in Polktown. -He already saw pedestrians on the sidewalk staring in surprise at his -upright figure in the car. - -He had had “a run for his money,” in very truth. He must now enter the -bank with his usual calm dignity and transact his business as though -it were an ordinary occasion. It would never do to let the officials -suspect that he knew the difficulties the bank was in. Business--all -business again! It was not the same man who had shouted angrily at Si -Littlefield, who now stepped out of the tonneau when Janice brought the -car easily to the curb. - -Even the carpet slippers flapping about his heels could not disturb -Elder Concannon’s dignity when he stalked into the bank. Perhaps it was -fortunate that the teller did not get a glimpse of the old man’s feet, -for the slippers advertised his nervousness and excitement if nothing -else did. - -“I find I must use that cash in closing my timber deal at once,” he -said to the bank official, after scribbling the amount he wished to -draw on a blank check. - -“This quite cleans up your account, Elder,” said the teller, doubtfully. - -“Yes. I’ll need it all, just as I warned you when I put it in last -week,” the Elder said, without in the least betraying the emotion he -felt. - -The teller took the check back and showed it to a bespectacled man who, -with two other strangers, were at the books. He explained in a whisper -about the Elder’s deal and the man with spectacles nodded. - -In a few minutes Elder Concannon came out of the bank and tossed a -heavy sack into the tonneau, for he had been obliged to take some of -the money in coin. Janice smiled at him radiantly. - -“Is it all right?” she asked, eagerly. - -“I got it,” said the Elder, grimly. “I’m sure I wouldn’t have got it -to-morrow. Ye can _smell_ trouble in that bank, and lots of folks will -wake up to it when ’tis too late. But you saved me, Janice Day, and I -hope you don’t think I’ll ever forget it.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -THE ECHO AGAIN - - -The first flakes of snow, riding on the strong westerly gale, met them -as the Kremlin struck into the Upper Road coming from Middletown once -more. Before Janice dropped the Elder--and his money--at his door, the -snow was making a good showing in the frozen ruts and the fence corners. - -When Marty helped her run the car into the garage, he said, with a grin: - -“You can kiss your ortermobile good-bye for the winter now, Janice. -We’re a-goin’ to git it for fair, so the paper says. We’ll have a white -Christmas all right, all right.” - -“And we’ll have an extra nice Christmas, I hope,” rejoined his cousin. -“Guess what you’re going to get, Marty?” - -“No, I won’t!” declared the boy. “I don’t want to even think of it. I -know what I want, and if I sh’d guess right it’d just spoil Christmas -for me. Ain’t I the big kid?” - -She laughed at him, happily. “That’s all the fun of Christmas morning, -I guess--not knowing what you’re going to get till the time comes. -Little Lottie is going to get a Christmas present that she’s been -longing for--Miss ’Rill. Won’t they all be happy in the Drugg house?” - -“Huh!” snorted Marty. “I dunno as I’d call gettin’ a step-mother much -of a Christmas present.” - -“Well, I guess,” said Janice, indignantly, “if you were a little girl -like Lottie and couldn’t remember any mother at all, that you’d be just -as glad as she is to get one like Miss ’Rill.” - -“All right--all right,” grumbled her cousin. “You needn’t get -red-headed about it.” - -As rapidly as the snow was gathering they did not realize that this was -more than an ordinary storm. Uncle Jason was away on a job and Marty -soon went whistling down the hill with his jacket collar turned up to -keep the snow from sifting into his neck. He was bound for the Reading -Room for a book with which to while away the long evening. - -Sunset was not yet, however, although the chickens were going to roost. -Janice ran in to Aunt ’Mira, glowing in both heart and healthy body. -She did not mean to say anything to anybody about the wild ride to -save Elder Concannon’s money; but it was something to remember with -satisfaction. - -Aunt ’Mira was deep, it seemed, in the rites and mysteries of some form -of heathen worship. That is what it looked like at the girl’s first -amazed glance into the sitting-room. The fleshy lady had a sheet draped -around her and she was bowing and posturing and turning her head first -over one shoulder and then the other--trying, it would seem, to look -down her own spinal column. - -“Dear me, Auntie! what is the matter now?” gasped Janice. “Aren’t you -afraid you will hurt yourself doing that?” - -“I know I’m hurting myself,” responded Aunt ’Mira, grimly, “but it’s -the way to keep supple, they say. And I declare for’t! I don’t know -nobody that needs sech trainin’ more’n I do.” - -Janice had descried the propped-open physical culture magazine now, and -understood--in part, at least. - -“But why the sheet, Auntie?” she asked, as the good lady went on with -her self-inflicted punishment. - -“Wal,” panted Aunt ’Mira, at length obliged to sit down for breath, “I -jest wanted to see how I’d look in one o’ them Grecian costumes they -picter there. I’ve looked at hundreds an’ hundreds of picters of Greeks -in their draperies, and I’ve failed yet to see a _fat_ one. Janice, -don’t you s’pose there never was any fat people in them ancient times?” - -“I suppose there must have been--some,” admitted Janice, much amused. -“But they don’t put them in pictures. Besides,” she added thoughtfully, -“the way the Greeks lived and exercised, and all, would naturally tend -to make perfect bodies and almost eliminate the liability of one’s -having too much flesh.” - -Aunt ’Mira snorted her disgust. “I declare to man!” she cried. “If a -body’s going to be fat, they’ll be fat. That’s all there is to it, I -reckon. I’ve tried my best; and though I’m some more limber than I was, -you know yourself, Janice, I’m jest as fat as ever. - -“No, Ma’am! Ye can’t tell me! They never put the fat Greeks in -picters--jest kep’ ’em in the background, same’s they try to do with -fat people nowadays. And if it’s your fate to be fat, why, ye will be, -and that’s all there is about it. - -“Ye don’t suppose, Niece Janice, that I let this fat come upon me -without a struggle, do ye? I--should--say--not!” cried Aunt ’Mira, with -energy. “Why, I fought it tooth and toe-nail!” - -“When me an’ Jason was keepin’ comp’ny I was afraid he’d be scare’t at -sech a mountain of flesh as I was then, and I dunno how many strings -I broke tryin’ to pull in my stays. I wonder I didn’t squeeze all my -internal consarns inter mush, I declare! - -“But the more I ever done to try to take off flesh, the more I put it -on. Why, Janice, I was a fat baby, and a fat young’un. I was jest about -square--like a brick. You could ha’ set me any side up--I’d stood jest -as well one way as t’other. There warn’t no more escape for me from -flesh than there is from death when my time comes. - -“You’d oughter seen me when I was a little toddler, goin’ to old Marcy -Coe’s to school. In them days there warn’t much of a public school here -in Polktown--it only kep’ three months in the year, anyway. Miss Marcy -Coe kep’ a sort of private school for the little tads, right in her own -settin’-room. When they got too big for her to punish, they graduated -to the reg’lar school. - -“And believe me!” Aunt ’Mira exclaimed, with energy, “Miss Marcy Coe -sartainly was ingenious in her punishments. I’ll never forgit one thing -she useter make me do when I was bad. She was most always sewing while -she sat and listened to us readin’ out of our little lesson-books, and -her thimble was a very handy weapon. - -“She sat with one leg crossed over the other,” went on the reminiscent -lady, “a-swinging of her foot for hours at a time. If I was naughty I -had to come up to her and squat a-straddle of that foot. If I rested -any weight on her foot, Marcy would rap me on the head with her -thimble.” - -“Oh! how cruel!” burst out Janice. - -“Mebbe it was good for the back and limbs,” sighed Aunt ’Mira; “but -it was awful tryin’. We’d hafter stay in that stoopin’ position until -sometimes we’d fall right over on the floor. And my poor head! It was -sore all over from Marcy Coe’s thimble, until I fairly squalled at -night when my mother combed my hair. She thought ’twas snarls, poor -dear.” - -Aunt ’Mira chanced to look up and see the snow beating against the -windows. It drew a perfect curtain between the warm sitting-room and -the general outlook. The wind had risen, too, and was grumbling in the -deep-throated chimney and rattling the outside blinds. - -“My goodness, Janice!” her aunt exclaimed, “this is a hard storm. Where -can your Uncle Jason and Marty be? They’d ought to be home early to -do the chores. If this keeps up they won’t git to the critters at all -to-night.” - -“I can run out and feed the live stock and shut the hen-house door, -Aunt ’Mira,” offered the girl, getting up briskly. “All they will have -to do when they come home, then, will be to milk.” - -“Wal, if you will,” agreed her aunt. “And I’ll be gettin’ a hot supper. -They’ll want it--’specially Jason--after trampin’ through this snow.” - -Janice put on a short coat, her leggings and mittens, and ventured out. -The back porch was half full of snow, heaped to her waist. - -“I never did see it snow so hard and so fast before,” thought the girl, -facing the storm. - -As she went past the tool shed she bethought her and secured a shovel. -And it was well she did so, for when she reached the small stable door, -the snow was heaped so high against it that she had difficulty in -digging her way in. - -When she finally was in the stable, the