Add files from /home/DONE/40661.zip.2024-11-15

author: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 06:37:08 -0800
committer: nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> 2025-03-03 06:37:08 -0800
commit: 45b87d23f99f3c3752f80253eb226cdbbdbc3bf9 (patch)
tree: a6bf344b9bd5f87ab2c1a1081c3e6e71a0fb14e1 /40661-h
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+<title>A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</title>
+<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" />
+<meta name="PG.Title" content="A Daughter of the Rich" />
+<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" />
+<meta name="PG.Reposted" content="2012-10-06 minor corrections" />
+<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" />
+<meta name="DC.Creator" content="M. E. Waller" />
+<meta name="DC.Created" content="1903" />
+<meta name="MARCREL.ill" content="Ellen Bernard Thompson" />
+<meta name="PG.Id" content="40661" />
+<meta name="PG.Released" content="2012-09-04" />
+<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" />
+<meta name="DC.Title" content="A Daughter of the Rich" />
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+<meta content="A Daughter of the Rich" name="DCTERMS.title" />
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+<meta content="2012-10-07T05:13:46.637435+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" />
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+<meta content="\M. \E. Waller" name="DCTERMS.creator" />
+<meta content="Ellen Bernard Thompson" name="MARCREL.ill" />
+<meta content="2012-09-04" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" />
+<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" />
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+<body>
+<div class="document" id="a-daughter-of-the-rich">
+<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</h1>
+
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="clearpage">
+</div>
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="align-None container language-en noindent pgheader" id="pg-header" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<p class="noindent pfirst">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the <a class="reference internal" href="#project-gutenberg-license">Project Gutenberg License</a>
+included with this eBook or online at
+<a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a>.</p>
+<p class="noindent pnext"></p>
+<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container noindent white-space-pre-line" id="pg-machine-header">
+<p class="noindent pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="white-space-pre-line">Title: A Daughter of the Rich<br />
+<br />
+Author: M. E. Waller<br />
+<br />
+Release Date: September 04, 2012 [EBook #40661]<br />
+Reposted: October 06, 2012 [minor corrections]<br />
+<br />
+Language: English<br />
+<br />
+Character set encoding: UTF-8</span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-start-line">*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span>A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</span> ***</p>
+<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p>
+<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container coverpage">
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 59%" id="figure-36">
+<span id="cover"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-cover.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+Cover</div>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container frontispiece">
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 61%" id="figure-37">
+<span id="hazel"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-front.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+Hazel</div>
+</div>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None center container titlepage white-space-pre-line">
+<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line x-large">A<br />
+Daughter of the Rich</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">BY</p>
+<p class="large pnext white-space-pre-line">M. E. WALLER</p>
+<p class="pnext small white-space-pre-line">AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE CITIZEN"</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">ILLUSTRATED BY<br />
+ELLEN BERNARD THOMPSON</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">BOSTON<br />
+LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br />
+1903</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None center container verso white-space-pre-line">
+<p class="pfirst small white-space-pre-line"><em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Copyright, 1903,</em><br />
+BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst small white-space-pre-line"><em class="italics white-space-pre-line">All rights reserved</em></p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst small white-space-pre-line">Published October, 1903</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst small white-space-pre-line">UNIVERSITY PRESS<br />
+JOHN WILSON AND SON<br />
+CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None center container dedication white-space-pre-line">
+<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">To<br />
+"MARTIE"</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container plainpage white-space-pre-line">
+<p class="center large pfirst white-space-pre-line">CONTENTS</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<ol class="left medium upperroman simple white-space-pre-line">
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#molasses-tea">Molasses Tea</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#mrs-blossom-s-valentine">Mrs. Blossom's Valentine</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-curious-case">A Curious Case</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-little-millionaire">A Little Millionaire</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#transplanted">Transplanted</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#malachi">Malachi</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-n-b-b-o-o-society">The N.B.B.O.O. Society</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-lively-correspondence">A Lively Correspondence</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-prize-chicken">The Prize Chicken</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#an-unexpected-meeting">An Unexpected Meeting</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#jack">Jack</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#results">Results</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-social-addition">A Social Addition</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-lost-nation">The Lost Nation</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#wishing-tree-secrets">Wishing-Tree Secrets</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-christmas-prelude">A Christmas Prelude</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#hunger-ford">Hunger-Ford</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#budd-s-proposal">Budd's Proposal</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-year-and-a-day">A Year And A Day</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#snow-bound">Snow-Bound</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#a-little-daughter-of-the-rich">A Little Daughter of the Rich</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#rose">Rose</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#behold-how-great-a-matter-a-little-fire-kindles">"Behold how great a Matter a Little Fire Kindles"</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#old-put">"Old Put"</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#san-juan">San Juan</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#maria-ann-s-crusade">Maria-Ann's Crusade</a></p>
+</li>
+<li class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-stars-above-shine-ever-on-love">"--The stars above, Shine ever on Love--"</a></p>
+</li>
+</ol>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="align-None container plainpage white-space-pre-line">
+<p class="center large pfirst white-space-pre-line">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#hazel">Hazel</a> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece</p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#you-can-begin-to-drop-that-corn-this-very-afternoon">"'You can begin to drop that corn this very afternoon'"</a></p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#rose-was-at-the-kitchen-table-patting-out-the-dough-for-the-rolls">"Rose was at the kitchen table, patting out the dough for the rolls"</a></p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#hazel-flung-both-arms-around-mrs-blossom-s-neck">"Hazel flung both arms around Mrs. Blossom's neck"</a></p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#i-want-to-tell-you-why-i-came-up-here">"'I want to tell you why I came up here'"</a></p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="left medium pfirst white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#the-two-girls-leaned-over-the-box-as-hazel-took-off-the-wrapper">"The two girls leaned over the box as Hazel took off the wrapper"</a></p>
+<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst x-large" id="molasses-tea">A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst">I</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">MOLASSES TEA</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Good-night, Martie," called a sweet voice down the
+stairway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Rose dear; I thought you were asleep."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Martie," duetted the twins, in the shrillest
+of treble and falsetto.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, you rogues; go to sleep; you 'll wake
+baby."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dood-night, mummy," chirped a little voice from the
+adjoining room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a shout of laughter from the twins.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shut up," growled March from the attic over the
+kitchen.  "Good-night, mother."  His growl ended in a
+squeak, for March was at that interesting period of his life
+indicated by a change of voice.  At the sound, a prolonged
+snicker from somewhere was answered by a corresponding
+giggle from another-where.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, children," said Mrs. Blossom, speaking up the
+stairway, "do be quiet, or baby will be wide awake."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tum tiss me, mummy," piped the little voice a second
+time, with no sound of sleep in it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, darling, I 'll come;" as she turned to go into the
+bedroom adjoining the kitchen, there was the sound of a
+jump overhead, a patter of bare feet, a squabble on the
+stairs, and Budd and Cherry, the irrepressible ten-year-old
+twins, tumbled into the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll haul those kids back to bed for you, mother,"
+shouted March, and flung himself out of bed to join the
+fray, while Rose was not behindhand in making her
+appearance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom came in with little May in her arms, and
+that was the signal for a wholesale kissing-party in which
+May was hostess.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Children, children, you 'll smother me!" laughed their
+mother.  "Here, sit down on the rug and warm your
+toes,--coming over those bare stairs this cold night!"  And
+down they sat, Rose and March, Budd and Cherry and
+little May, in thick white and red flannel night-dresses
+and gray flannel pajamas.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd coughed consumptively, and Cherry followed suit.
+March shivered and shook like a small earthquake, and
+Rose looked up laughingly at her mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We know what that means, don't we, Martie," she
+said.  "Shall I help?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, no, dear,--in your bare feet!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom took a lamp from the shelf over the fireplace,
+and, leaving the five with their fifty toes turned
+and wriggling before the cheering warmth of the blazing
+hickory logs, disappeared in the pantry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, bully," said Budd, rubbing his flannel pajamas
+just over his stomach; "I wish 't was a cold night every
+day, then we could have molasses tea all the time, don't
+you, Cherry?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mm," said Cherry, too full of the anticipated treat for
+articulate speech.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There 's nothing like it to warm up your insides," said
+March; "mother 's a brick to let us get up for it.  She
+would n't, you know, if father were at home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My tummy's told," piped May, frantically patting her
+chest in imitation of Budd, and all the children shouted to
+see the wee four-year-old maiden trying to manufacture a
+shiver in the glow of the cheerful fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom had never told her recipe for her "hot
+molasses tea;" but it had been famed in the family for
+more than a generation.  She had it from her mother.
+The treat was always reserved for a bitterly cold night, and
+the good things in it of which one had a taste--molasses,
+white sugar, lemon-peel, butter, peppermint, boiled raisins,
+and mysterious unknowns--were compounded with hot
+water into a palate-tickling beverage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Mrs. Blossom reappeared, with a kettle sending
+forth a small cloud of fragrant steam in one hand and a
+tray filled with tin cups in the other, the delighted "Ohs"
+and "Ahs" repaid her for all her extra work at the close
+of a busy, weary day.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd rolled over on the rug in his ecstasy, and Cherry
+was about to roll on top of him, when March interfered,
+and order was restored.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As they sat there on the big, braided square of woollen
+rag-carpet, sipping and ohing and ahing with supreme
+satisfaction, Mrs. Blossom broached the subject of
+valentines.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's the first of February, children, and time to begin
+to make valentines.  You 're not going to forget the Doctor
+<em class="italics">this</em> year, are you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, indeed, Martie," said Rose.  "He deserves the
+prettiest we can make.  I 've been thinking about it, and
+I 'm going to make him a shaving-case, heart-shaped, with
+birch-bark covers, and if March will decorate it for me, I
+think it will be lovely; will you, March?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Course I will; the Doctor 's a brick.  I 'll tell you
+what, Martie, I can pen and ink some of those spruces and
+birches that the Doctor was so fond of last summer;
+how 'll that do?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just the thing," said his mother; "I know it will
+please him.  What are you thinking, Cherry?" for the
+"other half" of Budd was gazing dreamily into the fire,
+forgetting her tea in her revery.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fudge!" said Cherry, shortly.  March and Rose
+laughed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Keep still making fun of Cherry," said Budd, ruffling
+at the sound; and to emphasize his admonishing words, he
+dug his sharp elbow so suddenly into March's ribs that
+some hot molasses tea flew from the cup which his brother
+had just put to his mouth and spattered on his bare
+feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">March deliberately set down his tin cup on the hearth
+near the fire beside his brother's, and turned upon Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd tried to dodge, but had no room.  In a trice, March
+had his arms around him, and was hugging him in a
+bear-like embrace.  "Say you 're sorry!" he demanded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Au-ow!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say you 're sorry!" he roared at him, hugging harder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Au-ow-ee-ow!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Quick, or I 'll squeeze you some more!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd was squirming and twisting like an eel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"O-ee-wau-au-<em class="italics">Au!</em>"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There," said March, releasing him and setting him
+down with a thump on the rug; "I 'll teach you to poke
+me in the ribs that way and scald my feet.--You 're game,
+though, old fellow," he added patronizingly, as he heard a
+suspicious sniff from Cherry.  "You and Cherry make a
+whole team any day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cherry's sniff changed to a smile, for March did not
+condescend to praise either of them very often.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," she said meditatively, "I suppose it did sound
+funny to say that, but I was thinking that if Budd would
+make me a little heart-shaped box of birch-bark, I 'd make
+some maple-sugar fudge,--you know, Martie, the kind with
+butternuts in it,--and that could be my valentine for the
+Doctor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that's a bright idea, Cherry," said Mrs. Blossom;
+and, "Bully for you, Cherry," said Budd; "we'll begin
+to-morrow and crack the butternuts."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What will May do?" asked Mrs. Blossom, lifting the
+little girl, who was already showing signs of being
+overcome with molasses tea and sleep.  May nestled in her
+mother's arms, leaned her head, running over with golden
+curls, on her mother's breast, and murmured drowsily,--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Ittle tooties--tut with mummy's
+heart-tutter--tutter--tooties--tut--"  The
+blue-veined eyelids closed over
+the lovely eyes; and Mrs. Blossom, holding up her finger
+to hush the children's mirth at May's inspired utterance,
+carried her back into the bedroom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One after another the children crept noiselessly upstairs,
+with a whispered, "Good-night, Martie," and in ten
+minutes Mary Blossom knew they were all in the land of
+dreams.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="mrs-blossom-s-valentine">II</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">MRS. BLOSSOM'S VALENTINE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was a bitter night.  Mrs. Blossom refilled the kitchen
+stove, and threw on more hickory in the fireplace in
+anticipation of her husband's late return from the village.  She
+drew her little work-table nearer to the blaze, and sat down
+to her sewing.  Then she sighed, and, as she bent over the
+large willow basket filled with stockings to be darned and
+clothes to be mended, a tear rolled down her cheek and
+plashed on the edge.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was so much she wanted to do for her children--and
+so little with which to do it!  There was March, an
+artist to his finger-tips, who longed to be an architect; and
+Rose, lovely in her young girlhood and giving promise of
+a lovelier womanhood, who was willing to work her way
+through one of the lesser colleges, if only she could be
+prepared for entrance.  Mary Blossom saw no prospect of
+being able to do anything for either of them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And the father!  He must be spared first, if he were to
+be their future bread-winner.  Mary Blossom could never
+forget that day, a year ago this very month, when her
+husband was brought home on a stretcher, hurt, as they thought,
+unto death, by a tree falling the wrong way in the woods
+where he was directing the choppers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What a year it had been!  All they had saved had gone
+to pay for the extra help hired to carry on the farm and
+finish the log-cutting.  A surgeon had come from the
+nearest city to give his verdict in the case and help if he
+could.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The farm was mortgaged to enable them to pay the heavy
+bills incident to months of sickness and medical attendance;
+still the father lay helpless, and Mary Blossom's faith and
+courage were put to their severest test, when both doctor
+and surgeon pronounced the case hopeless.  He might live
+for years, they said, but useless, so far as his limbs were
+concerned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was in June; and then it was that Mary Blossom,
+leaving Rose in charge of her father and the children, left
+her home, and walked bareheaded rapidly up the slope
+behind the house, across the upland pastures and over into
+the woodlands, from which they had hoped to derive a
+sufficient income to provide not only for their necessities,
+but for their children's education and the comforts
+of life.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Deep into the heart of them she made her way; and
+there, in the green silence, broken only by the note of a
+thrush and the stirring of June leafage above and about
+her, she knelt and poured out her sorrow-filled heart before
+God, and cast upon Him the intolerable burden that had
+rested so long upon her soul.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The shadows were lengthening when at last she turned
+homewards.  Cherry and Budd met her in the pasture, for
+Rose had grown anxious and sent them to find her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, where have you been, Martie?" exclaimed the
+twins.  "We were so frightened about you, because you
+didn't come home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You need n't have been; I 've been talking with a
+Friend."  And more than that she never said.  The children's
+curiosity was roused, but when they told Rose and
+asked her what mother meant, Rose's eyes filled with tears,
+and she kept silence; for she alone knew with Whom her
+mother had talked that June afternoon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Run ahead, Budd, and tell Malachi to harness up Bess.