wind banged the door shut. -There was light enough for her to see, however. The ponies whinnied, -while the cows lowed gratefully at her appearance. Janice scattered -corn and oats through the feed-window into the hen-house, and heard -some of the hungry biddies scramble down from the roosts to get the -grain. - -She knew just what grain to give the horses, and she mixed the mash for -each cow separately. Uncle Jason had put a pump into the barn the year -before, and it was so protected that it could not freeze. She climbed -into the mow and threw down fodder and hay for the night. All that the -men would have to do would be to milk and water the stock. - -It was comfortably warm in the stable. The heat of the animals’ bodies -made it so. She went the round of the stalls and patted the nose of -each beast kindly. The horses raised their heads and looked at her; -but the cows kept on guzzling their food, their broad, rough tongues -scraping around and around in the wooden pails. - -“I declare!” thought Janice. “It isn’t such a bad lot, after all, to -live in a stable. But I guess I’d better get back to the house, or the -drifts will be so deep I’ll be lost in them.” - -She again buttoned her coat, turned up her collar, and drew on her -mittens. It was growing very dark in the barn, and she heard something -stirring behind the feed-box--whether a cat or a rat she did not know. -Anyway, she did not stop to investigate, for it might be a rat, and -Janice was desperately afraid of those vermin. - -Coming to the door, she unlatched it and pushed. The door stuck. She -tried it again and then, with some fear, threw herself against it. It -did not yield an inch and she knew instantly what the matter was. The -snow had heaped against it--packed solid by the wind--higher than when -she entered. - -Again and again Janice Day pushed against the narrow door, exerting her -strength to the utmost, while her fear grew. She was not naturally a -nervous girl, nor easily disturbed by trifles. But there was something -so terrifying in this sudden and complete mastery by the storm of -affairs that she was shaken to the soul. - -Besides, there was that rustling, scraping noise in the corner beyond -the meal chest. It was the unknown that troubled her. - -Of course, Uncle Jason or Marty would soon come to her rescue. She had -not been more than half an hour in the barn. Unless this snowstorm was -much heavier than any of which Janice had ever heard, the men would -surely find their way up the hillside, and Aunt ’Mira would send them -in search of her. Mrs. Day herself, however, would be sadly alarmed if -Janice did not soon return to the house. - -It was useless for the girl to push against the door by which she had -entered. She was soon assured of this fact. And she did not wish to -stay alone in the stable with that rat--or what she thought was a rat. -The noise it made could be easily heard above the sounds made by the -cattle eating their supper. - -“It must be a big one,” breathed Janice. “I just can’t stay here with -it!” - -She rushed to the big wing doors and tried to open them. But it was -foolish to attempt that, for they were barred on the outside. There was -no way out of the barn, save through the door by which she had entered, -for the cattle entrances were all barred without. - -There was the feed door into the hen-house. The thought of it instantly -came to her mind. But to get to it she must pass by the feed chest. - -It seemed to Janice Day as though she could not do that. The thought of -the rat’s sharp teeth, its flaming eyes in the dark, its sleek body and -hard, wire-like tail, gave her the shivers. - -“I’m a coward! I’m a coward!” she told herself, again and again. -“Perhaps it isn’t a rat at all. Maybe it’s only a cunning little -mouse--or really nothing at all. Oh, if I only had a light.” - -She searched her pockets for matches. Of course she had none. The -lantern hung on a peg just inside the door which she had endeavored -unsuccessfully to open. But an unlighted lantern was of very little use -to her. And deeper and deeper grew the shadows on the barn floor. - -She feared her aunt would be frightened; and neither her uncle nor -Marty came. It seemed to Janice as though much more time had elapsed -since she entered the barn than really had passed. She felt sure that -by taking off her jacket she could creep through into the hen-house; -and the hen-house door was in a corner sheltered from the wind. She -could surely get out through that. - -“Janice Day!” she muttered, “you’ve just _got_ to stop being so -foolish! You must pass that meal chest and get out! Come now!” - -Thus urging herself on--spurring her courage, as it were--the girl -advanced a few steps along the barn floor. Suddenly she stopped. There -were two bright specks shining in the dark. The noise of the rat’s -gnawing had ceased. It must be watching her as she advanced. - -Marty always said they were afraid and ran from you; but this -particular rodent seemed to have no intention of running. - -“Shoo!” gasped Janice--it must be confessed in a very weak voice. - -The eyes never even winked. Morally courageous as the girl was, every -atom of physical bravery seemed to have oozed out of her now. Her -knees trembled under her; she could hardly stand. - -And then, unexpectedly, there was a scrambling noise in the dark beyond -the chest, and a sleepy voice emitted a plaintive “ba-a-a! ba-a-a!” A -lamb! A cosset that had been brought in from the sheepfold the week -before and which Janice had forgotten all about, although she had been -making a pet of it every time she had occasion to enter the stable. - -The unwinking eyes did not move; but the relieved girl knew what they -were now. Two shiny buttons on an old jumper of Marty’s which had been -flung down beside the meal chest and in front of the pen where the lamb -was kept. - -“Ba-a-a!” again bleated the lamb, the innocent cause of all Janice -Day’s disturbance and fear. - -“Ba-a-a yourself!” she cried, laughing hysterically. “What a dunce I -have been. If Marty knew it, I’d never hear the last of it. And how -foolish--and really wicked, too!” she continued thoughtfully. “I guess -that’s like half the troubles I have in this world. I see them coming -and make more of them than they really are when they arrive. - -“I expect I even have no business to worry as I have about dear Father. -It seems as though I fail to trust in Providence when I am forever -disturbed and troubled about things. Everything will come out all right -of course! Father will be safe; Nelson will not disappoint me. ‘All -things work together for good’----” - -She had removed her jacket while she so thought, and now crept through -the small, square window into the hen-house. There was a rustling on -the perches and the old rooster uttered a sleepy “cut, cut, ca-da-cut!” - -“You be still!” giggled Janice. “I am no chicken thief, so don’t alarm -your harem. My! that was a tight squeeze! Now I’m going out--Good-night -all!” and she pushed open the outside door of the hen-pen and came out -into the blowy, snowy world again. - -The storm seemed fiercer than ever; but the lights in the kitchen -window led Janice to refuge. Marty was hooting for her from the back -porch. - -“Crackey!” he called, as she stumbled toward him. “You done all the -chores, Janice?” - -“All but the milking,” she assured him. - -“You’re some girl, you are,” declared the boy, with satisfaction. “Most -any other girl would have been afraid to go out in the storm. Don’t -take much to scare some of ’em into a conniption fit--and then they -step in it!” grunted Marty, in vast disgust, being at just that age -when the opposite sex seems to be a useless creation of Nature. - -Janice refrained from telling him about the rat! - -When the girl entered the house a surprise awaited her. Uncle Jason -had brought a letter for her--one all the way from Mexico and in -her father’s handwriting. Anxiously she tore it open and scanned its -contents. Did it contain more bad news? - -“Oh, isn’t this lovely!” she cried, her face showing her pleasure. -“Daddy writes that matters at the mine have taken a turn for the -better. The government has acknowledged their rights and will leave -them alone in the future. Oh, isn’t it just grand!” - -“I knew it would come out all right in the end, Janice,” returned Aunt -’Mira. “Wasn’t no call for to worry like ye done.” - -“But I couldn’t help it,” answered Janice. “Oh, I must tell Uncle Jason -and Marty”; and she ran off to do so. It seemed as if one of the great -weights on her heart had been lifted away. - -The wind blew and the snow was swept furiously across the lake and -through the streets of Polktown all that night. When morning came the -entire mountain was a mass of white, with the smoking chimneys and the -Union Church spire standing like sentinels above the white-mantled -trees. - -Snow shovels were at a premium. Plows were got out and everybody was -busy making the highways, as well as the paths about the dwellings, -passable. Business was almost at a standstill that day, and it was not -until the next morning that Janice could get to her friend, Miss ’Rill, -to tell her of the good news from Mexico. Of course, she found the -pretty little maiden lady around at the grocery on the side street, -doing some kindly task for Hopewell Drugg’s little one. - -As Janice had said, little Lottie was perfectly delighted at the -prospect of having “Mamma ’Rill,” as she was determined to call her -father’s new wife, “for her very own.” For although she was by no means -as lonely, now that she could see and hear and speak almost as well as -other little girls of her age, the Drugg household suffered for the -presence of capable feminine hands and a loving heart. - -Lottie had been used to run to her father for everything; but she was -getting to that age now where it was a woman’s help she often needed. - -Father and daughter still spent many an hour together, she with her -cheek against his shoulder, while he sawed away at his old violin. The -talent of his music-teacher father had been inherited to a degree by -Hopewell; only he had always been too busy making a living to have the -talent developed. - -So he only knew the old pieces that he had learned when he was a boy -and had first found the ancient violin hidden away by his mother in -the attic. She had considered it almost a sin to play the instrument. -Her husband, she thought, had been a failure because of his devotion -to this very violin. She had looked back upon the days when they were -first married, and he had spent hours pouring out his soul to her -through the strings of the instrument, as wickedness for which she must -ever do penance in this life. - -As Hopewell Drugg remembered her, his mother had been a very austere -woman and had striven to repress every tendency in him toward life or -enjoyment. But once having found his father’s old violin, and learning -that he could draw a certain kind of harmony from its strings, he -refused to give it up. It was the one conflict of their existence -together; his mother had gone to her grave without forgiving him for -his devotion to music. - -His marriage to Lottie’s mother had been a strange one, and his -happiness, if there had been happiness at all, was brief. “’Cinda -Stone,” as the neighbors had always called Lottie’s mother, was sickly -and her married life had been a short one. Since then, until recently, -Hopewell’s affections had seemed to be centered entirely in little -Lottie. It was to her he played “Silver Threads Among the Gold.” And he -still played it to her when the snow kept the child indoors. - -Storm after storm charged upon Polktown from over the mountain-peaks -or from across the lake. The streets had to be dug out after each -snowfall by strings of slow-moving oxen dragging the heavy snowplows. -The country roads were almost impassable. Once Janice had to remain -with Mrs. MacKay over Sunday. Archie was still engaged in the bank, -although it was closed while the finances of the institution were being -adjusted. - -Janice’s absence from town increased Lottie’s loneliness. Often the -older girl had stopped on her return from school, to visit with the -storekeeper’s daughter. Lottie did not go to school herself, but had -lessons for two hours each forenoon under Miss ’Rill’s oversight. - -After that the hours hung heavily on her hands. She could slide down -hill, past Mr. Cross Moore’s; but the other children were in school -and it wasn’t much fun to play alone. So, one afternoon, she left her -sled at the bottom of the hill and tramped over the hard snow to the -frozen cove, where the half-wrecked dock thrust its ice-covered timbers -out from the shore. The line of dark spruce on the farther shore--the -wall against which her voice was thrown back when she called--was -snow-covered, too. And here were more flakes falling. - -But little Lottie knew no danger. She was almost in sight of home. Or -she would have been had not the snowflakes been coming down so fast and -thick between her and the hill on which she lived. - -Lottie had an idea in her mind. She had had it for a long time, and now -that the cove was solidly frozen over, she could put it into execution. -Her pretty fancy of the echo living in the spruce wood over yonder had -never been explained away. She firmly believed in the existence of -some sprite who shouted to her in gentle mockery when she called to him -from this side of the cove. - -“He-a! he-a! he-a!” she shrilled, standing in the softly falling snow, -and facing the wooded point which was now but a hazy outline. - -“’Y-a! ’y-a! ’y-a!” The echo came flatly across the cove. It did not -sound as it usually did. “I declare! do you suppose something is the -matter with my echo?” queried Lottie, aloud. - -She shouted again. The reply was quite as slow in returning, and the -sound quite as flat. - -“I’m going to see what the matter is with my echo,” murmured the child, -and she set forth from the shore on the snow-covered ice. The storm was -coming from behind her, and she had no idea how swiftly the snow was -gathering, or how hard the wind blew until she was in the middle of the -cove. - -Even then Lottie was not greatly disturbed. A snowstorm was fun. And -she was going to find her echo, and they would play together! - -So she went on, the storm beating upon her back. Unfortunately, the -direction of the wind was not toward the wooded point for which she had -started. She drifted before it, and it drove her steadily and surely -out upon the open lake. - -The cove was solidly frozen over; but the lake ice had been broken by -the weight of former snows, and there were open spots in it, perilous -indeed for the unguided feet of the little girl. - -Up on the heights the strength of the coming blizzard had been marked -earlier in the afternoon. Nelson Haley had sent the smaller children -home at two o’clock. By three, when the others were released, it was -already growing dark and the poultry had sought their roosts. - -The snow was falling heavily as he made his way toward Mrs. Beasely’s -cottage. He saw Miss ’Rill’s anxious face at the store door. - -“Some snow!” the school teacher called, cheerily. “Guess the young ones -will have their vacation a day earlier than we intended.” - -“Oh, Mr. Haley!” she cried, without replying to his observation. “See -if Lottie is with Mrs. Beasely, will you?” - -“Sure,” replied Nelson quickly. - -He was back in a minute, not having removed his cap and coat. “Hasn’t -been with her this afternoon, Miss ’Rill,” said Haley. “What’s the -matter? Doesn’t Hopewell know where she is?” - -“He said she had gone out with her sled. I’ve been down the hill, but -it’s snowing so fast the tracks of the sled are covered.” - -“Where’s Hopewell gone?” demanded Haley. - -“Down to the dock. He had to go to see about some freight that was left -there the last time the _Constance Colfax_ made a trip. He and Walky -Dexter will bring it up on Walky’s pung. It’s Christmas goods and--and -other things,” and Miss ’Rill blushed, for among the “other things” -were the last purchases for her wedding outfit. - -“She can’t be over to your mother’s, can she?” asked the young man, -quite serious now. - -“No,” said Miss ’Rill, shaking her head. “She is not there. Maybe at -Cross Moore’s----” - -“I’ll go and see,” said the teacher. “You go back into the shop and -keep out of this wind. I tell you it’s sharp!” - -He plodded down the hill without an idea that he shouldn’t find the -little girl in Mr. Cross Moore’s kitchen. The selectman was fond of -little Lottie, and often brought her into the house to see his wife, -who was an invalid. - -When Nelson Haley knocked at the kitchen door, the slipshod girl who -waited on Mrs. Moore answered his summons. Mr. Cross Moore was not at -home. No; the little girl hadn’t been there that day. - -“But I seed her slidin’ on her sled this arternoon,” drawled the girl, -who was an output of an orphan asylum--the sort of person, because of -mental and physical deficiencies, that few people would take into their -homes. - -“Where did she go, my good girl?” asked Haley, with anxiety. - -“It was beginning to snow and she went right down yonder on the pond.” - -“To the cove, you mean?” - -“Yep. And out on the ice. Mebbe she’s fell through a hole.” - -“You didn’t see her come back?” - -“Nop. It begun to snow right hard then, anyway.” - -“How long ago was this?” - -That question was a puzzling one for the deficient intellect of Sissy. -She shook her head. “’Twas afore I rubbed Miz’ Moore’s feet the last -time,” she ventured. - -Haley, exasperated, but troubled still, pursued his questioning: “Did -that take long?” - -“Nop. Not long.” - -“Have you done anything else since?” - -“Yep. I’m allus doin’ things. I washed her tea set. That was after I -made her tea and a slice of toast, and she’d eat it.” - -“Goodness!” ejaculated Haley, figuring rapidly the possible time which -had elapsed since little Lottie had been seen going down to the lake. -“What else have you done since then?” - -“Shook down the sittin’ room stove an’ put coal on. Miz’ Moore is bound -ter have a coal fire, so’s it kin be kep’ all night. And then you come.” - -“Maybe Lottie went along an hour ago, then?” queried Haley. - -“Wal, if yeou know, Mister,” drawled the girl. - -He thought he had some sort of an idea as to Lottie’s whereabouts. -If she had gone down to the cove an hour before she might be in the -shelter of the old dock, for the snow had come on swiftly. When he -reached the shore, however, no Lottie was there. - -What was she likely to do? Indeed, why had she come down here? These -questions were easily answered by the young man. Lottie’s fondness for -the echo was notorious in the neighborhood. She must have come here to -shout across the cove and listen to the answer. - -“And then what?” thought Haley. - -She had not returned up the hill. Even in this smother of snow she -could not have missed her way coming in that direction. She was still -here in the waste of snow, over which the storm was now shrieking. - -The young man made a horn of his two gloved hands and shouted Lottie’s -name, again and again. Now the echo was completely smothered and no -sound at all came back to him. - -A real blizzard had swept down upon the lake. If the child had wandered -out upon the ice, what chance would there be of her ever reaching the -shore again, let alone any human