+I want him to take a letter down to the village so that it
+may go on the night mail."  Budd flew rather than ran;
+for there was a look in his mother's face that he had never
+seen before, and it awed him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That night a letter went to Doctor Heath, a famous
+nerve specialist of New York City.  It was a letter from
+Mary Blossom, his old-time friend and schoolmate in the
+academy at Barton's River.  In it she asked him if he
+would give her his advice in this case, saying she could
+not accept the decision of the physician and surgeon unless
+it should be confirmed by him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I cannot pay you now," she wrote, "but it was borne
+in upon me this afternoon to write to you, although you
+may have forgotten me in these many years, and I have no
+claim of present friendship, even, upon your time and
+service; but I must heed the inner command to appeal to
+you, whatever you may think of me,--if I disobeyed that,
+I should be disobeying God's voice in my life,"--and
+signed herself, "Yours in childhood's remembrance."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The next day a telegram was brought up from the
+village; and the day after the Doctor himself followed it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was an anxious week; but the wonderful skill
+conquered.  The pressure on a certain nerve was removed,
+and for the last six months Benjamin Blossom had been
+slowly but surely coming back to his old-time health and
+strength.  But again this winter the extra help had been
+necessary, and it had taxed all Mary Blossom's ingenuity
+to make both ends meet; for there was the interest on the
+mortgage to be paid every six months, and the ready money
+had to go for that.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the midst of her thoughts, her recollections and plans,
+she caught the sound of sleigh-bells.  The tall clock was
+just striking ten.  Smoothing every line of care and
+banishing all look of sadness from her face, she met her
+husband with a cheery smile and a, "I 'm so glad you 've
+got home, Ben; it's just twenty below, and the molasses
+tea is ready for you and Chi."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi!" called Mr. Blossom towards the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whoa!" shouted a voice that sounded frosty in spite
+of itself.  "Whoa, Bess!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come into the kitchen before you turn in; there's
+some hot molasses tea waiting for us."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Be there in a minute," he shouted back, and Bess
+pranced into the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Mary, this is good," said Mr. Blossom, as he slipped
+out of his buffalo-robe coat and into his warm house-jacket,
+dropped his boots outside in the shed, and put on his
+carpet-slippers that had been waiting for him on the hearth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is home, Ben," said his wife, bringing out clean tin
+cups from the pantry, and putting them to warm beside
+the kettle on the hearth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, with you in it, Mary," he said with the smile that
+had won him his true-love eighteen years before.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come in, Chi," he called towards the shed, whence
+came sounds as if some one were dancing a double-shuffle
+in snow-boots.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Fraid I 'll thaw 'n' make a puddle on the hearth, Mis'
+Blossom.  I 'm as stiff as an icicle: guess I 'll take my tea
+perpendic'lar; I ain't fit to sit down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sit down, sit down, Chi," said Mrs. Blossom.  "You 'll
+enjoy the tea more; and give yourself a thorough heating
+before you go to bed.  I 've put the soapstone in it," she
+added.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you beat all, Mis' Blossom; just as if you did n't
+find enough to do for yourself, you go to work 'n' make
+work."  He broke off suddenly, "George Washin'ton!"
+he exclaimed, "most forgot to give you this letter that
+come on to-night's mail."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He handed Mrs. Blossom the letter, which, with some
+difficulty, owing to his stiffened fingers, he extracted from
+the depths of the tail-pocket of his old overcoat.  Then he
+helped himself to a brimming cup of the tea, and
+apparently swallowed its contents without once taking breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, it's from Doctor Heath!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom,
+recognizing the handwriting.  "Is it a valentine,
+I wonder?" she said, feigning to laugh, for her heart sank
+within her, fearing it might be the bill,--and yet, and yet,
+the Doctor had said--she got no further with these
+thoughts, so intent was she on the contents of the letter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, with an eye to prolonging his stay till he should
+know the why and wherefore of a letter from the great
+Doctor at this season of the year, took another cup of
+the tea.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ben, oh, Ben!" cried Mrs. Blossom, in a faint, glad
+voice; and therewith, to her husband's amazement, she
+handed him the letter, put both arms around his neck, and,
+dropping her head on his shoulder, sobbed as if her heart
+would break.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi softly put down his half-emptied cup and tiptoed
+with creaking boots from the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can't stand that, nohow," he muttered to himself in
+the shed; and, forgetting to light his lantern, he felt his
+way up the backstairs to his lodging in the room overhead,
+blinded by some suspicious drops of water in his eyes,
+which he cursed for frost melting from his bushy eyebrows.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Ben, think of it!" she cried, when her husband
+had soothed and calmed her.  "Twenty-five dollars a
+week; that makes a little more than twelve hundred a
+year.  Why, we can pay off all the mortgage and be free
+from that nightmare."</p>
+<p class="pnext">For answer her husband drew her closer to him, and late
+into the night they sat before the dying fire, talking and
+planning for the future.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Children," she said at breakfast next morning, and her
+voice sounded so bright and cheery that the room seemed
+full of sunshine, although the sky was a hard, cold gray,
+"I 've had one valentine already; it came last night from
+the Doctor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi listened with all his ears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother!" burst from the children, "where is it?"
+"Show it to us."  "Why did n't you tell us before
+breakfast?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't show it to you yet; it's a live one."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A live one!" chorussed the children.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're fooling us, mother," said March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do I look as if I were?" replied his mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And March was obliged to confess that she had never
+looked more in earnest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose left her seat and stole to her father's side.  "What
+does it mean, pater?" she whispered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ask your mother," was all the satisfaction she received,
+and walked, crestfallen, back to her chair; for when had
+her father refused her anything?</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When will you tell us, anyway?" said Budd, a little
+gruffly.  He hated a secret.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't tell you that either," said his mother, "and I
+don't know that I shall tell you until the very last, if you
+ask in that voice."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd screwed his mouth into a smile, and, unbeknown
+to the rest of the family, reached under the cloth for his
+mother's hand.  He sat next to her, and that had been his
+way of saying "Forgive me," ever since he was a tiny boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had a squeeze in return and felt happier.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I say, let's guess," said Cherry.  "If I don't do
+something, I shall burst."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You express my feelings perfectly, Cherry," said March,
+gravely, and the guessing began.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A St. Bernard puppy?" said Budd, who coveted one.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A Shetland pony," said Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The Doctor's coming up here, himself."  That was
+Rose's guess.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T ain't likely," growled Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A tunning 'ittle baby," chirped May.</p>
+<p class="pnext">March failed to think of any live thing the Doctor was
+likely to send unless it might be a Wyandotte blood-rooster,
+such as he and the Doctor had talked about last summer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're all cold, cold as ice," laughed their mother,
+using the words of the game she had so often played with
+them when they were younger.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, mother!" they protested.  They were almost
+indignant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi rose and left the table.  "Beats me," he muttered,
+as he took down his axe from a beam in the woodshed.
+"What in thunder can it be?  I ain't goin' to ask
+questions, but I 'll ferret it out,--by George Washin'ton;"
+and that was Chi's most solemn oath.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-curious-case">III</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A CURIOUS CASE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"What is it, dear?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bothered--bothered."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A case?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and I must get it off my mind this evening."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Doctor set down his after-dinner coffee untasted on
+the library table, and rose with a half sigh from his easy
+chair before the blazing wood-fire.  His heavy eyebrows
+were drawn together into a straight line over the bridge of
+his nose, and that, his wife knew full well, was an ominous
+sign.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Must you go to-night?  It's such a fearful storm;
+just hear it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I must; just to get it off my mind.  I sha'n't be
+gone long, and I 'll tell you all about it when I get home."  The
+Doctor stooped and kissed the detaining hand that his
+wife had laid lovingly on his arm; then, turning to the
+telephone, he bespoke a cab.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the vehicle made its way up Fifth Avenue in the teeth
+of a February, northeast gale that drove the sleet rattling
+against the windows, Doctor Heath settled back farther
+into his corner, growling to himself, "I wish some people
+would let me manage their affairs for them; it would
+show their common sense to let me show them some of
+mine."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A few blocks north of the park entrance, the cab turned
+east into a side street, and stopped at Number 4.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Clyde in, Wilkins?" asked the Doctor of the
+colored butler, who opened the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sah; jes' up from dinner, sah, to see Miss Hazel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tell him I want to see him in the library."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sah."  He took the Doctor's cloak and hat,
+hesitating a moment before leaving, then turning, said: "'Scuse
+me, sah, but Miss Hazel ain't more discomposed?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, no, Wilkins; Miss Hazel is doing fairly well."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, sah;" and Wilkins ducked his head and
+sprang upstairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Dick," said Mr. Clyde, as he entered the library
+hurriedly, "what's wrong?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The world in general, Johnny, and your world in
+particular, old fellow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is Hazel worse?"  The father's anxiety could be
+heard in the tone with which he put the question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm not satisfied, John, and I 'm bothered."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Doctor Heath called his friend "John," Mr. Clyde
+knew that the very soul of him was heavily burdened.
+The two had been chums at Yale: the one a rich man's
+son; the other a country doctor's one boy, to whom had
+been bequeathed only a name honored in every county of
+his native state, a good constitution, and an ambition to
+follow his father's profession.  The boy had become one of
+the leading physicians of the great city in which he made
+his home; his friend one of the most sought-after men in
+the whirling gayeties of the great metropolis.  As he stood
+on the hearth with his back to the mantel waiting for the
+physician's next word, he was typical of the best culture of
+the city, and the Doctor looked up into the fine face with
+a deep affection visible in his eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Going out, as usual, John?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Only to the Pearsells' reception.  Don't keep me
+waiting, old fellow; speak up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How the deuce am I to make things plain to you,
+John?  Here, draw up your chair a little nearer mine, as
+you used in college when you knew I had a four A.M. lecture
+awaiting you, after one of your larks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The two men helped themselves to cigars; and the
+Doctor, resting his head on the back of the chair, slowly
+let forth the smoke in curling rings, and watched them
+dissolve and disperse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come, Dick, go ahead; I can stand it if you can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, I 've done all I can for Hazel, and shall
+have to give up the case unless you do all you can for
+her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now the Doctor had not intended to make his statement
+in such a blunt fashion, and he could not blame Mr. Clyde
+for the touch of resentment that was so quick to show in
+his answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I did n't suppose you went back on your patients in
+this way, Richard; much less on a friend.  I have done
+everything I can for Hazel.  If there is anything I've
+omitted, just tell me, and I 'll try to make it good."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Doctor nodded penitently.  "I know, John, I 've
+said it badly; and I don't know but that I shall make it
+worse by saying you 've done too much."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Too much!  That is not possible.  Did n't you order
+last year's trip to Florida and the summer yachting
+cruise?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Doctor Heath groaned.  "I'm getting in deeper and
+deeper, John; you can't understand, because you are you;
+born and bred as you are--  Look here, John, did it ever
+occur to you that Hazel is a little hot-house plant that
+needs hardening?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Richard."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, she is; she needs hardening to make her any
+kind of a woman physically and, and--"  The Doctor
+stopped short.  There were some things of which he
+rarely spoke.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My Hazel needs hardening!" exclaimed the amazed
+father.  "Why, Richard, have n't you impressed upon me
+again and again that she needs the greatest care?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Doctor groaned again and smote his friend solidly
+on the knee.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you poor rich--you poor rich!  'Eyes have ye,
+and ye see not; ears have ye, and hear not.'  John, the
+girl must go away from you, who over-indulge her, from
+this home-nest of luxury, from this private-school business
+and dancing-class dissipation, from her young-grown-up
+lunch-parties and matinée-parties, from her violin lessons
+and her indoor gymnastics--curse them!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was a great deal for the usually self-contained
+physician, and Mr. Clyde stared at him, but half comprehending.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Go away?  Do you mean, Richard, that she must
+leave me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I mean just that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well,"--it was a long-drawn, thinking "well,"--"I
+will ask my sister to take her this summer.  She
+returns from Egypt soon and has just written me she intends
+to open her place, 'The Wyndes,' in June."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again the Doctor groaned: "And kill her with golf
+and picnics and coaching among all those fashionable
+butterflies!  Now, hear to me, John," he laid his hand on
+his friend's shoulder, "send her away into the country,
+that is country,--something, by the way, which you
+know precious little about.  Let me find her a place up
+among those life-giving Green Hills, and do you do
+without her for one year.  Let me prescribe for her there;
+and I 'll guarantee she returns to you hale and hearty.
+Trust her to me, John; you 'll thank me in the end.  I
+can do no more for her here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you mean, Richard, to put her away into real
+country conditions?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, just that; into a farmer's family, if possible,--and
+I know I can make it possible,--and let her be as
+one of them, work, play, go barefoot, eat, sleep, be merry--in
+fact, be what the Lord intended her to be; and you 'll
+find out that is something very different from what she is,
+if only you 'll hear to me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Doctor was pacing the room in his earnestness.