habitation? And, Nelson asked himself, -how should he set about finding her in the drifting snow! - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN KNOWN BEFORE - - -The thickening mist of snow shut off all sight of the shore when the -school teacher was ten yards out upon the ice. Every few yards he -stopped and shouted down wind, believing that the lost child would -never be able to beat her way against it, and would naturally drift -with the storm. In this supposition he was right. She had drifted -farther out upon the ice than Nelson Haley believed possible. If she -had been gone only an hour from the view of the girl at Mr. Cross -Moore’s, the school teacher thought she must still be not far from -the edge of the cove. He began soon to zigzag across the ice, wading -through the soft-packed snow, sometimes almost losing his own sense of -direction. - -From the heights above the wind shrieked down upon him, and the snow -seemed doing its best to bury Nelson Haley under a clinging white -coverlet. Not that he was at all affrighted at first. To fight a -snowstorm was merely fun for him. - -He very soon thought, however, that there was serious danger for the -missing child. He wished that he had gotten together a party to make -this search with him. One searcher seemed very helpless in this fast -gathering blizzard. He made small progress, and feared that he might -pass little Lottie without seeing her. - -Beaten down by the gale the child could easily be covered with the -drifts and lie undiscovered until it was too late to save her. The -possibility of this tragedy horrified Nelson Haley. - -Poor little Lottie, Janice Day’s friend and his own! It was because -of Lottie that the young man had so recently begun to doubt if he had -quite understood Janice during the past few months. - -If Janice did not care for him at all--and Nelson had honestly believed -that was a fact--why had she come to nurse him when he was ill? He had -not asked Mrs. Beasely point-blank if what Lottie had said was true. He -knew too well the widow’s liking for gossip. - -But he had dovetailed together a word dropped here and another there, -until he had secured all the evidence necessary to assure him that -little Lottie had “let the cat out of the bag”--childishly unconscious -that she had betrayed a secret. While he was delirious, Janice had -been his close attendant. When he had turned the corner on the road to -health, she had refrained from coming near him. - -Nelson could not understand it; but he had to accept the fact as it was -for the time being. He longed to get Janice alone and to find out the -truth of the matter; but every time he tried to do so something seemed -to intervene. And Frank Bowman was always around, too! - -These thoughts did not keep Nelson from shouting at intervals; but -his reiterated shouts did not reach little Lottie’s ears for a long -time. Confused by the storm, and utterly helpless to breast it, Lottie -Drugg probably did the wisest thing she could have done under the -circumstances. - -She sat down in the midst of it and cried! - -Ordinarily to give in to the gale and sink before it would be a -perilous thing indeed; but in this case it kept the child from going -too far to be rescued. She had not got out of the more or less -sheltered cove. Had she done so, the gale would have swept her off her -feet and buried her under the drifts. - -But Nelson, forcing his way through the heaped-up snow, shouting -now and then, staggering on with determination, his own back to the -gale, finally stumbled upon a heap that seemed of strange formation. -He stooped, scratched away the snow, and seized the half-unconscious -Lottie in his arms. - -“Child! child!” he cried. “How did you come here? You’d have been -frozen in a little while.” - -“Don’t! don’t wake me up, Nelson Haley,” she whined. “I want to go to -sleep. Lottie’s so tired. And I could--couldn’t fi-find my echo after -all!” and she began to whimper. - -The mention of the echo reminded Nelson that there was a better way -back than facing the storm across the open ice of the cove. Here was -the wooded point not far to the right as he faced the town again. - -“We’ll find shelter under those trees, if nothing else,” muttered the -school teacher, and with the little girl clinging around his neck, a -dead weight, he stumbled on until he found the broken line of the shore. - -The snow was banking up upon it in a great windrow; but Nelson plunged -through this barrier and reached the sheltered grove. A low, sweeping -spruce offered them complete roofing from the storm. Nelson put the -little girl down, broke off some dead branches, and quickly started a -fire. - -When it was snapping brightly, he removed Lottie’s shoes and stockings -and restored the circulation to her feet. Then she woke up and declared -herself to be “all warm and comfy--and couldn’t we go home to supper, -for I am drefful hungry?” - -Nelson knew well enough that the storm would not cease for many hours; -they could not possibly remain here, for no searching party would know -where to look for them. They must get home as soon as possible, and -before it grew too dark to see. - -He knew that by going up the point, through the wood, he would strike -an old wood road through Mr. Cross Moore’s property to the place where -the railroad bridge was already half builded over the brook. A sawmill -had been put into this timber a few years before, and most of the -well-grown trees had been cut and sawed into planks. - -Therefore, when he staggered out of the spruce growth with little -Lottie in his arms, he found himself in conflict with the gale, which -had a good sweep through the open woodland. - -It was still light enough for Nelson to see the outline of objects. -This was a path familiar to him, for he and Janice and little Lottie -had often walked here the spring before. - -The snow underfoot made the traveling very hard; nor was Nelson as -strong as he had been before his illness at Thanksgiving. He had -to stop frequently, turn his back to the gale, and get his breath, -hovering Lottie before him, encircled in his arms. Then he would plunge -on again, plowing through the beating storm--fairly fighting for the -gain of each ten yards as though battling an actual enemy. - -In one of these resting spells he thought he heard a cry. It was faint -and seemed to come a long way down wind. He rose and answered it; but -he doubted if his voice could have carried very far against the gale. - -He grabbed up Lottie again and plunged on. Somebody was either -searching for them, or---- - -Could it be another person in trouble? “I guess I’m right in the game -of rescue to-night,” muttered the school teacher. “I wonder who this -is?” - -He put all his strength into another call. An answering cry sounded -almost above his head. - -“Sounds as though he were in a flying machine!” gasped Nelson, staring -up into the smother of snow. - -And then suddenly he discovered that there was the bulk of some rigid -object up there, above his head. He looked up at it in surprise. What -could it be? How far had they come? - -“Hello!” The muffled voice came down to him, and Nelson, setting Lottie -down once more, yelled up in return: - -“Hello, yourself! Where are you?” - -“Up on the bridge!” cried the other voice, this time more clearly. -There was a little lull in the gale and Nelson immediately understood. - -“We’re at the bridge--I declare we are!” he said. “And that is Frank -Bowman, the civil engineer.” - -“Mr. Bowman! I know him, too,” cried Lottie. “Do you s’pose he’s hungry -for supper--and co-cold?” - -“I’ll bet he is!” laughed Nelson. He shouted up to the civil engineer -again: “What are you roosting up there for? Don’t you know enough to go -in when it snows?” - -“I declare, it doesn’t look as though I did, does it?” repeated Frank -Bowman, rather grimly. “But to tell the truth, I’m in trouble.” - -“What’s the matter with you?” demanded Nelson, trying to see him -through the curtain of falling snow. - -“I’ve hurt my arm. I don’t think it is broken, but it’s wrenched badly -and I can’t use it to help myself down from this trestle,” replied -Frank Bowman. “I got up here to secure some tools that one of the men -must have left in a knee of the structural work. Pretty near fell off -and broke my foolish neck, for I slipped on an icy girder. And in -saving myself, I hurt my arm. If you can give me some help, I’ll be -much obliged.” - -“In a minute!” cried the school teacher. “I’ve an encumbrance here in -the shape of a little lost girl.” - -“I ain’t lost!” shouted Lottie. “It’s only my echo that’s lost. I -couldn’t find it. Did you see my echo, Mr. Bowman?” - -“Bless your heart, Lottie! I haven’t seen anything up here for two -hours but the angels shaking out their feather-beds,” returned the -civil engineer, laughing rather grimly. - -“Oo-oo!” squealed Lottie. “If the angels hafter sleep on such cold -feathers, don’t you think they’d get frostbite? Mr. Haley rubbed my -feets ’cause he was ’fraid I’d get frostbite.” - -“You’ve been out some time in this storm, then?” demanded the civil -engineer, as Nelson climbed up to reach him. - -“Longer than I care to be out,” replied Nelson. “Come on! let’s have -your foot. I’ll guide it. You can hang on with your right hand. I’ll -steady you.” - -The two young men were not long in getting down to the ground. Bowman -was no more breathless than the school teacher. But his arm hurt -greatly and he had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out. - -“Now, are you all right?” asked Nelson. “We’d ought to hurry on.” - -“I--I guess so,” gasped Frank Bowman. “I--I’m pretty near all in, I am -afraid. You had best go on ahead with the little girl, Mr. Haley.” - -Nelson saw that the exposure and pain had really pulled the other down. -Up to this time he had seen very little of Frank Bowman. Not even when -he called on Annette did he meet Frank at the Inn. To tell the truth, -owing to his belief that Frank was deeply interested in Janice Day, the -school teacher had not cared to know the young civil engineer at all. - -He could not be unkind to the fellow, and it was plain that Frank faced -the storm that charged down the hill with difficulty. Nelson came close -to him and put Frank’s good arm over his own shoulder; the other hung -useless at the young engineer’s side. - -“Come on! we’ll push on together--won’t we, Lottie?” he cried, -cheerily. “Hang on to my other hand, Lottie. We won’t be long in -getting there.” - -It was Nelson’s cheerfulness that kept them up to the mark. He had to -carry Lottie the last hundred yards, as well as brace Frank Bowman. - -The store of Hopewell Drugg was a scene of much excitement when they -burst in from the snowy world without. Hopewell had returned, and he -and Miss ’Rill were much troubled about the absence of little Lottie. -Walky Dexter was preparing to go out and rouse the neighbors to search -for the child. - -“Wal, for the Land o’ Pity’s sake!” exclaimed Walky. “D’yeou young -fellers reckon on this bein’ a nice time ter take a young lady out for -a walk down Lovers’ Lane? Humph! looks like it’d been snowing where you -hev been.” - -“Don’t you try to be funny, Walky,” advised Nelson, helping Frank to -the stove. “Where’s your team?” - -“I put Josephus inter Hopewell’s stable. An’ he’s a-goin’ to stay -there,” said Walky, promptly. “’Tain’t fit for a human bein’ to be -out--let erlone a hoss.” - -“It’s all right, Haley,” said Frank, quietly. “I’ll have my wind back -in a moment, and then I’ll walk down to the Inn, and call in a doctor.” - -“I’ll go with you,” said Nelson, promptly. - -The two young men started off through the storm again in a few minutes. -Somehow the accident to Frank seemed to draw them together. - -“Seems to me you were taking a risk over on that half-completed bridge -alone,” remarked Nelson. “Are you anxious about it?” - -“That’s it,” said Frank, with a deep sigh. “I’m just that. You see, it -means a lot to me. It’s the first piece of construction work I have -done for the Vermont Central; and if anything went wrong with it this -winter I’d maybe be called down for it by the Board. - -“Besides,” he added, a little diffidently, “I’m wanting to make good -for the sake of somebody else.” - -“Your sister?” queried Nelson, with a somewhat sharp look at him. - -“Annette? Humph! No. I don’t fancy that she ever thinks whether I am -doing well in my business or not. You know what Annette is, Haley.” - -“Well,” said the school teacher, noncommittally. - -“You ought to; and I guess Jim Brainard knows. I don’t blame Jim for -fighting shy of Annette. She wouldn’t treat him right. You know Jim, -don’t you?” proceeded Frank. - -“He was in my class at college,” returned Nelson. “I believe he is -very, very fond of your sister. But he is obstinate, too. He’d never -say the first word toward making up. I’ve hoped that Annette would see -her mistake and make the first advance.” - -“She’s about ready to--you take it from me. She’s tired of playing her -little game here. You see, of late she’s kept all the fellows at a -distance, except you, Mr. Haley. And you knew her too well to fall for -her,” added this particularly frank brother. - -They went on down High Street together, and as they approached the Inn -Frank blurted out: - -“I’ve always admired you, Mr. Haley, although you haven’t been very -friendly. You see, you have won your spurs--you’ve got a standing; -while I’m just working to make good. It’s true, Vice-president -Harrison, of the V. C., has been very friendly to me. I--I’m acquainted -with his family----” - -“Vice-president Harrison has got a mighty pretty daughter,” remarked -Nelson, and then added suddenly, “Do you know her?” - -“She--she’s the one I’m trying to make good for,” blurted out Frank -Bowman. “Here we are. I’m a thousand times obliged to you for your -help. And I hope you and I will have time to get better acquainted.” - -He wrung Nelson Haley’s hand with his own good one and bolted into -the Inn. Despite the snow and the wind, Nelson stood still for some -moments trying to adjust his mind to the new set of ideas that Frank’s -words had suggested. - -“Trying to make good with Miss Harrison!” he murmured. “Miss Harrison! -And I thought it was Janice!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -LOOKING FOR JANICE - - -The Middletown Seminary had closed for the Christmas holidays as usual; -but Janice had been very busy at home finishing her Christmas presents, -and sending off belated packages to absent friends. Of course, the -Christmas package for Daddy had gone weeks before. The mail service to -the mine in Mexico was very irregular. - -On this day when the clouds began to hover so close above the mountain -tops before noon, Janice decided that she would not risk putting off -until Christmas Eve a visit that she must make. She packed an old -box-sled of Marty’s full of little packages, all named and numbered, -and pulled a coasting cap down over her ears in preparation for -departure. - -“You’d oughter take Marty with you, Janice,” her aunt told her. -“B-r-r-r! It’s colder than a frog’s toes outside.” - -“I don’t know how cold a frog’s toes are this time of year,” laughed -Janice; “but mine are warm as toast in these fleece-lined boots. Don’t -worry about me, Aunt ’Mira. No knowing where Mart is, unless he’s in -school. But I think his classes are not being held to-day. I’ll toddle -along; don’t worry if I am not home at supper time, for I have another -call to make on my way back.” - -She did not go by the road, for there was a short-cut over the -mountain, and the snow crust was hard. It was directly after dinner -when she set out. The first flakes of the promised storm had not fallen -when she turned off the highway into the narrow drive that led past the -Trimmins’ cabin. - -It was to the squatters’ poor home she was bound. Christmas cheer was -there ahead of her, however. Janice had not seen Jinny and her folks -lately, but she knew that the whole family had been extremely busy -making holly wreaths; while “Pappy” had been cutting Christmas trees -for Elder Concannon and helping ship them at the Middletown station. - -Odd wreaths bedecked the walls of the main room of the house, while -in the corner farthest from the fire was a handsome young tree that -touched the rafters. It was already strung with popcorn and tinsel -balls, while colored candles were ready to be lighted on Christmas -Eve--now little more than twenty-four hours away. - -Janice had made herself the friend of every small member of the -Trimmins brood ere this, if she had not made much headway with the -older ones. The red-haired boy was still antagonistic; but Jinny kept -him well in leash. - -Now the black-haired girl helped Janice smuggle the little packages -into the house, for they were only to be tied upon the tree the next -evening. There was a present for every member of the Trimmins family, -and making these gifts had given Janice more pleasure than most of her -Christmas activities. She knew that all would be delighted with the -presents--even Tom, the red-haired, for she had bought for him such a -complicated pocketknife as no boy on earth could resist. - -Little Buddy Trimmins would sit in nobody’s lap but hers when Janice -was in the house. His mother could not refuse to admire Janice when the -baby showed the visitor such partiality. Janice had spent a pleasant -hour when Tom thrust his head in the doorway and broke the news of the -rising storm by saying: - -“If that gal wants t’ git home for Christmas she’d better make a start. -It hain’t snowin’ a bit--oh, no!” - -Jinny sprang up to box his ears; but as he dodged out through the door -he left it ajar and a great swirl of driving snowflakes was sucked into -the room. - -“Shet that door, Jinny!” called the mother. “Ye want t’ give the baby -his death?” - -“Oh, Janice! It is snowin’ hard,” cried Virginia. - -“I’ll hurry right home,” agreed Janice, jumping up and putting on her -outer clothing. Her sled was already packed with the Christmas wreaths -that Virginia and Mayrie and Elsie had made for her. - -“You Tom!” Virginia shouted. “Come, pull this sled for Miss Janice,” -she commanded, when the red-haired boy appeared. - -“Won’t neither!” he declared. “’Tain’t no weight to it----” - -“You shet up an’ take holt on them sled ropes,” interrupted the little -virago. “Or else you needn’t come in t’ no supper this night.” - -In the clearing the snow was coming down faster and faster. Janice -could scarcely see as far as the road. Tom grumbled aloud: - -“If I go clean down in t’ Polktown with her, I won’t git back to no -supper. ’Tain’t goin’ t’ be fitten for a hawk t’ be out by supper time.” - -“You shall only come with me to the big road,” Janice said, cheerfully. -“Then the wind will be behind me and I shall get on very well.” - -“He’d ought t’ go the whole way,” said Virginia, doubtfully. “I hope -nothin’ won’t happen to you, Janice Day.” - -“Nothing ever does happen to me but good things,” laughed Janice, -setting off through the falling snow. - -She was by no means as happy in her heart as she appeared to be on the -surface. As the season of joy and gift-giving approached there was -something that troubled the girl more and more. Ever since Nelson -had been ill she had prayed that the difficulty between them would -be overcome. If he wanted Annette Bowman for his friend, Janice told -herself she could make no effort to thwart