+He was not accustomed to beg thus to be allowed to
+prescribe for his patients.  His one word was law, and he
+was not required to explain his motives.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde's eyes followed him; then he broke the
+prolonged silence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Richard, you have asked me the one thing to which
+her mother would never have consented.  How, then,
+can I?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Think it over, John, and let me know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The two men clasped hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let me take you along in my cab to the reception;
+it's inhuman to take out your horses on such a
+night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, no; I think I 'll give it up; I 'm not in
+the mood for it.  Good-night, old fellow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Johnny."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The next morning, at breakfast, the Doctor took up a
+note that lay beside his plate, and after reading it
+beamed joyously while he stirred his coffee vigorously
+without drinking it.  When, finally, he looked up, his
+wife elevated her eyebrows over the top of the coffee urn,
+and the Doctor laughed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To be sure, wifie, read the note."  And this is what
+she read:--</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAR RICHARD,--I 've had a hard night, trying to look at
+things from your point of view and see my own duty towards
+Hazel.  Things have grown rather misty, looking both
+backwards and forwards, and I have concluded I can't do better
+than to take you at your word,--trust her to you, and accept
+the guarantee of her return to me with her physical condition
+such as it should be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This decision will, as you well know, raise a storm of protest
+among the relations.  The whole swarm will be about my
+ears in less than no time.  Stand by me.  The whole
+responsibility rests upon you,--and tell Hazel; I 'm too much
+of a coward.  This is a confession, but you will understand.
+Let me know the details of your plans so soon as possible.
+I have never been able to give you such a proof of friendship.
+Have you ever asked another man for such?  I mistrust you,
+old fellow.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Yours,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">JOHN.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-little-millionaire">IV</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A LITTLE MILLIONAIRE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Gabrielle."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oui, mademoiselle Hazel," came in shrill yet muffled
+tones from the depths of the dressing-room closet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bring me my white silk kimono."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oui, mademoiselle."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The order, in French, was given in a weak and slightly
+fretful voice that issued from the bed at the farther end of
+a large room from which the dressing-room opened.  The
+apartment was, in truth, what Doctor Heath had called it,
+"a nest of luxury."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a bitter Saint Valentine's Day which succeeded the
+Doctor's evening visit.  The wood-fire, blazing cheerily in
+the ample fireplace, sent its warmth and light far out into
+the room, flashing red reflections in the curiously twisted
+bars of the brass bedstead.  At the left of the fireplace
+stood a small round tea-table, and upon it a little silver
+tea-kettle on a standard of the same metal.  Dainty cups
+and saucers of egg-shell china were grouped about it; a
+miniature silver tray held a sugar-dish and a cream-pot
+and a half-dozen gold-lined souvenir spoons.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the richly carved mantel stood an exquisite plate-glass
+clock, the chimes of which were just striking nine,
+and, keeping it company to right and left, were two dainty
+figures of a shepherd and shepherdess in Dresden china.
+The remaining mantel space was filled with tiny figures
+in bisque,--a dachshund, a cat and kittens, a porcelain
+box, heart-shaped, the top covered with china forget-me-nots,
+a silver drinking-cup, a small oval portrait on ivory
+of a beautiful young woman, framed in richly chased gold,
+the inner rim set round with pearls.  A blue pitcher of
+Cloisonné and a tray of filigree silver heaped with dainty
+cotillion favors stood on one end; on the other, a crystal
+vase filled with white tulips.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Soft blue and white Japanese rugs lay upon the polished
+floor; delicate blue and white draperies hung at the
+windows.  Dressing-case and writing-desk of white curled
+maple were each laden with articles for the toilet and for
+writing, in solid silver, engraved with the monogram H.C.
+A couch, upholstered in blue and white Japanese silk, stood
+at the right of the fireplace, and all about the room were
+dainty wicker chairs enamelled in white, and cushioned to
+match the hangings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The bed was canopied in pale blue covered with white
+net and edged with lace, and the coverlet was of silk of
+the same delicate color, embroidered with white violets
+and edged like the canopy, only with a deeper frill of lace.
+The occupant of this couch, fit for a princess royal, was
+the little mistress of all she surveyed, as well as the
+mansion of which the room formed a small part; and a
+woebegone-looking little girl she was, who called again, and
+this time impatiently:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Gabrielle, hurry, do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oui, oui, mademoiselle Hazel;" and Gabrielle tripped
+across the room with the white kimono in one hand and
+fresh towels in the other.  She had just slipped it upon
+Hazel when there was a knock at the door.  Gabrielle
+opened it, and Wilkins asked in a voice intended to be
+low, but which proved only husky:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nuss say she mus' jes' speak wif Marse Clyde 'fo' she
+come up, an' wan's to know if Miss Hazel will haf her
+breffus now or wait till she come up herse'f."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Before Gabrielle could answer, Hazel called out, "You
+may bring it up now, Wilkins; and has the postman come
+yet?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilkins' broad smile sounded in his voice, as it came out
+of its huskiness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Miss Hazel, ben jes' 'fo' I come up.  I ain't seen
+no hearts, but dey's thicker 'n spatter by de feel, an' a
+heap o' boxes by 'spress!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, bring them up quick, Wilkins, and tell papa to be
+sure and come up directly after breakfast."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, for sho', Miss Hazel," said Wilkins, delighted
+to have a word with the little daughter of her whom
+he had carried in his arms thirty-two years ago up and
+down the jasmine-covered porch of an old New Orleans
+mansion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In a few minutes, he reappeared with two large silver
+trays, on one of which was the tempting breakfast of
+Hamburg grapes, a dropped egg, a slice of golden-brown
+toast, half of a squab broiled to the melting-point, and a
+cup of cocoa.  On the other were boxes large and small,
+and white envelopes of all sizes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Gabrielle cut the string and opened the boxes, while
+Hazel looked on, pleased to be remembered, but finding
+nothing unusual in the display; for Christmas and Easter
+and birthdays and parties brought just about the same
+collection, minus "the hearts," which Wilkins had felt
+through the covers.  The only fun, after all, was in the
+guessing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then Mr. Clyde entered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, papa!  I 'm so glad you have come; it's no fun
+guessing alone."  She put up her peaked, sallow little
+face for the good-morning kiss; and her father, with the
+thought of his last night's struggle, took the face in both
+hands and kissed brow and mouth with unusual tenderness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, papa!" she exclaimed, "that kiss is my best
+valentine; you never kissed me that way before."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, it's time I began, Birdie; let's see what you
+have for nonsense here.  What's this--from Cambridge?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's Jack, I 'm sure; he always sends me violets;
+but what is that in the middle of the bunch?"  With a
+smile she drew out a tiny vignette of her Harvard
+Sophomore cousin.  It was framed in a little gold heart, and on
+a slip of paper was written, "For thee, I 'm all 'art."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jack 's a gay deceiver," laughed her father; "he 's all
+''art' for a good many girls, big and little.  What's
+this?--and this?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">One after another he took out the contents of envelopes
+and boxes,--candy hearts by the pound in silver bonbon
+boxes, silk hearts, paper hearts, a flower heart of real roses
+("That's from you, Papa Clyde!" she exclaimed, and her
+father did not deny the pleasant accusation), hollow gilt
+hearts stuffed with sentiments, a silver chatelaine heart for
+change, and last, but not least, an enormous envelope, a
+foot square, containing a white paper heart all written over
+with "sentiments" from the girls in her class at school.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come now, Birdie," said her father, after the last one
+had been opened and guessed over, "eat your breakfast, or
+nurse will scold us both for putting play before business."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't think I want any, papa," said Hazel, languidly,
+for, after all, the valentines had proved to be almost too
+much excitement for the little girl, who was just
+recovering from weeks of slow fever; "and, Gabrielle, take the
+flowers away, they make my head ache,--and the other
+things, too," she added, turning her head wearily on the
+pillow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But you must eat, Hazel dear," said her father, gently
+but firmly; and therewith he took a grape and squeezed
+the pulp between her lips.  Hazel laughed,--a faint
+sound.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, papa, if you feed me that way, I shall be a real
+Birdie.  Yes," she nodded, "that's good; I 'll take
+another;" and her father proceeded to feed her slowly,
+now coaxing, now urging, then commanding, till a few
+grapes and a half egg were disposed of.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There, now, I won't play tyrant any longer," he said,
+"for your real tyrant of a doctor is coming soon, and I
+must be out of the way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Are you going to be at home for luncheon to-day, papa?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, dear, I 've promised to go out to Tuxedo with the
+Masons, but I shall be at home before dinner, just to look
+in upon you.  I dine with the Pearsells afterwards.
+Good-bye."  A kiss,--two, three of them; and the merry,
+handsome young father, still but thirty-seven, had gone,
+and with him much of the brightness of Hazel's day.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But she was used to this.  Ever since she could remember
+anything, she had been petted and kissed and--left
+with her nurse, her governess, or a French maid.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her young mother, a Southern belle, lived more out of
+her home than in it, with the round of gayeties in the
+winter months interrupted and continued by winter
+house-parties at Lenox, a yachting cruise in the Mediterranean,
+an early spring-flitting to the mountains of North Carolina,
+and the later household moving to Newport.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In all these migrations Hazel accompanied her parents;
+in fact, was moved about as so much goods and chattels,
+from New York to the Berkshires, from the Berkshires to
+Malta, from Malta to the Great Smokies, from the
+mountains to the sea; her appurtenances, the governess and
+French maid, went with her; and the routine of her home
+in New York, the study, the promenade, the all-alone
+breakfasts and dinners went on with the regularity of
+clockwork, whether on the yacht, in the mountains, or in
+the villa on the Cliff.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So now, although she wished her father would stay and
+entertain her, it never occurred to her to tell him so; and
+likewise it never occurred to the father that his child
+needed or wished him to stay.  Nor had it ever occurred
+to the young mother that she was not doing her whole
+duty by her child; for she never omitted to go upstairs
+and kiss her little daughter good-night, whether the child
+was awake or asleep, before going out to dinner, theatre,
+or reception.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She died when Hazel was nine, and it was a lovely
+memory of "mamma" that Hazel cherished: a vision of
+loveliness in trailing white silk, or velvet, or lace,--her
+mother always wore white, it was her Southern
+inheritance,--with a single dark-red rose among the folds of
+Venetian point of the bertha; always a gleam of white neck
+and arms banded with flashing, many-faceted diamonds,
+or roped with pearls; always a sense of delicious white
+warmth and fragrance, as the vision bent over her and
+pressed a light kiss upon her cheek.  And if, in her bliss,
+she opened her sleepy eyes, she looked always into
+laughing brown depths, and putting up her hand caressed
+shining masses of brown hair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But it was always a good-night vision.  In the morning
+mamma did not breakfast until ten, and Hazel was off to
+the little private school at half-past nine.  At noon
+mamma was either out at lunch or giving a lunch-party;
+and in the afternoon there was the promenade in the
+Park with the governess, and sometimes, as a treat, a drive
+with mamma on her round of calls, when Hazel and the
+maid sat among the furs in the carriage.  Then Hazel
+played at being grown up, and longed for the time when
+she could wear a reception dress like mamma's, of white
+broadcloth and sable, and trip up the steps of the various
+houses, and trip down again with a bevy of young girls
+laughing and chatting so merrily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All that had ceased when Hazel was nine, and the
+young father had made her mistress in her mother's place.
+It was such a great house! and there were so many
+servants! and the housekeeper was so strict! and it was so
+queer to sit at the round table in the big dining-room and
+try to look at papa over the silver épergne in the centre!</p>
+<p class="pnext">When she was eleven, she entered one of the large
+private schools which many of her little mates attended.
+Soon it came to be the "girls of our set" with Hazel;
+and then there followed music-lessons, and violin-lessons,
+and riding-lessons, and dancing-class, and riding-days in
+the Park, and lunch-parties with the girls, and
+theatre-matinée-parties, and concerts at Carnegie Hall, and birthday
+parties, and sales--school and drawing-room affairs--and
+Lenten sewing-classes; until gradually her little
+society life had become an epitome of her mother's, and
+when she began to shoot up like a bean-sprout, lose
+her round face and the delicate pink from her cheeks,
+uncles and aunt and cousin and friends whispered of her
+mother's frail constitution, and that it was time to take
+heed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then it was that the physician, who had helped to bring
+her into the world, was summoned hastily to prevent her
+early departure from it.  This was the "curious case"
+that so bothered him; and this pale, languid girl of
+thirteen in the blue-canopied bed was the one he intended to
+transplant into another soil.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A short, sharp tap announced his arrival.  The nurse
+opened the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-morning, little girl--ah, ah!  Saint Valentine's
+Day?  I had forgotten it; all those came this morning?"
+he said cheerily, pointing to a table on which Gabrielle
+had placed all the remembrances but the flowers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Doctor Heath; but my best valentine, you know,
+is papa, and after him, you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hm, flatterer!" growled the Doctor, feeling her pulse.
+"Pretty good, pretty good.  Think we can get you up
+for half a day.  What do you say, nurse?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think it will do her good, Doctor Heath; she has no
+appetite yet, and a little exercise might help her to it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No appetite?"  The two eyebrows drew together in a
+straight line over the bridge of his nose, and, from under
+them, a pair of keen eyes looked at Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I 've planned something that will give you a
+splendid one, Hazel,--the best kind of a tonic--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I don't want to take any more tonics.  I am so
+sick of them," said Hazel, in a despairing tone, for although
+she adored the Doctor, she despised his medicines.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You won't get sick of this tonic so soon, I 'll
+warrant," he said, unbending his brows and letting the full
+twinkle of his fine eyes shine forth,--"at least not after
+you are used to it.  I won't say but that it may cause
+a certain kind of sickness at first; in fact, I 'm sure
+of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, will it nauseate me?" cried Hazel, dreading to
+suffer any more.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, no, it won't do that, but--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But what <em class="italics">do</em> you mean, Doctor Heath?  Are you joking?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never was more in earnest in my life," replied the
+Doctor, rubbing his hands in glee, much to Hazel's
+amazement.  "Hazel," he turned abruptly to her, "papa is a
+splendid fellow; did you know that?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel laughed aloud, a real girl's laugh,--Doctor Heath
+was so queer at times.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you just found that out?" she retorted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, you witch,--don't be impertinent to your elders,--I
+have n't; but really he is, take it all in all, just about
+the most common-sense fellow in New York City."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What has he done now, that you are praising him so?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just heard to me, my dear, and agreed to do just as I
+want him to," said the Doctor, demurely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," laughed Hazel, "that's just when I think he is
+a most splendid fellow, when he does just what I want him
+to.  Is n't it funny you and I think just alike!"  And she
+gave his hand a malicious little pat.  The Doctor caught
+the five slender digits and held them fast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now we 're agreed that you have the most splendid,
+common-sense father in the world, I want you to prove to
+me that your father has the most splendid, common-sense
+daughter in it, as well."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again Hazel laughed.  She was used to her friend's ways.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That means that you want me to take that old, new
+tonic of yours."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, just that," said the Doctor, emphatically; "and
+now, as you don't appear to care to hear about it, I 'm going
+to make a long call and tell you its entire history."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you brought it with you?" asked Hazel, somewhat
+mystified.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I can't carry around with me in a cab five children,
+a hundred acres of pine woods, a whole mountain-top, and
+a few Jersey cows."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What <em class="italics">do</em> you mean?  You <em class="italics">are</em> joking."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then the physician clasped the thin hand a little more
+closely and told her of the country plan.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At first, Hazel failed to comprehend it.  She gazed at
+the speaker with large, serious eyes, as if she half-feared
+he had taken leave of his senses.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did papa know it this morning?" was her first question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, my dear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then that is why he kissed me the way he did," she
+said thoughtfully.  "But," her lip quivered, "I sha'n't
+have him to kiss me up there, and--and--oh, dear!"  A
+wail went up from the canopied bed that made the Doctor
+turn sick at heart, and even the nurse hurried away into
+the dressing-room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Somehow Doctor Heath could not exhort Hazel, as he
+had her father, to use common-sense.  He preferred to use
+diplomacy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You see, Hazel, a year won't be so very long, and it
+will give your hair time to grow; and perhaps you would
+not mind wearing a cap for a time up there, while if you
+were here you certainly would not care about going to
+dancing-school or parties in that rig; now would you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel sniffed and looked for her handkerchief.  As she
+failed to find it, the Doctor applied his own huge square of
+linen to the dripping, reddened eyes, and tenderly stroked
+the smooth-shaven head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel had her vanities like all girls, and her long dark
+braids had been one of them.  After the fever, she had
+been shorn of what scanty locks had been left to her, and
+many a time she had wondered what the girls would say
+when they saw her.  After all, the new plan might be
+endured, for the sake of the hair and her looks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She sniffed again, and this time a good many tears were
+drawn up into her nose.  The Doctor, taking no notice of
+the subsiding flood, proceeded,--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My patients always look so comical when the fuzz is
+coming out.  It's like chicken-down all over the head--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fuzz!" exclaimed Hazel, with a dismayed, wide-eyed
+look; "must I have fuzz for hair?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, of course, for about five months," was the Doctor's
+matter-of-fact reply.  "Then," he continued, apparently
+unheeding the look of relief that crept over Hazel's
+face, "you are apt to have the hair come out curly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and it really grows very fast--that is," he said,
+resorting to wile, "if any one is strong and well; but if
+the general health is not good, why--hem!--the hair
+is n't apt to grow!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Goodness!  I don't want to be bald all my life!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I thought not, and for that very reason it did seem
+the best thing for you to get into the country where you can
+get well and strong as fast as ever you can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shall I have to eat my breakfast and dinner alone up
+there?" was her next question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Doctor Heath laughed.  "What!  With all those five
+children!  You will never want for company, I can assure
+you of that.  And now I 'll be off; as it's Saint Valentine's
+Day, which I had forgotten, I 'll wager I have five
+valentines from those very children waiting for me at home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Will you show them to me, if you have?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To be sure I will.  Now sit up for half a day, and get
+yourself strong enough to let me take you up there by the
+middle of March."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, are you going to take me?  What fun!  Are they
+friends of yours?" she added timidly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Every one," said the Doctor, emphatically.  He turned
+at the door.  "You have n't said yet whether you will
+honor me with your company up there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I suppose I must," she said, with something between
+a sigh and a laugh.  "But I don't know what Gabrielle
+will do; she 'll be so homesick."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Gabrielle!" cried the Doctor, in a voice loud with
+amazement; "you don't think you are going to take
+Gabrielle with you, do you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Before Hazel had time to recover from her astonishment,
+Gabrielle, hearing her name called so loudly, came tripping
+into the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oui, oui, monsieur le docteur;" and Doctor Heath
+beat a hasty retreat to avoid further misunderstandings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the afternoon, Hazel received a box by messenger,
+with, "Please return by bearer," on the wrapper.  On
+opening it, she found the Doctor's valentines with the
+following sentiments appropriately attached.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">I</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">By Rose-pose made, by March adorned,</div>
+<div class="line">'T is not a Heart that one should scorn:</div>
+<div class="line">For use each day, the whole year through,</div>
+<div class="line">Where find a Valentine so true?</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">II</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">Cherry Blossom made this fudge</div>
+<div class="line">(Buddie made the box).</div>
+<div class="line">Eat it soon, or you will judge,</div>
+<div class="line">She made it all of rocks.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">III</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">Baby May has made this cookie;</div>
+<div class="line">Mother baked it--but, by hookey!</div>
+<div class="line">I can't find another rhyme</div>
+<div class="line">To match with this your valentine.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">Your loving Valentines,</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">ROSE, MARCH, "BUDD AND CHERRY," MAY BLOSSOM.</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">(We're one.)</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">MOUNT HUNGER, February 14, 1896.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="transplanted">V</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">TRANSPLANTED</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was the middle of April, yet the drifts still blocked
+the ravines, and great patches of snow lay scattered thickly
+on the northern and eastern slopes of the mountains.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Not a bud had thought of swelling; not a fern dared to
+raise its downy ball above the sodden leaves.  Day after
+day a keen wind from the north chased dark clouds across
+a watery blue sky, and now and then a solitary crow
+flapped disconsolately over the upland pastures and into
+the woods.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But in the farmhouse on the mountain, every Blossom
+was a-quiver with excitement, for the "live Valentine"
+was to arrive that day.</p>
+<p class="pnext">According to what Doctor Heath had written first,
+Mrs. Blossom had expected Hazel to come the middle of March.
+She had told the children about it a week before that
+date, and ever since, wild and varied and continuous had
+been the speculations concerning the new member of the
+family.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Both father and mother were much amused at the
+different ways in which each one accepted the fact, and
+commented upon it.  At the same time they were slightly
+anxious as to the outcome of such a combination.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 'll work it out for themselves, Mary," said
+Mr. Blossom, when his wife was expressing her fears on account
+of the attitude of March and Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope with all my heart they will, without friction or
+unpleasantness for the poor child," replied his wife,
+thoughtfully, for March's looks and words returned to her, and
+they foreboded trouble.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her husband smiled.  "Perhaps the 'poor child' will
+have her ways of looking at things up here, which may
+cause a pretty hard rub now and then for our children.
+But let them take it; it will do them good, and show
+us what stuff is in them for the future."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom tried to think so, but March's words on
+that afternoon she had told the children came back to her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were dumb at first through sheer surprise.  Then
+Rose spoke, flinging aside her Virgil she had been studying
+by the failing light at the window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, mother! we 've been so happy--just by ourselves."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Will you be less happy, Rose, in trying to make
+some one else share our happiness?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose said nothing, but leaned her forehead against the
+pane, and the tears trickled adown it and froze halfway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom proceeded, in the silence that followed, to
+tell them something of Hazel's life.  Then Budd spoke up
+like a man.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm awful sorry for her; she 's a little brick to be
+willing to come away from her father and live with folks
+she don't know.  I 'd be a darned coward about leaving
+my Popsey."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was no tablecloth handy to hide the squeeze he
+wanted to give his mother's hand, and Mrs. Blossom,
+knowing how he hated any public demonstration of affection,
+reserved her approving kiss for the dark and bedtime.  But
+she looked at him in a way that sent Budd whistling, "I
+won't play in your back-yard," over to the kitchen stove,
+where he stared inanely at his own reflection in the polished
+pipe.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For the first time in her life, Cherry did not echo her
+twin's sentiment.  She was already insanely jealous of the
+new-comer who seemed to claim so much of her mother's
+sympathy and affection.  And she was n't even here!
+What would it be when she was here for good and all?</p>
+<p class="pnext">At this miserable thought, and all that it appeared to
+involve, Cherry began to cry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now to see Cherry Blossom cry generally afforded
+great fun for the whole family; for there never was a
+girl of ten who could cry in quite such a unique manner
+as this same round-faced, pug-nosed, brown-eyed Cherry,
+whose red hair curled as tightly as corkscrews all over
+her head, and bobbed and danced and quivered and shook
+with every motion and emotion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">First, her nose grew very red at the tip; then, her small
+mouth screwed itself around by her left ear; gradually,
+her round face wrinkled till it resembled a withered
+crabapple; and finally, if one listened intently and watched
+closely, one could hear small sniffs and see two
+infinitesimal drops of water issue from the nearly closed and
+wrinkled eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But to-day no one noticed, and Cherry sat down in
+her mother's lap, and mumbled out her woe between sniffs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't help it if Budd does want her; <em class="italics">I</em> don't, Martie.
+Budd will play with her, and you 'll kiss her just as you
+do us, and it won't be comfy any more."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That does not sound like mother's Cherry Blossom,"
+said Mrs. Blossom, smiling in spite of herself.  "I think
+I 'll tell you all why it comes to mother and father as a
+blessing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Mrs. Blossom told them of the mortgage on the
+farm; how it had been made necessary, and what it meant,
+and how it was her duty to accept what had been sent to
+her as a means of paying it off.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose came over from the window.  "Oh, why did n't
+you tell us before, Martie," she cried, sobbing outright this
+time, "and let us help you to earn something towards it
+during all this dreadful year?  To think you have been
+bearing all this, and just going about the same, smiling and
+cheer--oh, dear!"  Rose sat down on the hearth-rug at her
+mother's feet, and her sobs mingled with Cherry's sniffs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">March, who had listened thus far in silence, rose from
+the settle where he had flung himself in disgust, and, going
+over to his mother, stood straight and tall before her.  His
+gray eyes flashed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 've been a fool, mother, not to see it all before this.
+You ought to have told <em class="italics">me</em>.  I 'm your eldest son, and come
+next after father in 'home things.'"  And with this
+assertion he made a mighty resolve, then and there to put away
+boyish things and be more of a man.  His mother, looking
+at him, felt the change, and tears of thankfulness filled her
+eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What could you do, children?  You were too young
+to have your lives burdened with work."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'd have found something to do, mother, if you had
+only told me.  About the girl--" he hesitated--"of
+course I 'll look at it from the money side, but it 'll never
+be the same after she comes--never!"  And with that he
+went off into the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His mother sighed, for March was looking at the matter
+in the very way which, to her, was abhorrent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't sigh so, Martie," cried Rose; "I 'll take back
+what I said, and do everything I can to help you by
+making it pleasant for her.  Budd has made me ashamed of
+myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's my own daughter Rose," said Mrs. Blossom,
+leaning over to kiss her parting, for Cherry was awkwardly
+in the way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you hear Rose, Cherry?" whispered her mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ye-es," sniffed Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And won't you try to help mother, and make Hazel
+happy?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"N-o," said Cherry, still obdurate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well; then I must depend on Rose and Budd and
+little May," replied her mother, putting her down from her
+knee.  By which Cherry knew she was out of favor, and,
+not having Budd to flee to for sympathy, ran blindly out
+into the woodshed and straight into Chi, who was bringing
+in two twelve-quart milk pails filled to overflowing with
+their creamy contents.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hi there!  Cherry Bounce!  Steady, steady--without
+you want to mop up this woodshed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"O Chi!  I 'm just as miser'ble; a new little girl's
+coming to live with us always, and we 'll have no more
+good times."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's queer," said Chi, balancing the pails deftly as
+Cherry fluttered about, rather uncertain as to where she
+should betake herself in the cold.  "I should think it
+would be the more, the merrier.  When's she comin'?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This very month," said Cherry, opening her eyes a little
+wider, and forgetting to sniff in her delight at telling some
+news.  "She 's a rich little girl, but very poor, too, mother
+says, and she's been sick and is coming here to get well.  I
+suppose she 's lost all her flesh while she 's been sick, like
+Aunt Tryphosa; don't you?  That's why she 's so poor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hm!--rich 'n' poor too; that's bad for children," said
+Chi, soberly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why?" asked Cherry, surprised into drying her small
+tears and forgetting to sniff.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Coz 't is.  You see, all you children are rich 'n' poor
+too; so she 'll keep you comp'ny, as she 's poor where
+you 're rich as Croesus, 'n' you 're poor as Job's turkey
+where she's rich."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, what do you mean, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You wait awhile, 'n' you 'll find out."  And with that,
+Cherry had to be content.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the woodshed was too cold to be long comfortably
+mournful in,--Cherry decided to go inside and set the
+table for tea, wondering, meanwhile, what Chi meant.
+Ordinarily she would have gone straight to her mother to
+find out; but just to-night Cherry felt there was an abyss
+separating them, and she hated the very thought of the
+newcomer having caused this break between her adored
+Martie and herself before having stepped foot in the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Hazel's arrival had been delayed a whole month:
+first, on account of the unusually cold weather of March,
+and then on account of the Doctor's pressing engagements.