him, but she did wish to -feel that there was no unkind feeling between Nelson and herself. - -When the school teacher, in his delirium, had seemed to ask for -Annette, Janice was smitten to the quick. She could fight the other -girl no further. If Nelson’s mind turned to the city girl in its -beclouded state, he must be very fond of her indeed. - -Janice had been at work for weeks on a knitted silk muffler for Nelson. -Into it, as her dextrous fingers flew, she had knitted many thoughts -and wishes and hopes for the future. She had her day-dreams like other -young girls. And Nelson had been her very, very dear friend. - -The school teacher was to have the muffler, of course. But he would -never know what fancies had been knitted into it. She would just send -Marty over to the Beasely cottage with the box and a Christmas card on -which was written “Best Wishes.” She decided on this finally as she -tramped ahead of Tom Trimmins out to the big road. - -“Now, you are a real nice boy,” she declared, taking the line from his -unmittened hand. “I am much obliged to you. And I wish you a very -Merry Christmas!” - -“You’d better git on home,” growled Tom gruffly. “I tell ye, this is a -reg’lar blizzard. Goo’-bye.” - -“Good-bye and Merry Christmas!” returned Janice, insistently. - -“Aw--well--I s’pose ye will have it!” said the red-head. “Merry -Christmas! Nex’ thing, I s’pose ye’ll wanter kiss me like ye do the -kids.” - -“I promise not to do that, Tom,” said Janice, her eyes dancing, but her -face grave, “until you wash your face. Then I might be tempted.” - -He grinned sheepishly and then stood and watched her disappear in the -curtain of snow that swirled down the broad roadway. - -Before she had gone half a mile Janice realized that this was like -no other storm she had been out in. The wind shrieked around her, -sometimes buffeting her so sorely that she almost lost her footing. It -became something of an effort to pull the light sled. - -There were not many farms between the wood road and Elder Concannon’s, -and every house was back some distance from the road. Janice did not -believe she could get lost, thick as the snowfall was, for the highway -was fenced on either side. But if she turned off it and attempted to -take refuge in one of these dwellings along the way, would she find -such refuge? That was a query that troubled her. The risk seemed less -if she plodded on, and this she did while the afternoon waned and the -storm increased in fury. - -She had no idea that she was already the subject of worried inquiry at -home. Marty had returned and had begun shoveling the paths. - -“More I do now, the less I’ll hafter do in the morning. Plague take the -snow, anyway! I jest hate shovelin’ paths,” he complained. “And, by -jinks! I dunno but the snow’s fillin’ this one up faster than I kin git -it dug. This is an old ripsnorter of a storm, and no mistake. Hullo! -who’s this plowin’ up the lane?” - -It proved to be Nelson Haley. He had not been to the Day house for -several weeks and Marty hailed him with surprise. - -“My goodness, Mr. Haley! I thought you’d forgotten the way up here. Ye -ain’t lost, be ye?” - -“Not at all, Marty, not at all; but I see that you lose all your -knowledge of the English language just as soon as you get out of the -school building.” - -Marty had the grace to blush, cold as it was! “I forgot, Mr. Haley. You -see, everybody around here talks careless-like.” - -“Not Janice, I’ll be bound,” said the school teacher, cheerfully. “And -by the way, is she at home?” - -“Janice? Crackey! she ain’t, but she ought to be,” exclaimed Marty. -“Mother told me she went up into the woods to see those Trimminses.” - -“Those squatters in Elder Concannon’s woods?” - -“Yes, sir! And she’d ought to be back,” said Marty, troubled. “She -might get lost in this snow.” - -“You are right,” said Nelson, with equal gravity. “Little Lottie was -lost in it and we only brought her in an hour ago. Come! let’s go to -meet Janice.” - -“In a minute!” cried Marty, starting for the kitchen door. “Wait till I -tell Marm. Come in and get a warm?” - -“I stopped at Massey’s and got some hot chocolate. I’m warmly dressed,” -returned Nelson. “Let us hurry.” - -The boy and his teacher were off in another minute. Mr. Day was not at -home or he would have gone with them. Facing the storm on the mountain -road was no pleasant adventure. The snow had become needle-sharp now, -and cut their faces sorely. The stronger gusts of wind buffeted the -pair until they were glad to cling to each other’s hands. - -“My goodness!” gasped Nelson. “I hope that either Janice did not start -back from that house, or she has gone in somewhere.” - -“And we won’t know where,” growled Marty. - -“But we’ll ask at every house after we get out of town,” suggested the -teacher. “That is, every one but the Elder’s. I guess she wouldn’t have -gone in there.” - -“Say! I don’t know about that,” shouted Marty so his friend could hear -him. “Janice and the Elder have been thicker than thieves lately.” - -“What’s that?” said Nelson. “You don’t mean it!” - -“Yep. Janice never said a thing about it. You know, she’s -closer-mouthed than a clam with the lockjaw. But it’s beginnin’ to leak -out.” - -“What is?” - -“Why, how she took the old Elder for a ride in her car. And it was -some joy ride, believe me!” and Marty laughed heartily, despite the -buffeting of the storm. - -He repeated for the teacher’s benefit an aggravated account of that -ride to Middletown for the money, with annotations and additions -by everybody who had repeated it, beginning with Bill Embers, Si -Littlefield, and the Warners, and so on, down the line. - -“And if ye notice, Mr. Haley,” concluded Marty, “the Elder hasn’t had a -word to say lately about the Prophet Daniel foreseein’ the automobile -craze of the Twentieth Century. He donated a spankin’ big tree for the -Girls’ Guild entertainment----” - -“And he told me last week that he would give fifty dollars toward the -series of lectures and educational moving picture shows that we’re -going to have in the school hall after New Year’s. Was it Janice who -started the trustees on that idea?” queried Haley, as they halted in -the lee of a shed to get their breath. - -“Betcher life!” exclaimed Marty, proudly. “There ain’t much new that’s -any good in Polktown, that isn’t started by that cousin of mine. And -she got that idea from mother’s saying that she loved to read about -foreign places and foreign people, though she knew she’d never get far -from Polktown to see such things.” - -“I see,” agreed Nelson. - -“So Janice said: ‘Let’s see if we can’t bring the places here,’ and I -vow!” he concluded, “if she ain’t goin’ to do it!” - -They started on. The big Concannon house, which stood close to the -road, loomed through the snow. “If you think it’s possible she may be -here,” suggested Nelson, doubtfully, “we might stop and find out.” - -“Come on,” said Marty, taking the lead. - -He made his way to the side porch. It was heaped with snow and the -windows were masked with it, too. There was a light inside, early as -was the hour. Marty thundered on the portal. - -“Hello, in there, Elder!” he shouted. “Is Janice Day here?” - -There was a movement within, and voices. They could hear Janice -laughing cheerily. A heavy step came into the entry and the door was -flung wide open. - -“Come in, boys,” said the deep voice of the Elder. “Come in and get -warm. This is a pretty serious storm. I have already got one refugee.” - -“Did you come looking for me, Marty?” cried Janice from the -sitting-room. “Do come in and try to beat the Elder at least one game -of checkers. He’s beaten me five straight games---- - -“Oh! Nelson Haley! Did--did you come to look for me, too?” - -“Janice--my Janice!” murmured the school teacher, looking at her -sitting all rosy and wind-berumpled by the open fire, and forgetting to -stamp the snow from his boots. “I certainly did come for you!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -“JINGLE BELLS!” - - -The Elder’s hired man brought out the sleigh and took Janice, Marty -and Nelson Haley down to the Day house on Hillside Avenue; the Elder -insisted on that. Marty sat in front with the driver, while Nelson and -Janice cowered under the buffalo robes on the rear seat. - -There was nothing particularly private in the conversation between the -school teacher and Janice Day during this ride through the storm; yet -it was very illuminating for both of them. - -The subject of the Bowmans came up naturally, for Nelson, in telling -of little Lottie Drugg’s adventure, of course mentioned the difficulty -Frank Bowman had gotten into. - -“And he seems like a pretty nice fellow, Janice,” said Nelson -generously. “I never really talked with him until to-day. He must be -quite wrapped up in his work to spend so much of his time on it.” - -Janice laughed--a happy little laugh. Why! she couldn’t help laughing -now. - -“Mr. Bowman is always talking about ‘making good’ with the company,” -she said, “but it’s Phoebe Harrison he wants to make good with. Oh! _I_ -know.” - -“So he admitted to me,” said Nelson earnestly. “I have an idea he -will succeed, too. She’s an awfully pretty girl. But I am afraid his -sister’s affair isn’t running so smoothly.” - -“Her affair? With whom?” asked Janice, choking suddenly, but looking at -him squarely. - -“Jim Brainard, a college friend of mine. I don’t know that it pays for -an outsider to interfere in such matters. But Jim is a good fellow and -he is dreadfully fond of Annette, and I thought I might help him. She -likes him, too; but she’s obstinate, likes applause and the attentions -of a whole raft of fellows. So they quarreled just before she came here -to Polktown. - -“I believe that’s