+To-night, however, this long waiting was to be at an end.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Blossom had harnessed Bess and Bob into the two-seated
+wagon, and driven down three miles for them to the
+"Mill Settlement;" and there he was to meet the stage
+from Barton's River, the nearest railway station.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the time approached for the light of the lantern on
+the wagon to glimmer on the lower mountain road, which
+ran in view of the house, the excitement of Budd and Cherry
+grew intense.  March intended to be indifferent, yet tolerant,
+but even he went twice to the door to listen.  As for Rose,
+she was thinking almost more of Doctor Heath, with whom
+she was a great favorite, than of the coming guest.  Chi
+had done up the chores early with March's help, and sat
+whistling and whittling in the shed door with his eye on
+the lower road.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're coming; they 're coming!" screamed the twins,
+making a wild dash for the woodshed, that they might have
+the first glimpse as the wagon drove up to the kitchen
+porch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi, they 're coming!" they shrieked in his ear, as they
+flew past him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I ain't deaf, if they are," said Chi, gathering
+himself together, and going out to help unload.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi, how are you?" said the Doctor, in a hearty tone,
+grasping the horny hand held out to him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"First-rate, 'n' glad to see you back on the Mountain."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here, lend a hand, will you? and take out a Little
+somebody who has to be handled rather gently for a week or
+two."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I ain't much used to handlin' chiny," he replied, "but
+I 'll be careful."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He reached up his long arms and, gently as a woman,
+lifted Hazel out of the wagon on to the porch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">By this time, Budd had found his bearings and had the
+Doctor by the hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Halloo, Budd! here you are handy.  Just take Hazel's
+bag, and run into the house with her; she must n't stand a
+minute in this keen air."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd's heart was going pretty fast, but he faced the
+music.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come along, Hazel; we 've been waiting a month to see you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And I've been waiting longer than that to see you,
+Budd."  The gentle voice made Budd her vassal forever
+after.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here, Martie, here's Hazel!" he shouted quite
+unnecessarily, for his mother had come to the door to welcome
+her guests.  Cherry, hearing the shout, disappeared in the
+pantry, and was invisible until called to supper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the confusion of glad welcome that followed, Hazel
+was conscious of stepping into a large, warm, lighted room,
+of some one's arms about her, and of a loving voice, saying:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come in, dear; you must be so tired with your long
+journey and this cold ride;" and then a kiss that made her
+half forget the lonely, strange feeling she had had during
+the stage and wagon ride, despite the doctor's cheerfulness
+and care of her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then some one untied her brown velvet hood and loosened
+her long sealskin coat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let me take off your things," said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel looked up and into the loveliest face she ever
+remembered to have seen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm Rose, and this is May.  May, this is the valentine
+Martie told us of."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I tiss 'oo," said May, winningly, and held up her rosy
+bud of a face to Hazel.  Hazel stooped to give her, not
+one, but a half-dozen kisses.  There was no resisting such
+a little blossom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">May put up her hand and stroked the little silk skull-cap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What 'oo wear tap for?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sh! baby," said Rose, horrified, putting her hand on
+May's mouth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't do that," said Hazel, "I 'm so used to it now;
+I don't mind what people say or think.  But I did at first."</p>
+<p class="pnext">May's lip began to quiver and roll over; Hazel sat
+down on the settle, and, drawing May up beside her, said
+gently:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There, there, little May Blossom, don't you cry, and
+I 'll tell you all about it.  It's because I have n't any hair.
+I lost it all when I was sick so long.  Sometime I 'll show
+you how funny my head looks, all covered with fuzz.
+Doctor Heath says it's like a little chicken's."  And May
+was comforted and won once and for all to the Valentine,
+who gave her the tiny chatelaine watch to play with.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd had been hanging about to get the first glimpse of
+Hazel by lamplight, and now rushed off to the barn and
+Chi to give vent to his feelings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I say, Chi, where are you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In the harness room," replied Chi.  "What do you
+want?" as he appeared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I say, Chi, she 's a peach.  She is n't a bit stuck up, as
+March said she would be."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-lookin'?" queried Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"N-o," said Budd, hesitating, "n-o, but I think she will
+be when she gets some hair."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ain't got any hair!" exclaimed Chi.  "How does that happen?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She said she 'd been sick an' lost it all, an' 't was like
+chicken fuzz."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Said that, did she?" exclaimed Chi, laughing; then,
+with the sudden change from gayety to absolute solemnity
+that was peculiar to him, he said:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She 's no fool, I can tell you that, Budd; 'n' I 'll bet
+my last red cent she 'll come out an A Number 1 beauty;
+'n' March Blossom had better hold his tongue till he cuts
+all his wisdom teeth."  And with that Chi went into the
+shed room to "wash up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">What a supper that was!  And what a room in which
+to eat it!</p>
+<p class="pnext">But for the Doctor's cheery voice, Hazel, as she sat in a
+corner of the settle, might have thought herself in another
+world, so unaccustomed were her city-bred eyes to all that
+was going on before her.  The room itself was so queer,
+and, in a way new to her, delightful.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The farmhouse was an old one, strong of beam and solid
+of foundation.  It had been divided at first according to
+the fashion of the other century in which it was built.  But
+as his family increased, Mr. Blossom found the need of a
+large, general living-room.  It was then that he took down
+the wall between the front square room and the kitchen,
+and threw them into one.  It was this arrangement that
+made the apartment unique.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At one end was the huge fireplace that was originally
+in the front room.  At the left of the fireplace was the
+jog into which the front door opened, formerly the little
+entry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was the sitting-room end of the low forty-foot-long
+apartment; and it showed to Hazel the fireplace, the
+old-fashioned crane, with the hickory back-log glowing warm
+welcome, the long red-cushioned settle, a set of shelves
+filled with books, a little round work-table, Mrs. Blossom's
+special property, a large round table of cherry that had
+turned richly red with age, and wooden armchairs and
+rockers, with patchwork cushions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The middle portion served for dining-room.  In it were
+the family table of hard pine, the wooden chairs, and
+Mrs. Blossom's grandmother's tall pine dresser.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At the kitchen end, next the woodshed, were the sink,
+the stove, the kitchen shelves for pots and pans, and
+the kitchen table with its bread-trough and pie-board,
+all of which Rose kept scoured white with soap and sand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This living-room, sitting-room, dining-room, and kitchen
+in one had six windows facing south and east.  Every
+window had brackets for plants; for this evening Rose
+had turned the blossom-side inwards to the room, and the
+walls glowed and gleamed with the velvety crimson of
+gloxinias, the red of fuchsias, the pink and white and
+scarlet of geraniums, the cream of wax-plant and begonia.
+Upon all this radiance of color, the lamplight shone and
+the fire flashed its crimson shadows.  The kettle sang on
+the stove, and the delicious odor of baked potatoes came
+from the open oven.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, March!" said the Doctor, coming down from the
+spare room at the call for supper, "waiting for an
+introduction?  I did n't know you stood on ceremony in this
+fashion.  Allow me," he said with mock gravity to Hazel,
+and presented March in due form.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel greeted him exactly as she would have greeted a
+new boy at dancing-school.  "Little Miss Finicky," was
+March's scornful thought of her, as he bowed rather
+awkwardly and thrust his hands into his pockets, racking his
+brains for something to say.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What a handsome boy!  As handsome as Jack," was
+Hazel's first impression; then, missing the cordiality with
+which the other members of the family had welcomed her,
+she said in thought, "I 'm sure he does not want me here
+by the way he acts; I think he 's horrid."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Doctor Heath sat down by Hazel.  "I 'm not going to
+let you sit down to tea with all these mischiefs, little girl,
+not to-night, for you can't eat baked potatoes and the
+other good things after that long journey, so I 'll ask Rose
+to give you a bite right here on the settle."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll speak to Rose," said March, glad to get away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you," said the Doctor, looking after him with a
+puzzled expression in his keen eyes.  Just then Mr. Blossom
+and Chi came in, and the whole family sat down at
+the table.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, where 's Cherry?" exclaimed the Doctor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Budd, where 's Cherry?" said his father.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I promised her I would n't tell where she hides till she
+was twelve, an' now she 's ten, an' she 's been so mean
+about Haz--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Budd," said his father, sternly, "answer me directly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She 's under the pantry shelf behind the meal-chest,"
+said Budd, meekly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a shout of laughter that caused Cherry to
+crawl out pretty quickly and open the pantry door,--for
+it was hard to hear the fun and not be in it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come, Cherry," said her mother, still laughing, and
+Cherry slipped into her seat beside Doctor Heath with a
+murmured, "How do you do?" and her face bent so low
+over her plate that nothing was visible to Hazel but a
+round head running over with tight red curls that bobbed
+and trembled in a peculiarly funny way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Cherry," said the Doctor, trying to speak gravely,
+with only the red tip of a nose in view, "you seem to be
+rather low in your mind.  I shall have to prescribe for
+you.  Chi, suppose you drive me down to the Settlement
+to-morrow morning, and on the way to the train I will
+send up a cure-all for low spirits.  I 've something for
+March, too.  I think he needs it."  He drew his eyebrows
+together over the bridge of his nose and cast a sharp
+glance at the boy, who felt the doctor had read him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That means you 've got something for us," said Budd,
+bluntly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess Budd's hit the nail on the head this time," said
+Chi.  "Should n't wonder if 't was some pretty lively
+stuff."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're right there, Chi," replied the Doctor, laughing.
+"There 's plenty of good strong bark in it--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Thereupon there was a shout of joy from Budd which
+brought Cherry's head into position at once.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know, I know, it's a St. Bernard puppy!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh--ee," squealed Cherry, in her delight, and
+forthwith put her arm through the Doctor's and squeezed it
+hard against her ribs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess there's a good deal of crow-foot in the other,
+ain't there?" said Chi, with a wink at March, who
+deliberately left his seat after saying, "Excuse me" most gravely
+to his mother, and turned a somersault in the kitchen end
+just to relieve his feelings.  Then, with his hands in his
+pockets, he went up to Doctor Heath, his usually clear,
+pale face flushing with excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you mean, Doctor Heath, you 're going to give me
+a full-blooded Wyandotte cock?" he demanded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That is just what I mean, March," replied the Doctor,
+with great gravity, "and twelve full-blooded wives are at
+this moment looking in vain for a roost beside their lord
+and master in the express office down at Barton's River."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, glory!" cried March, wringing the Doctor's hand
+with both his, and then going off to execute another
+somersault.  "You 've done it now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Done what, March?" asked Doctor Heath, really
+touched by the boy's grateful enthusiasm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Made my fortune," he replied, dropping into his seat
+again, breathless with excitement; and to the Doctor's
+amazement he saw tears, actual tears, gather in the boy's
+eyes, before he looked down in his plate and busied himself
+with his baked potato.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel saw them too.  "What a strange boy," she thought,
+"and how different this is from eating my dinner all alone!"  Then
+she slipped up to the Doctor's side with her small tray
+containing nothing but empty dishes, for the keen air and
+the sight of so many others eating and enjoying themselves
+had given her a good appetite.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Are you satisfied with me <em class="italics">now</em>?" she said, presenting
+her tray.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should think so," he exclaimed.  "Two glasses of
+milk, two slices of toasted brown bread, one piece of
+sponge cake, and a baked apple with cream!  I 've gone
+out of business with you; my last 'tonic' is going to
+work well,--don't you think so?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm sure it is," she said quietly, but there was such a
+depth of meaning in the sweet voice and the few words
+that the Doctor threw his arm around her as they rose from
+the table, and kept her beside him until bedtime.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At nine o'clock, Mrs. Blossom helped her to undress,
+and then, saying she would come back soon, left her alone
+in the little bedroom off the kitchen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel looked about her in amazement.  This was her
+little room!  A small single bed, looking like a snow drift,
+so white and feathery and high was it; one window
+curtained with a square of starched white cotton cloth that
+drew over the panes by means of a white cord on which it
+was run at the top; a tiny wash-stand with an old-fashioned
+bowl and pitcher of green and white stone-ware, and over
+it an old-fashioned gilt mirror; a small splint-bottomed
+chair and large braided rug of red woollen rags.  That
+was all, except in one corner, where some cleats had been
+nailed to the ceiling and a clothes-press made by hanging
+from them full curtains of white cloth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For the first time in her life, Hazel unpacked her own
+travelling-bag and took out the silver toilet articles with
+the pretty monogram.  But where should she put them?
+No bureau, no dressing-case, no bath-room!--For a few
+minutes Hazel felt bewildered, then, laughing, she put them
+back again into her bag, and, leaving her candle in the tin
+candlestick on the wash-stand, she gave one leap into the
+middle of the high feather-bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then Mrs. Blossom returned from saying good-night
+to her own children.  She tucked Hazel in snugly, and to
+the young girl's surprise, knelt by the bed saying, "Let us
+repeat the Lord's Prayer together, dear;" and together
+they said it, Hazel fearing almost the sound of her own
+voice.  When they had finished, Mary Blossom, still
+kneeling, asked that Father to bless the coming of this
+one of His little ones into their home, and asked it in such
+a loving, trustful way, that Hazel's arm stole out from the
+coverlet and around Mrs. Blossom's neck; her head, soft
+and silky as a new-born baby's, cuddled to her shoulder:
+and when Mrs. Blossom kissed her good-night, she said
+suddenly, but half-timidly, "Do you say <em class="italics">this</em> with Rose
+every night?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, dear, every night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And how old is Rose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She will be seventeen next August."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you with Budd and Cherry, too?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, with all my children, even March and May."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"March!" exclaimed Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not?" laughed his mother.  "I 'm sure he
+needs it, as you 'll find out; now good-night, and don't
+get up to our early breakfast to-morrow, for the Doctor
+goes on the first morning train, and you 're not quite
+strong enough yet to do just as we do.  Good-night
+again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night," said Hazel, thinking she could never
+have enough of this kind of putting to bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Meanwhile March and Budd, in their bedroom over the
+"long-room," were discussing in half-whispers Wyandotte
+cocks, St. Bernard puppies, and the new-comer, for they
+were too excited to sleep.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just behind March's bed, near the head, there was a
+large knot in the boards of the flooring, which for four
+years had served him many a good turn, when Budd and
+Cherry were planning, below in the kitchen, how they
+could play tricks upon him.  March had carefully removed
+the knot, and with his eye, or ear, at the hole, he had been
+able, entirely to the mystification of the twins, to overthrow
+their conspiracies and defeat their flank movements.  When
+his espionage was over, he replaced the knot, and no one
+in the household was the wiser for his private detective
+service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To-day, late in the afternoon, he had taken out the knot,
+intending to have a view of the new arrival, unbeknown
+to the rest of the household; but so interested had he
+become in the general welcome and in the anticipation of
+the Doctor's gifts, that he had forgotten both to look
+through the hole and to replace the knot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel, too, could not sleep at first.  It was all so strange,
+and yet she was so happy.  Her thoughts were in New
+York, and she was already planning for a visit from her
+father, when suddenly she remembered that she had left
+the little chatelaine watch he had given her on her last
+birthday, lying on the settle where May had been playing
+with it.  She must wind it regularly, that was her father's
+stipulation when he gave it to her.  She sprang out of
+bed, tiptoed to the door, listened; all was still, but not
+wholly dark.  The embers beneath the ashes in the
+fireplace sent a dull glow into the room.  Softly she stole
+out; found her watch, then, half-way to her own door,
+stopped, startled by a voice issuing apparently from the
+rafters overhead.  It was March, who, forgetting his open
+knot-hole, turned over towards the wall with a prolonged
+yawn and said, evidently in answer to Budd:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, go to sleep; don't talk about her.  I think she 's
+a perfect guy."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="malachi">VI</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">MALACHI</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was a month after the eventful day for the Blossoms,
+and Saturday morning.  Rose, with her sleeves rolled up
+above her elbows, was kneading bread and singing, as she
+worked:--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'Oh, a king would have loved and left thee,</div>
+<div class="line">And away thy sweet love cast:</div>
+<div class="line">But I am thine</div>
+<div class="line">Whilst the stars shall shine,--</div>
+<div class="line">To the--last--'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Just here, she gave the round mass of dough a toss up
+to the ceiling and caught it deftly on her right fist as it
+came down, finishing her octave with high C, while again
+the bread spun aloft and dropped in safety on her left
+fist--"to the last!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then she proceeded with her kneading and singing:--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'I told thee when love was hopeless;</div>
+<div class="line">But now he is wild and sings--</div>
+<div class="line">That the stars above [up went the bread again]--</div>
+<div class="line">Shine ever on Love--'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">A peal of merry laughter close behind her made her
+jump, and the bread came down kerchunk into the
+kneading trough.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Gracious, Hazel! how you frightened me!  I thought
+you were off with Budd and Cherry."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So I was; but they wanted me to come in and tell you
+there is to be a secret meeting of the N.B.B.O.O. Society
+in the usual place.  They said you would know where it is."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course I do; do you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, they would n't tell.  They said it is against the
+rules to allow any one in who hasn't been initiated.  They
+said they 'd initiate me, if I wanted to join."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, do you want to?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course I do, if you belong," said Hazel, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tell them I 'll be out after I 've put the bread to rise
+and cleared up; but be sure and tell them not to do
+anything till I come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," cried Hazel, joyfully, skipping through the
+woodshed and encountering Chi with a bag of seed-beans.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where you goin', Lady-bird?"  (This was Chi's name
+for her from the first day.)  "Seems to me you 're gettin'
+over the ground pretty fast."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The Buds" (for so Hazel had nicknamed the
+children) "are going to have a meeting somewhere of the
+N.B.B.O.O. Society, and I'm to be initiated, Chi.  What
+does that mean?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Initiated, hey?  Into a secret society?  Well, that
+depends.--Sometimes it means being tossed sky-high in
+a blanket, and then again you 're dropped lower than the
+bottomless pit; and you can't most always tell beforehand
+which way you 're goin'."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel's face fairly lost the rich color she had gained in
+the past month.  This was more than she had bargained for.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi!  They would n't do such things to me!" she
+exclaimed in dismay.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, no--I don't know as they 'd carry it that far;
+but those children mean mischief every time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But they would n't hurt me, Chi.  They would n't be
+as mean as that; besides, Rose wouldn't let them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I don't know as she would.  But children are
+children, and Rose ain't grown any wings yet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Was Rose initiated?" was Hazel's next rather anxious
+question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she was," said Chi, taking up a handful of beans
+and letting them run through his fingers into the open
+bag.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you know, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Coz I initiated her myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You, Chi?  Why, do you belong?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"First member of the N.B.B.O.O. Society."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that's funny.  Who initiated you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi set down the bag of beans, and for a moment shook
+with laughter; then, growing perfectly sober, he said
+solemnly:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I initiated myself.  But they was all on hand when I
+did it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did you do, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just hear her!" said Chi to himself, but aloud, he said,
+"I 'll tell you this much, if it is a secret society.  They
+try 'n' see what stuff you 're made of."</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'Sugar and spice</div>
+<div class="line">And all that's nice,</div>
+<div class="line">That's what little girls are made of,'"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Hazel interrupted, singing merrily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There was n't much 'sugar 'n' spice' in that Rose
+Blossom when she put me to the test.  You ain't heard a
+screech-owl yet; but when you do, you'll come running
+home to find out whose bein' killed in the woods."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel looked at him half in fear, but Chi went on
+stolidly:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'N' those children told me I 'd got to go up into the
+woods at twelve o'clock at night, when the screech-owls
+was yellin' bloody murder, to show I wasn't scairt of
+nothin'; 'n' I went."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi, was n't it awful?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kinder scarey; but they gave me the dinner horn 'n'
+told me to blow a blast on that when I was up there, so
+they 'd hear, 'n' know I was <em class="italics">clear</em> into the woods; for they
+was all on hand watchin' from the back attic window--what
+they could in a pitch-black night--to see if I 'd
+back down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you did n't, Chi?" said Hazel, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet I did n't, 'n' I brought home an old screecher
+just to prove I was game."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How did you catch him, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi clapped his hands on his knees, and shook with
+laughter; then he grew perfectly sober:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I took a dark lantern along with me, just to kind of
+feel my way in the woods--but the children did n't
+know about that--'n' when an old screecher gave a blood-curdlin'
+yell, just as near my right ear as the engine down
+on the track when you 're standin' at the depot at Barton's
+River,--just then I turned on the light full tilt, and the
+feller sat right still on the branch, kind of dazed like, 'n'
+I took him just as easy as I 'd take a hen off the roost
+after dark, 'n' brought him home.  'N' just as I was goin'
+up into the attic in the dark, the shed stairs' way, 'n' the
+children was all listenin' at the top in the dark, the
+dummed bird gave such a screech that the children all
+tumbled over one another tryin' to get back to their beds,
+'n' such screamin' 'n' hollerin' you never heard--the bird
+was n't in it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again Chi laughed at the recollection, and Hazel joined him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did they make you do anything more, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By George Washin'ton!  I should think they did,"
+said Chi, soberly.  "That last was March's idea, but
+Rose went him one more."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What could Rose think of worse than that?" demanded
+Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, she did.  She blindfolded my eyes 'n' took me
+by the hand, 'n' turned me round 'n' round till I was most
+dizzy; 'n' then she gave me a rope, 'n' she took one end
+of it 'n' made me take the other, 'n' kept leadin' me 'n'
+leadin' me, 'n' the children all caperin' round me, screamin'
+'n' laughin'.  Pretty soon--I calculated I 'd walked about
+a quarter of a mile--the rope grew slack; all of a
+sudden the laughin' 'n' screamin' stopped, 'n' I--walked
+right off the bank into the big pool down under the pines,
+ker--splash! 'n' the children, after they 'd got me in,
+was so scairt for fear I 'd lose my breath--I could n't
+drown coz there was n't more than five feet of water in
+it--that they hauled on the rope with all their might, 'n'
+pulled me out; 'n' I let 'em pull," said Chi, grimly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope they were satisfied after that," said Hazel,
+soberly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They appeared to be," said Chi, contentedly, "for they
+said I should be president, coz I was so brave.  But
+there 's other things harder to do than that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What are they, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 've got to keep the by-laws."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What are those?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rules of the Society.  One of 'em 's, you must n't be
+afraid to tell the truth.  'N' another is, you must be scairt
+to tell a lie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel grew scarlet at her own thoughts.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Another is, to help other folks all you can; 'n' the
+fourth 'n' last is, that no boy or girl as lives in this great,
+free country of ours ought to be a coward."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel drew a long breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Those must be hard to keep."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, they ain't always easy, that's a fact; but they re
+mighty good to live by," he added, picking up the
+bean-bag.  "I lived with Ben Blossom's father when I was a
+little chap as chore boy, 'n' he gave me my schoolin' 'n'
+clothes; 'n' I 've lived with his son ever since he was
+married, 'n' he's been the best friend a man could have, 'n'
+I 've always got along with him in peace and lovin'-kindness;
+'n' those four by-laws his father wrote on my boyhood;
+'n' by those four by-laws I 've kept my manhood;
+'n' so I think it 'll do anybody good to join the Society."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," said Hazel, stoutly, "I 'll show them I 'm not
+afraid of some things, if I did run away from the turkey-gobbler."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's right," said Chi, heartily, "'n' more than
+that--betwixt you 'n' me--you 've no cause to be scairt
+<em class="italics">whatever</em> they do; now mark my words, <em class="italics">whatever they do</em>,"
+repeated Chi, emphatically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't care what they do so long as you 're there, Chi,"
+said Hazel, looking up into his weather-roughened, deeply-lined
+face with such utter trust in her great eyes that Chi
+caught up the bag over his shoulder and hurried out to
+the barn, muttering to himself:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"George Washin'ton!  How she manages to creep into
+the softest corner of a man's heart, I don't know; I
+expect it's those great eyes of hers, 'n' that voice just like a
+brook winnerin' 'n' gurglin' over its stones in August.--Guess
+there's luck come to this house with Lady-bird!"  And
+he went about his work.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-n-b-b-o-o-society">VII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">THE N.B.B.O.O. SOCIETY</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Now, Hazel, we 're ready," said Rose, after the dinner
+dishes had been washed and the children's time was
+their own.  Hazel submitted meekly to the blindfolding
+process.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She had tried in vain to find out something of what the
+children intended to do, but they were too clever for her
+to gain the smallest hint as to the initiation.  March had
+been busy in the ice-house, and Cherry had been ironing
+the aprons for the family,--that was her Saturday
+morning duty.  Budd and the St. Bernard puppy were off with
+Chi in the fields.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose led her through the woodshed and out of doors--Hazel
+knew that by the rush of soft air that met her
+face--and away, somewhither.  At last she was helped to
+climb a ladder; Chi's hand grasped hers, and she felt the
+flooring under her feet.  Then she was left without
+support of any kind, not daring to move with Chi's story in
+her thoughts.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess we 'll have the roll-call first," said Chi, solemnly.
+There was not a sound to be heard except now and then
+a rush of wings and the twitter of swallows.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Molly Stark."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here," said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Markis de Lafayette."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here," from March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Marthy Washin'ton."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Present," said Cherry, forgetting she was not in school.
+Budd snickered, and the president called him to order.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fine of two cents for snickerin' in meetin'."  Budd
+looked sober.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ethan Allen."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here," said Budd, in a subdued voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Old Put,--Here," said Chi, addressing and answering
+himself.  "Now, Markis, read the by-laws."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Number One.--We pledge ourselves not to be afraid
+to tell the truth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Number Two.--We pledge ourselves to be afraid to
+tell a lie.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Number Three.--We pledge ourselves to try to help
+others whenever we can, wherever we can, however we
+can, as long as ever we can.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Number Four.--We, as American boys and girls,
+pledge ourselves never to play the coward nor to disgrace
+our country."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Molly Stark, unfurl the flag," said Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel heard a rustle as Rose unrolled the banner of soft
+red, white, and blue cambric.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Put Old Glory round the candidate's shoulders," commanded
+the president, and Hazel felt the soft folds being
+draped about her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There now, Lady-bird, you 're dressed as pretty as
+you 're ever goin' to be; it don't make a mite of difference
+whether you 're the Empress of Rooshy, or just plain
+every-day folks; 'n' now you 've got that rig on, we 're
+ready to give you the hand of fellowship.  Markis, you
+have the floor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What name does the candidate wish to be known by?"
+asked March, with due gravity; then, forgetting his role,
+he added, "You must take the name of some woman who
+has been just as brave as she could be."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel, feeling the folds of the flag about her, suddenly
+recalled her favorite poem of Whittier's.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Barbara Frietchie," she said promptly and firmly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The various members shouted and cheered themselves
+hoarse before order was restored.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What'd I tell you, Budd?" said Chi, triumphantly;
+then there was another shout, for Chi had broken the rules
+in speaking thus.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Two cents' fine!" shouted Budd, "for speaking out
+of order in meeting."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sho!  I forgot," said Chi, humbly; "well, proceed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you, Barbara Frietchie, pledge yourself to try to
+keep these by-laws?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Hazel, but rather tremulously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, we 'll put you to the test.  Molly Stark
+will extend the first hand of fellowship to Barbara
+Frietchie--No, hold out your hand, Hazel; way out--don't
+you draw it back that way!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I did n't," retorted Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you did, I saw you!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You didn't, either."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You did n't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I did, too."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He did n't, did he, Chi?" said Hazel, furious at this
+charge of apparent timidity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't believe you drew it back even if March does
+think he saw you," said Chi, pouring oil both ways on the
+troubled waters; "'n' I never thought 't was just the thing
+for a boy to tell a girl she was a coward before she'd
+proved to be one--specially if he belongs to this Society."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Marquis de Lafayette hung his head at this rebuke;
+but in the action his cocked hat of black and gilt paper
+lurched forward and drew off with it his white cotton-wool
+wig.  Budd and Cherry, forgetting all rules, fines, and
+sense of propriety, rolled over and over at the sight; Rose
+sat down shaking with laughter, and even Chi lost his
+dignity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you would let me <em class="italics">see</em>, or do something," said
+Hazel, plaintively, when she could make herself heard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T ain't fair to keep Hazel waiting so," declared Budd,
+and the president called the meeting to order again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Put out your hand, Hazel," said Rose.  "Now shake."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel grasped a hand, cold, deathly cold, and clammy.