what has made her act so recklessly and meanly. -Really, she is not as bad as she has painted herself. She could never -make Polktown people believe in her good qualities now, I fear; but she -is going down to New York next week, and she’ll probably stay there. -I know that she is going simply because Jim has returned from a long -business trip that he took for his firm. - -“They’ll meet,” concluded Nelson, laughing, “and I have faith that they -will not punish themselves any longer by disagreeing.” - -Janice turned to him suddenly, her old frank self. “Tell me,” she -demanded, “didn’t you care at all for Annette?” - -“I--should--hope--not!” he gasped. “Why, Janice, I--I----” - -“Why did you ask to see her when you were sick?” she continued. - -“I didn’t!” - -“You did! I was--was there when you asked for her.” - -“Well, I was out of my head, wasn’t I?” returned the school teacher, -grimly. “I must have been to want to see Annette Bowman. It was another -person altogether that I wished to see.” - -He had leaned close to her and she could see the expression of his face -despite the driving snow. - -“You--you mean----” - -Her tongue faltered and she blushed furiously. Nelson had taken hold of -her gloved hand and pressed it closely in his own. - -“I meant you, Janice!” he whispered. - -Marty, on the front seat, suddenly struck into Hopewell Drugg’s late -favorite: - - “Jingle bells! jingle bells! - Jingle all the way-- - Oh, what fun it is to ride - In a one-horse open sleigh-eigh-eigh-eigh!” - -They turned into the driveway of the old Day house, and were at home. - -Aunt ’Mira would not consent to Nelson’s going home that night. “The -Widder Beasely’ll know you’ve stepped in somewhere,” she said, with -confidence. “This storm ain’t fit for a dog to be out in; and after -your illness, Mr. Haley, you’ve been exposed enough for once’t, I -declare for’t!” - -Janice’s eyes shone. Their tender glances, bent upon him in -confirmation of her aunt’s invitation, would have kept Nelson if no -other consideration would. - -“Bully!” shouted the exuberant Marty. “If Walky Dexter comes down, -we’ll have a grand game of parchesi.” - -Her son declared that Aunt ’Mira “did herself proud” in that supper. -She believed in putting forth her best for the minister or the school -teacher. Fried ham, home smoked; shirred eggs in individual ramikins; -potato chips as crisp and dry as autumn leaves; fluffy biscuit; golden -butter, despite the season, for Aunt ’Mira knew how to use the carrot -juice in just the right amount when she colored it; heaps of brown -doughnuts at either end of the table, “where they’d be handiest”; a -plate piled with wedges of moist, yellow cheese--all this besides a -variety of cake, preserves, pickles, and the inevitable pie. The Widow -Beasely might set a good table; but she could not beat Aunt ’Mira when -the latter set out to do her best. - -After the adventures of the afternoon Nelson, at least, did full -justice to the meal. And all through it they redescribed their -adventures to each other. The loss of little Lottie in the snow brought -this comment from Uncle Jason: - -“I swow! I dunno nobody who needs a wife more’n Hopewell, if only to -keep that young’un in leash. She’s as wild as a hawk.” - -“I hope Mr. Bowman isn’t badly hurt,” said Janice. “He is so anxious -about that bridgework.” - -“He’s a nice feller to work for,” volunteered Marty. Then, wistfully: -“I’d love to have his job. I think being a civil engineer is about the -nicest thing a feller can do.” - -“Huh!” grunted his father, who had been hearing a good deal of this -sort of talk of late, “you l’arn to be civil now; time enough to git to -be an engineer when you air older.” - -“Mr. Bowman is a fine fellow, I think myself,” Nelson hastened to say, -covering up this little family bickering. “I never knew him at all till -we were out in the storm together to-day. He has pluck all right.” - -“And I should say you had a-plenty,” Aunt ’Mira cried frankly. “I -b’lieve after what you have been through this afternoon, you’d ought -to go to bed purty soon after supper. I’ll iron the best room bed, and -Jason’ll put the heater in there.” - -But a chorus of objections from the young folk vetoed this plan. Even -Janice thought it an unnecessary precaution, Mr. Haley was so well now. - -“And what my nurse says, goes!” declared Nelson, laughing. “Janice is a -famous sick-room attendant, as I can testify.” - -“I believe you, Mr. Haley,” agreed Aunt ’Mira. “She can jest charm away -a headache. She’s a capable gal, if I do say it as shouldn’t, bein’ her -aunt. Me an’ Jason air jes as proud as Punch of her.” - -Janice ran out of the room for a fresh supply of biscuit, and to hide -her blushes. - -“Janice is the bulliest girl that ever was,” chimed in Marty. “If there -was more girls like her I’d mebbe think of marryin’, myself.” - -This statement caused a general laugh. - -The men folk sat before the base-burner in the sitting-room and talked -about other severe storms while Janice and her aunt cleared the table -and washed the supper dishes. By and by there was a great stamping and -blowing on the porch. - -“Marty,” said his father, taking the pipe from his mouth, “that’s -either a whale come aboard, or Walky Dexter. Go give him a hand with -the broom. Your mother won’t want all that fresh snow on her clean -kitchen floor.” - -It was Walky. Despite the howling storm, he had come down the hill for -his weekly evening call at the old Day house. - -“Gosh all fish-hooks!” he exclaimed, coming into the sitting-room -at last. “This is the wust storm we’ve had since seventy-two, Jason. -’Member that?” - -“Sure, the time Job Eldridge got snowed-up in a bear’s den,” declared -Uncle Jason quickly. - -“Jest the same--jest the same,” said Walky, his eyes sparkling as he -rubbed his great, red hands in the heat of the glowing stove. - -“In a bear’s den!” ejaculated Marty. “Was the bear at home?” - -Walky was chuckling hugely. “You’d oughter as’t Job,” he said. “He had -a-plenty to say about it arterward. Ain’t that so, Jason? He talked -voluminous on that subject for the rest of his endurin’ life!” - -“Tell us about it, do, Walky,” urged Janice, taking up the last piece -of fancy-work she expected to finish before Christmas. - -Aunt ’Mira came in, too, and sat down under the lamp. Walky Dexter -began slowly to expand; he dearly loved the sound of his own voice, as -Janice had frequently told him. - -“Wal,” began Walky, “Job was the laziest man that ever drew on a pair -of boots! He worked for ’Linus Webster one winter, up on the back -of this very mountain, gettin’ out timbers for this very _Constance -Colfax_ that frets the waters of this very lake. You kin see the boat -is some aged, and that we need a new one, railroad competition, or no -railroad competition, eh, Jason?” - -“Quite right, Walky,” agreed Uncle Jason, “greasing the wheels” of -Walky’s speech. - -“We was all comin’ home nights from the wood-lot, ’cause ’twas easier -than buildin’ a camp and hirin’ a cook, and all. Besides, we misjedged -’Linus’ supplies. Time before he’d hired a gang to go lumberin’ he’d -supplied weevilly flour and wormy pork,” explained the story-teller. - -“It come on to snow ’bout the time we was hitchin’-in after takin’ our -noon snack, just siftin’ down through the treetops like an old lady -siftin’ powdered sugar on a ’lection-day cake,” and Walky smacked his -lips. “But it gathered fast. We soon see we was goin’ to be snowed up -there in the woods if we didn’t light out for home soon.” - -“Did it snow as hard as it does to-night, Walky?” asked Marty, the -curious. - -“Jest as hard, I reckon. Hard enough, anyway. But Job Eldridge didn’t -believe it’d be much more’n a squall. He never did have the sense of -a mite! He was on the choppin’ gang and he wanted to keep on. Us that -had teams up there jest hooked up aour chains and lit out for home. If -it snowed like that in the timber, we knowed it would be as bad ag’in -outside. - -“Now, Job wouldn’t come at first. Then he found he was left alone at -the choppin’ and that, I reckon, scare’t him. It snowed hard enough to -scare anybody. He started for home an hour behind us. - -“There he showed poor jedgement ag’in,” said Walky. “There was -somethin’ that resembled a shack handy, and he might have gone in there -and staid hived up till the wust was over. - -“But no. That wouldn’t do for Job. He was as panicky inside as though -he’d eat a sour apple with the Jamaica ginger ten miles away. He set -off runnin’ through the wood, not follerin’ the wagon road even, but -tryin’ to cut across’t and ketch up with us. - -“Must ha’ got twisted around purty soon,” continued the narrator. -“Reckon he follered a trail like a corkscrew, Jason, to find that old -holler maple, eh?” - -“Must have,” agreed Uncle Jason, broadly smiling. - -“Anyway, he come plumb upon it. He was as scare’t as a cat then. The -holler offered refuge, and he plumped in. The wind was a-howlin’, and -the trees a-writhin’, and the snow a-suckin’ into the holler, though -’twas on the lee side. So Job, he scrouged back inter the dark--an’ he -come upon somethin’ there.” - -“Oh!” gasped Janice, for the suggestion of the bear’s presence, -hibernating in the hollow tree for the winter, could not be mistaken. -Marty and even Nelson were round-eyed. - -“It was somethin’ hairy and warm--and it moved,” said Walky hoarsely. -“My soul! ye oughter heard Job tell about it. Make yer hair stand right -up on end!” - -“You’re making ours stand out like the quills on the fretful porcupine, -Mr. Dexter,” interposed Nelson. - -“Did the bear bite him?” demanded Marty, too impatient to wait longer -for the dénouement. - -“No,” said Walky, shaking his head, and preternaturally grave. - -“No? What kind of a bear was that?” asked the boy, in disgust. - -“You reckless boy!” cried Janice. “You wouldn’t want the bear to bite -the poor man, would you?” - -“Wal----” - -“Go on, do, Walky!” urged the girl, eagerly. “Why didn’t it bite him, -as Marty wants to know?” - -“Didn’t have no teeth,” chuckled Walky. - -“_What?