+The chill of the rigid fingers sent a corresponding shiver
+down the length of her backbone, and the goose-flesh rose
+all over her arms and legs.  She thought she must shriek;
+but she recalled Chi's words, set her teeth hard, and shook
+the awful thing with what strength she had, never uttering
+a sound.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bully for you, Hazel!  I knew you 'd show lots of
+pluck," cried Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Got grit every time," said Chi, proudly.  "Now let's
+have the other test and get down to business.  Guess all
+three of you 'll have to have a finger in this pie.  Hurry
+up, Marthy Washin'ton!"  Cherry scuttled down the
+ladder, and in a few minutes labored, panting, up again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did you bring two for?" demanded Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Cause March said 't would balance me better on the
+ladder," replied Cherry, innocently.  At which explanation
+Chi laughed immoderately, much to Cherry's discomfiture.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, Hazel, roll up your sleeve and hold out your bare
+arm," said the Marquis.  Hazel obeyed, wondering what
+would come next.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here, Budd, you hold it; all ready, Cherry?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ye-es--wait a minute; now it's all right."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This we call burning in the Society's brand,--N.B.B.O.O.;"
+the voice of the Marquis was solemn,
+befitting the occasion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel drew her breath sharply, uncertain whether to cry
+out or not.  There was a sharp sting across her arm, as if
+a hot curling-iron had been drawn quickly across it; then
+a sound of sizzling flesh, and the odor of broiled beefsteak
+rose up just under her nostrils.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a diabolical thud of falling flat-irons; Rose
+tore the bandage from Hazel's eyes, and the bewildered
+candidate for membership, when her eyes grew somewhat
+wonted to the dim light, found herself in a corner of the
+loft in the barn, with the elegant figure of the Marquis in
+cocked hat, white wig, yellow vest, blue coat, and yellow
+knee-breeches dancing frantically around her; Ethan Allen
+in white woollen shirt, red yarn suspenders, and red, white,
+and blue striped trousers, turning back-hand somersaults
+on the hay; Chi standing at salute with his
+great-great-grandfather's Revolutionary musket, his old straw hat
+decorated with a tricolor cockade, and Cherry in a white
+cotton-wool wig, a dark calico dress of her mother's and a
+white neckerchief, flat on the floor beside two six-pound
+flat-irons.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A piece of raw beef on a tin pan, some bits of ice, and a
+kid glove stuffed with ice and sawdust, lay scattered about.
+They told the tale of the initiation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Three cheers for Barbara Frietchie!" shouted Budd,
+as he came right side up.  The barn rang with them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now we 'll give the right hand of true fellowship," said
+Chi, rapping with the butt of his musket for order.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose gave Hazel's hand a squeeze.  "I 'm so glad you 're
+to be one of us," she said heartily; and Hazel squeezed
+back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">March came forward, bowed low, and said, "I apologize
+for my distrust of your pluck," and held out his hand with
+a look in the flashing gray eyes that was not one of
+mockery; indeed, he looked glad, but never a word of welcome
+did he speak.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I could flog that proud feller," muttered Chi to himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel hesitated a moment, then put out her hand a little
+reluctantly.  March caught the gesture and her look.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you 're not obliged to," he said haughtily, and
+turned on his heel.  But Hazel put her hand on his arm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm afraid we are both breaking some of the by-laws,
+March.  I do want to shake hands, but I was thinking
+just then that you did n't mean the apology--not really
+and truly; and if you did mean it, there was something
+else you needed to apologize for more than that!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">March flushed to the roots of his hair.  Then his boy's
+honor came to the rescue.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do want to now, Hazel--and forgive and forget,
+won't you?" he said, with the winning smile he inherited
+from his father, but which he kept for rare occasions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel put her hand in his, and felt that this had been
+worth waiting for.  She knew that at last March had
+taken her in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd gripped with all his might, Cherry shook with two
+fingers, and Chi's great hand closed over hers as tenderly
+as a woman's would have done.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was Hazel's initiation into the Nobody's Business
+But Our Own Society.  It was the second meeting of the
+year.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, March, I 'll make you chairman and ask you to
+state the business of this meetin', as you 've called it.
+Must be mighty important?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is," replied March, gravely, all the fun dying
+out of his face.  "You remember, all of you,--don't
+you?--what mother told us that night she said Hazel was
+coming?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," chorussed the children.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I 've been thinking and thinking ever since how
+I could help--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So 've I, March," interrupted Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And I have, too," said Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's all this mean?" said Chi, somewhat astonished,
+for he had not known why the meeting had been called.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you see, Chi, we never knew till then that the
+farm had been mortgaged on account of father's sickness,
+and that it had been so awful hard for mother all this
+year--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi cleared his throat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"--And we want to do something to help earn.  If we
+could earn just our own clothes and books and enough to
+pay for our schooling, it would be something."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess 't would," said Chi, clearing his throat again.
+"Kind of workin' out the third by-law, ain't you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Trying to," answered March, with such sincerity in his
+voice that Chi's throat troubled him for full a minute.
+"And what I want to find out, without mother's knowing
+it, or father either, is how we can earn enough for those
+things.  If anybody 's got anything to say, just speak up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you goin' to do with those Wyandottes?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I knew you 'd ask that, Chi.  I 'm going to raise a
+fine breed and sell the eggs at a dollar and a half for
+thirteen; but I can't get any chicken-money till next fall,
+and no egg-money till next spring, and I want to begin
+now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hm--" said Chi, taking off his straw hat and slowly
+scratching his head.  "Well," he said after a pause
+in which all were thinking and no one talking, "why don't
+all of you go to work raisin' chickens for next Thanksgivin'?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By cracky!" said Budd, "we could raise three or four
+hundred, an' fat 'em up, an' make a pile, easy as nothing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know about it's bein' so easy; but children
+have the time to tend 'em, and I don't see why it won't
+work, seein' it's a good time of year."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But where 'll we get the hens to set, Chi?" said March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, there 's enough of 'em settin' round now on the
+bare boards," Chi replied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can I raise some, too?" asked Hazel, rather timidly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't know what there is to hinder," said Chi, with
+a slow smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And can I buy some hens for my very own?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, of course you can; just say the word, 'n' you
+'n' I 'll go settin'-hen hunting within a day or so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, what fun!" cried Hazel, clapping her hands.
+"But I want some that will sit and lay too, Chi; then I
+can sell the eggs."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a shout of laughter, at which Hazel felt hurt.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There now, Lady-bird, we won't laugh at your city
+ways of lookin' at things any more.  The hens ain't quite
+so accommodatin' as that, but we 'll get some good setters
+first, 'n' then see about the layin' afterwards."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, Chi, it will take such a lot of corn to fatten them.
+We don't want to ask father for anything."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's right, Rose.  Be independent as long as you
+can; I thought of that, too.  Now, there 's a whole acre
+on the south slope I ploughed this spring,--nice, hot land,
+just right for corn-raisin'; 'n' if you children 'll drop 'n'
+cover, I 'll help you with the hoein' 'n' cuttin' 'n' huskin';
+'n' you 'll have your corn for nothin'."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good for you, Chi; we 'll do it, won't we?" cried March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet," said Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can pick berries," said Rose, "and we can always
+sell them at the Inn, or at Barton's River."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and we can begin in June," said Cherry; "the
+pastures are just red with the wild strawberries, you know,
+Rose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's an awful sight of work to pick 'em," said Budd,
+rather dubiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you can't get your money without workin',
+Budd; 'n' work don't mean 'take it easy.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm sure we can get twenty-five cents a quart for them
+right in the village.  I 've heard folks say they make the
+best preserve you can get, and you can't buy them for love
+nor money," said Rose.  "Mother makes beautiful ones."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Was n't that what we had last Sunday night when the
+minister was here to tea?" asked Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never tasted any strawberries like them at home, and
+the housekeeper buys lots of jams and jellies in the fall."
+Hazel thought hard for a minute.  Suddenly she jumped
+to her feet, clapped her hands, and spun round and round
+like a top, crying out, "I have it!  I have it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The N.B.B.O.O. Society was amazed to see the new
+member perform in this lively manner, for Hazel had been
+rather quiet during the first month.  Now she caught up
+her skirts with a dainty tilt, and danced the Highland
+Fling just to let her spirits out through her feet.  Up and
+down the floor of the loft she charged, hands over her head,
+hands swinging her skirts, light as a fairy, bending,
+swaying, and bowing, till, with a big "cheese," she sat down
+almost breathless by Chi.  Was this Hazel?  The members
+of the N.B.B.O.O. looked at one another in amazement,
+and March's eyes flashed again, as they had done once
+before during the afternoon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now all listen to me," she said, as if, after a month of
+silence, she had found her tongue.  "I 've an idea, and
+when I have one, papa says it's worth listening to,--which
+is n't often, I 'm sure.  We 'll pick the strawberries, and
+get Mrs. Blossom to show Rose how to do them up; and
+I 'll write to papa and Doctor Heath's wife and to our
+housekeeper and Cousin Jack, and see if they don't want
+some of those delicious preserves that they can't get in the
+city.  I 'll find out from Mrs. Scott--that's the
+housekeeper--how much she pays for a jar in New York, and
+then we 'll charge a little more for ours because the
+strawberries are a little rarer.  Are n't there any other kinds of
+berries that grow around here?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess you 'd better stop 'n' take breath, Lady-bird;
+there 's a mighty lot of plannin' in all that.  What 'd I
+tell you, Budd?" Chi asked again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd looked at Hazel in boyish admiration, but said
+nothing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think that's splendid, Hazel," said Rose, "if they'll
+only want them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know they will; but are there any other berries?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Berries!  I should think so; raspberries and blackberries
+by the bushel on the Mountain, and they say they 're
+the best anywhere round here," said March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, dear!" sighed Cherry, "I wish we could go to
+work right now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, so you can," said Chi, "only you can't go berryin'
+just yet.  You can begin to drop that corn this very
+afternoon: better be inside the ground pretty soon, with all
+those four hundred chickens waitin' to join the
+Thanksgivin' procession."</p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 60%" id="figure-38">
+<span id="you-can-begin-to-drop-that-corn-this-very-afternoon"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-073.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+"'You can begin to drop that corn this very afternoon'"</div>
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Oh, Chi, you 're making fun of us," laughed Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't you believe it, Rose-pose; never was more in
+earnest in my life.  Come along, 'n' I 'll show you."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-lively-correspondence">VIII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A LIVELY CORRESPONDENCE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was a trial of patience to have to wait twenty-one
+days before the first of the "four hundred" could be
+expected to appear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 'll have to be kind of careful 'bout steppin' round
+in the dark, Mis' Blossom, 'n' you, too, Ben," said Chi,
+"for you 'll find a settin' hen most anywheres nowadays."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom laughed.  "Oh, Chi, what dear children
+they are, even if they aren't quite perfect."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can't be beat," replied Chi, earnestly.  "Look at them
+now, will you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom stepped out on the porch, and looked over
+to the south slope and the corn-patch.  "What if her
+father were to see her now!"  She laughed again, both
+at her thoughts and the sight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T would give him kind of a shock at first," Chi
+chuckled, "but he 'd get over it as soon as he 'd seen
+that face."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is wonderful how she has improved.  I shouldn't
+be surprised if he came up here soon to see Hazel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, he 'll find somethin' worth lookin' at.  See there,
+now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The girls had been making scarecrows to protect the
+young corn, stuffing old shirts and trousers with hay and
+straw, while March and Budd had been getting ready the
+cross-tree frames.  In dropping and covering the corn that
+Saturday afternoon after the initiation, the girls had found
+their skirts and petticoats not only in the way as they bent
+over their work, but greatly soiled by contact with the
+soft, damp loam.  So they had begged to wear overalls of
+blue denim like Chi's and the boys'.  The request had
+been gladly granted.  "It will save no end of washing,"
+said Mrs. Blossom, and forthwith made up three pairs on
+the machine.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The girls found it great fun.  They tucked in their
+petticoats and buttoned down their shoulder-straps with
+right good will.  Then Mr. Blossom presented them with
+broad, coarse straw hats, such as he and Chi used, and
+with these on their heads they rushed off to the
+corn-patch.  There now they were,--five good-looking boys
+with hands joined, dancing and capering around a scarecrow,
+that looked like a gentleman tramp gone entirely to
+seed, and singing at the top of their voices Budd's favorite,
+"I won't play in your back yard."</p>
+<p class="pnext">At that very hour, when the gentleman scarecrow of
+the corn-patch was looking amiably, although slightly
+squint-eyed, out from under his tattered straw hat (for
+March had drawn rude features on the white cloth bag
+stuffed with cotton-wool which served for a head, and on
+it Rose had sewed skeins of brown yarn to imitate hair)
+at the antics of the five pairs of blue overalls, Mr. Clyde,
+having finished his nine o'clock breakfast, asked for the
+mail.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Marse John" (so Wilkins always called Mr. Clyde
+when they were alone), "'spect dere 's one from Miss
+Hazel by de feel an' de smell."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde smiled.  "How can you tell by the 'feel and
+the smell,' Wilkins?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Case it's bunchy lake in de middle, an' de vi'lets can't
+hide dere bref."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, we 'll see," said Mr. Clyde, willing to indulge
+his faithful servant's childish curiosity.  Wilkins busied
+himself quietly about the breakfast-room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Mr. Clyde opened the envelope, the crushed blue
+and white violets fell out.  Suddenly he burst into such
+a hearty laugh that Wilkins had hard work to suppress
+a sympathetic chuckle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I shall have to carry this letter over to the Doctor,
+Wilkins," he said, still laughing.  "I shall be in time to
+find him a few minutes alone before office hours."  He
+rose from the table.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilkins followed him out to give his coat a last touch
+with the brush; he was fearful Mr. Clyde might leave
+without revealing anything of the contents of the letter
+from his beloved Miss Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Sense me, Marse John," he said in desperation, as
+Mr. Clyde went towards the front door, "but Miss Hazel
+ain't no wusser case yo' goin' to de Doctah's?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Wilkins, I forgot; you want to know how Miss
+Hazel is.  She is doing finely; as happy as a bird, and
+sends her love to you in a postscript.  I think I 'll run up
+and see her soon."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilkins ducked and beamed.  "'Pears lake dis yere
+house ain't de same place wif de little missus gone."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're right, Wilkins," said Mr. Clyde, earnestly.  "I
+shall not open the Newport cottage this year; it would
+be too lonesome without her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Dick," he said gayly, as he entered the Doctor's
+office, "I shall hold you responsible for some of the lives
+of the 'Four Hundred.'  Here, read this letter."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">MOUNT HUNGER, MILL SETTLEMENT, BARTON'S</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">RIVER, VERMONT, May 19, 1896.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAREST PAPA,--Good-morning!  I am answering your
+long letter a little sooner than I expected to, because I want
+you to do something for me in a business way; that's the way
+March says it must be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">I don't know how to begin to tell you, but I 've joined the
+N.B.B.O.O. Society and one of the by-laws is that we must
+help others all we can and just as much as we can.  I wish
+you'd been at the initiashun.  (I don't know about that
+spelling, and I 'm in a hurry, or I 'd ask.)  I had the hand of
+fellowship from a supposed corpse's hand first, and then I was
+branded on the arm.  And afterwards they all took me in, and
+now we 're raising four hundred chickens to help others; I 'll
+tell you all about it when you come.  Chi, that's the hired
+man, but he is really our friend, took me sitting-hen hunting
+day before yesterday, for I am to own some myself; and we
+drove all over the hills to the farmhouses and found and bought
+twelve, or rather Chi did, for I had to borrow the money of
+him, as I felt so bad when I kissed you good-bye that I forgot
+to tell you my quarterly allowance was all gone, and I know
+you won't like my borrowing of Chi, for you have said so
+many times never to owe anybody and I've always tried to pay
+for everything except when I had to borrow of Gabrielle, or
+Mrs. Scott, when I forgot my purse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But truly the hens were in such an awful hurry to sit, that
+it did seem too bad to keep them waiting even three days till
+I could get some money from you; and then, too, we 've all
+of us, March and Rose and Budd and Cherry and me, bet on
+which hen would get the first chicken, and that chicken is going
+to be a prize chicken and especially fatted, and of course, if I
+waited for the money to come from you, I could n't stand a
+chance of coming out ahead in our four hundred chicken race,
+so I borrowed of Chi.  The hens came to just $4 and eighty
+cents.  I'll pay you back when I earn it, and don't you think
+it would have been a pity to lose the chance for the prize
+chicken just for that borrow?</p>
+<p class="pnext">Please send the money by return mail.  I 've other letters
+to write, so please excuse my not paragraphing and so little
+punctuation, but I 've so much to do and this must go at once.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your loving and devoted daughter,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL CLYDE.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">P.S. The hens are sitting around everywhere.  Give my
+love to Wilkins.  H.C.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">The Doctor shouted; then he stepped to the dining-room
+door and called, "Wifie, come here and bring that letter."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Heath came in smiling, with a letter in her hand,
+which, after cordially greeting Mr. Clyde, she read to
+him,--an amazed and outwitted father.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">MOUNT HUNGER, MILL SETTLEMENT, BARTON'S</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">RIVER, VERMONT, May 19, 1896.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">MY DEAR MRS. HEATH,--Please thank my dear Doctor
+Heath for the note he sent me two weeks ago.  I ought to
+write to him instead of to you, for I don't owe you a letter
+(your last one was so sweet I answered it right off), but he
+never allows his patients strawberry preserve and jam, so it
+would be no use to ask his help just now, as this is pure
+business, March says.</p>
+<p class="pnext">We are trying to help others, and the strawberries--wild
+ones--are as thick as spatter--going to be--all over the
+pastures, and we 're going to pick quarts and quarts, and Rose
+is going to preserve them, and then we 're going to sell them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Do you think of anybody who would like some of this preserve?