_” was the chorused expression of his listeners. - -“A bear as old as that?” gasped Janice. - -“’Twarn’t very old,” said Walky, his eyes twinkling; “but it didn’t -have no head, neither.” - -“A dead bear!” shrieked Marty. - -“Nop. ’Twas a buffaler robe of ’Linus Webster’s that he throwed in -there, and Job wrapped himself up in it and slept as warm as toast all -night long,” and Walky broke into one of his loud guffaws over the way -in which he had fooled them all. - -But they beat him playing parchesi, and it was a happy if rather -noisy evening spent in the old Day house sitting-room. By and by Aunt -’Mira brought on the unfailing doughnuts and cheese, and Uncle Jason -went down to the cellar in his thick woolen socks, which he had been -steaming on the footrail of the stove while he nodded in his chair, -and brought up a jug of cider that had been kept sweet by some secret -method, and also a milk-pan of baldwin apples. - -Janice and Marty got out the popper and the corn. Nelson made his -fingers sore shelling the sharp-pointed kernels from the cobs, while -Marty shook the popper over the fire in the kitchen range. Janice -skimmed two pans of milk--each skimming, a “blanket” of thick, pale -yellow lusciousness. - -With bowls of cream and hot popcorn and the other goodies, they -“managed to make out” a supper, as Aunt ’Mira depreciatingly said. The -storm howled outside and when Walky was sped as the parting guest, it -was into a world of swirling, raging snow that almost smothered the -light of his lantern. He did not bother with the gate, but walked out -of the yard over the fence into Hillside Avenue. - -“A good night to be in-doors,” said Uncle Jason, coming back to the -fire. “I’m glad the critters air all well housed.” - -“One sure thing, Broxton Day hasn’t got it as bad as this down there -where he is, Janice,” said her aunt, consolingly. “It’s most always -summer there, ain’t it?” - -“I guess they have some bad weather where Daddy is,” confessed Janice. -“I--I wish he were here.” - -“Crickey! so do I,” agreed Marty. “I bet he could tell us something -interesting.” - -“Better than Walky’s bear stories?” laughed Nelson. - -There was a little silence. The wind sounded as though it were choking -to death in the chimney. Aunt ’Mira sighed. - -“I do hope there’s nobody out in this storm,” she said. “We got lots o’ -marcies to be thankful for.” - -“We have that!” agreed her husband. “This is a pretty good Christmas.” - -Janice smiled as she bent to thread her needle. Her mind had flashed -back to the many, many complaining comments that had fallen from the -lips of her uncle and aunt when first she had come to live with them. -How their circumstances and outlook on life had changed! - -“And they have done it all themselves,” she murmured. “Only--they don’t -know it!” - -Nelson was watching her. Her nimble fingers played a pretty dance among -the colored silks. She looked up to see him watching her, and her -countenance was immediately glorified. - -“Crickey!” drawled Marty, not understanding, “Janice is gittin’ -prettier and prettier all the while.” - -“That’s worth a Christmas present, sure enough, Marty,” she told him, -laughing happily. - -Uncle Jason yawned frankly and reached to take the big Bible down from -its usual place on the corner of the mantel. Janice and her aunt put -away their work. They all gathered closer about the stove as the head -of the house opened The Book. - -He read of that First Christmas and they listened with that feeling -of growing tenderness which a reverent perusal of the story always -induces. While the snow blanketed the Vermont village, they listened -again to the happenings of that wondrous night in Palestine; and if the -blizzard blew without, and the mountain shivered in the storm, their -hearts within were warm and their souls comforted. - -The reading ended, and Uncle Jason led in the evening prayer. Aunt -’Mira bustled about with the old-fashioned warming-pan. They took their -candles and separated. Half an hour later when the big clock in the -hall hoarsely struck the hour of eleven it seemed to have the old Day -house to itself, for all the inmates were asleep. - - * * * * * - -The blizzard blew itself out before Christmas Eve. The whole town -turned out to shovel paths and plow out the roadway. For there was to -be an occasion of much moment at the Union Church. - -Polktown did not often have a church wedding--or a wedding of any kind -as for that. Mr. Middler’s marriage fees would never make him rich. - -There were no invitations sent out; Hopewell and Miss ’Rill had nobody -but friends in the town and the entire congregation was welcome. Nor -did any, as Walky Dexter said, but the lame, the halt and the blind -fail to get to the church on Christmas Eve. - -The Girls’ Guild had their entertainment in the afternoon; several of -the smaller girls were to act with little Lottie as flower-girls at the -wedding. And when the procession came in from the vestry and started -down the aisle, it was a very pretty one indeed. - -What matter if the organist got her numbers mixed and started to play -“See the Conquering Hero Comes” instead of the usual “Here Comes the -Bride”? As Marty observed, it might have been a whole lot worse; Mrs. -Ebbie Stewart was awfully absent-minded. - -But the wedding was a pronounced success. Miss ’Rill, in her pretty, -modest dress, and with her pink cheeks and fluffy hair, looked as sweet -as any girl bride who had ever walked up the aisle of the old church. -And during the last few months Hopewell had positively been growing -younger. - -Even Mrs. Scattergood could not cast gloom over the occasion. She found -herself being congratulated after the ceremony by those who could not -at first get to the bride and groom to shake hands with them. Everybody -seemed to think it was such an eminently fitting wedding that even this -opinionated old lady was swept away from the foundations of her former -belief. - -“Wal, wal!” she sniffed, wiping her eyes, and speaking to Janice. “I -guess I don’t know nothin’. I must be gittin’ old. Nobody agrees with -me that this is the foolishest marriage that ever happened in this -town.” - -“I should hope not, Mrs. Scattergood,” cried Janice, gaily. “I think -it’s just lovely!” - -“I’m behind the times then,” grumbled Mrs. Scattergood, shaking her -head. “I’m a-goin’ home and sew up the slit in this dress o’ mine. I’m -too old ter foller the fashions. Thank heaven! I didn’t try ter dance -with this game leg.” - -But Aunt ’Mira did not consider that the wedding made her feel old. She -had dragged Uncle Jason out to it, dressed in his old wrinkled black -suit. Her own gay apparel made him look particularly shabby. - -“It’s his own fault,” she declared to her niece. “He ain’t bought a new -suit in ten year. But he’s a-goin’ to now. I’m a-goin’ to liven his old -bones up--you see if I don’t!” - -Which prophecy seemed likely to be fulfilled when, after the reception -in the church, Mr. and Mrs. Day joined the closer friends of the happy -pair at the Drugg place. There was supper, and speech-making, and -reiterated congratulations. - -The floor of the shop had been cleared, and offered a good-sized space -for dancing. After the opening number, a square dance, when Hopewell -and his bride led the figure, the storekeeper seized his own fiddle and -played for the dancers. - -There was a sudden explosion of expostulations in a corner and Uncle -Jason was heard to announce: “I snum! yeou air bound to make a fule of -me, Almiry, as well as of yerself.” - -“We both of us hev been foolish long enough, Jason,” declared the heavy -lady, with conviction. “We been gittin’ old afore our time. No more -of it! Come on! Git up here with yer lawful wife an’ put yer best fut -for’ard. Yeou useter be the best dancer in Polktown; now show the folks -what yeou kin do.” - -And, hilariously, yet perhaps with some moist eyes among them, the -company gathered to see Aunt ’Mira lead her reluctant spouse out upon -the floor. Aunt ’Mira was radiant--and wonderfully dressed! There was -no younger feeling person in the house when Hopewell struck up a reel -and Mr. and Mrs. Jason Day led the figure. - -Janice and Nelson Haley danced in the same set, and were very happy. So -did Frank Bowman and his sister, the latter welcomed for her brother’s -sake if not for her own. - -Uncle Jason began to get livened up. He found he had not forgotten -the figures. When his wife was breathless he insisted upon dancing -with Mrs. Scattergood, the lugubrious. Then he seized upon Janice, and -finally he danced with the bride before the time came to go home. - -The party broke up at an early hour, for the morrow’s morn was -Christmas and, therefore, a busy one. It was a brilliant moonlight -night as the merrymakers left the old store on the side street and -struck out along the well-shoveled paths on their homeward way. - -Janice and the school teacher were behind her aunt and uncle as they -came out--the last of the company to leave. Miss ’Rill was briskly -putting out the lamps in the store windows. But from the rear came the -scraping of the old fiddle to the lilt of a lively tune again, and -Janice and Nelson stepped off through the snow to the tune of - - “Jingle bells! Jingle bells! - Jingle all the way.” - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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