+If you do, will you kindly let me know by return mail?</p>
+<p class="pnext">I can't tell just the price, and March says that is a great
+drawback in real business, and this <em class="italics">is</em> real--but it will not be
+more than $1 and twenty-five cents a quart.  They will be fine
+for luncheon.  <em class="italics">I</em> never tasted any half so good at home.</p>
+<p class="pnext">My dear love to the Doctor and a large share for yourself from</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your loving friend,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL CLYDE.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">P.S. Rose says it is n't fair for people to order without
+knowing the quality, so we 've done up a little of Mrs. Blossom's
+in some Homeepatic (I don't know where that "h" ought to
+come in) pellet bottles, and will send you a half-dozen "for
+samples," March says, to send to any one to taste you think
+would like to order.  H.C.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"The cure is working famously," said Doctor Heath,
+rubbing his hands in glee.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," said Mr. Clyde, laughing, "I may as well make
+the best of it; but I can't help wondering whether the
+wholesale grocers in town have been asked to place orders
+with Mount Hunger, or the Washington Market dealers
+for prospective chickens!  There 's your office-bell; I
+won't keep you longer, but if this 'special case' of yours
+should develop any new symptoms, just let me know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll keep you informed," rejoined the Doctor.  "Better
+run up there pretty soon, Johnny," he called after him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think it's high time, Dick.  Good-bye."</p>
+<p class="pnext">At that very moment, a symptom of another sort was
+developing in Z---- Hall, Number 9, at Harvard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack Sherrill and his chum were discussing the last
+evening's Club theatricals.  "I saw that pretty Maude
+Seaton in the third or fourth row, Jack; did she come on
+for that,--which, of course, means you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wish I might think so," said Jack, half in earnest,
+half in jest, pulling slowly at his corn-cob pipe.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By Omar Khayyam, Jack! you don't mean to say
+you 're hit, at last!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hit,--yes; but it's only a flesh-wound at present,--nothing
+dangerous about it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She 's got the style, though, and the pull.  I know a
+half-dozen of the fellows got dropped on to-night's cotillion."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kept it for me," said Jack, quietly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, really, though--" and his chum fell to thinking
+rather seriously for him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then came the morning's mail,--notes, letters,
+special delivery stamps, all the social accessories a
+popular Harvard man knows so well.  Jack looked over his
+carelessly,--invitations to dinner, to theatre parties,
+"private views," golf parties, etc.  He pushed them aside,
+showing little interest.  He, like his Cousin Hazel, was
+used to it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The morning's mail was an old story, for Sherrill was
+worth a fortune in his own right, as several hundred
+mothers and daughters in New York and Boston and
+Philadelphia knew full well.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Moreover, if he had not had a penny in prospect, Jack
+Sherrill would have attracted by his own manly qualities
+and his exceptionally good looks.  His riches, to which he
+had been born, had not as yet wholly spoiled him, but they
+cheated him of that ambition that makes the best of young
+manhood, and Life was out of tune at times--how and
+why, he did not know, and there was no one to tell him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had rather hoped for a note from Maude Seaton,
+thanking him, in her own charming way, for the flowers he
+had sent her on her arrival from New York the day before.
+True, she had worn some in her corsage, but, for all Jack
+knew, they might have been another man's; for Maude
+Seaton was never known to have less than four or five
+strings to her bow.  It was just this uncertainty about her
+that attracted Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello!  Here 's a letter for you by mistake in my pile,"
+said his chum.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, this is from my little Cousin Hazel, who is
+rusticating just now somewhere in the Green Mountains."  Jack
+opened it hastily and read,--</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">MOUNT HUNGER, MILL SETTLEMENT, BARTON'S</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">RIVER, VERMONT, May 19, 1896.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAREST COUSIN JACK,--It is perfectly lovely up here, and
+I 've been inishiated into a Secret Society like your Dicky Club,
+and one of the by-laws is to help others all we can and wherever
+we can and as long as ever we can, and so I 've thought of that
+nice little spread you gave last year after the foot-ball game,
+and how nice the table looked and what good things you had,
+but I don't remember any strawberry jam or preserves, do you?</p>
+<p class="pnext">We 're hatching four hundred chickens to help others,--I
+mean we have set 40 sitting hens on 520 eggs, not all the 40 on
+the five hundred and twenty at once, you know; but, I mean,
+each one of the 40 hens are sitting on 13 eggs apiece, and
+March says we must expect to lose 120 eggs--I mean,
+chickens,--as the hens are very careless and sit sideways--I 've
+seen them myself--and so an extra egg is apt to get chilly,
+and the chickens can't stand any chilliness, March says.  But
+Chi, that's my new friend, says some eggs have a double yolk,
+and maybe, there 'll be some twins to make up for the loss.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Anyway, we want 400 chickens to sell about Thanksgiving
+time, and, of course, we can't get any money till that time.
+So now I 've got back to your spread again and the preserves,
+and while we 're waiting for the chickens, we are going to
+make preserves--<em class="italics">dee</em>-licious ones!  I mean we are going to
+pick them and Rose is going to preserve them.  We 've decided
+to ask $1 and a quarter a quart for them; Rose--that's Rose
+Blossom--says it is dear, but if you could see my Rose-pose,
+as Chi calls her, you 'd think it cheap just to eat them if she
+made them.  She 's perfectly lovely--prettier than any of the
+New York girls, and when she kneads bread and does up
+the dishes, she sings like a bird, something about love.  I'll
+write it down for you, sometime.  <em class="italics">I 'm</em> in love with her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Please ask your college friends if they don't want some jam
+and wild strawberry preserves.  If they do, March says they
+had better order soon, as I've written to New York to see
+about some other orders.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Yours devotedly,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">P.S. I 've sent you a sample of the strawberry preserve in
+a homeepahtic pellet bottle, to taste; Rose says it is n't fair to
+ask people to buy without their knowing what they buy.  I
+saw that Miss Seaton just before I came away; she came to
+call on me and brought some flowers.  She said I looked like
+you--which was an awful whopper because I had my head
+shaved, as you know; I asked her if she had heard from
+you, and she said she had.  She is n't half as lovely as
+Rose-pose.  H.C.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-prize-chicken">IX</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">THE PRIZE CHICKEN</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">There was wild excitement, as well as consternation, in
+the farmhouse on the Mountain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the next day but one after Hazel had sent her
+letters, Chi had brought up from the Mill Settlement a
+telegram which had come on the stage from Barton's.  It
+was addressed to, "Hazel Clyde, Mill Settlement, Barton's
+River, Vermont," and ran thus:--</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">CAMBRIDGE, May 20, 1 P.M.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hope to get in our order ahead of New York time.  Seventeen
+dozen of each kind.  Letter follows.</p>
+<p class="pnext">JACK.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Seventeen dozen!" screamed Rose, on hearing the
+telegram.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Seventeen dozen of <em class="italics">each kind</em>!" cried Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, quick, March, do see what it comes to!" said
+Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then such an arithmetical hubbub broke loose as had
+never been heard before on the Mountain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Seventeen times twelve," said Rose,--"let me see;
+seven times two are fourteen, one to carry--do keep still,
+March!"  But March went on with:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Twelve times four are forty-eight--seventeen times
+forty-eight, hm--seven times eight are fifty-six, five to
+carry--Shut up, Budd; I can't hear myself think."  But
+Budd gave no heed, and continued his computation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Four times seventeen are--four times seven are
+twenty-eight, two to carry; four times one are four and
+two are--I say, you 've put me all out!" shouted Budd,
+and, putting his fingers in his ears, he retired to a corner.
+Rose continued to mumble with her eyes shut to concentrate
+her mind upon her problem, threatening Cherry impatiently
+when she interrupted with her peculiar solution,
+which she had just thought out:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If one quart cost one dollar and twenty-five cents,
+twelve quarts will cost twelve times one dollar and
+twenty-five cents, which is, er--twelve times one are
+twelve; twelve times twenty-five!  Oh, gracious, that's
+awful!  What's twelve times twenty-five, March?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shut up," growled March; "you 've put me all off the
+track."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Me, too," said Rose, in an aggrieved tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom had been listening from the bedroom, and
+now came in, suppressing her desire to smile at the
+reddened and perplexed faces.  "Here 's a pencil, March,
+suppose you figure it out on paper."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A sigh of relief was audible throughout the room, as
+March sat down to work out the result.  "Eight hundred
+and sixteen quarts at one dollar twenty-five a quart," said
+March to himself; then, with a bound that shook the
+long-room, he shouted, "One thousand and twenty dollars!" and
+therewith broke forth into singing:--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"Glory, glory, halleluia!</div>
+<div class="line">Glory, glory, halleluia!</div>
+<div class="line">Glory, glory, halleluia,</div>
+<div class="line">For the N.B.B.O.O.!"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">The rest joined in the singing with such goodwill that
+the noise brought in Chi from the barn.  When he was
+told the reason for the rejoicing, he looked thoughtful, then
+sober, then troubled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the matter, Chi?  Cheer up!  You have n't
+got to pick them," said March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T ain't that; but I hate to throw cold water on any
+such countin'-your-chickens-'fore-they 're-hatched business,"
+said Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T is n't chickens; it's preserves, Chi," laughed Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that, too," said Chi, gravely.  "But suppose you
+do a little figuring on the hind-side of the blackboard."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What <em class="italics">do</em> you mean, Chi?" asked Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I 'll figure, 'n' see what you think about it.
+Seventeen dozen times four, how much, March?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Eight hundred and sixteen."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hm! eight hundred and sixteen glass jars at twelve
+and a half cents apiece--let me see: eight into eight
+once; eight into one no times 'n' one over.  There now,
+your jars 'll cost you just one hundred and two dollars."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a universal groan.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'N' that ain't all.  Sugar 's up to six cents a pound,
+'n' to keep preserves as they ought to be kept takes about
+a pound to a quart.  Hm, eight hundred 'n' sixteen pounds
+of sugar at six cents a pound--move up my point 'n'
+multiply by six--forty-eight dollars 'n' ninety-six cents; added
+to the other--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't, Chi!" groaned one and all.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It spoils everything," said Rose, actually ready to cry
+with disappointment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Molly Stark, you 've got to look forwards and
+backwards before you <em class="italics">promise</em> to do things," said Chi,
+serenely; and Rose, hearing the Molly Stark, knew just
+what Chi meant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She went straight up to him, and, laying both hands on
+his shoulders, looked up smiling into his face.  "I 'll be
+brave, Chi; we 'll make it work somehow," she said gently;
+and Chi was not ashamed to take one of the little hands
+and rub it softly against his unshaven cheek.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's my Rose-pose," he said.  "Now, don't let's
+cross the bridges till we get to them; let's wait till we
+hear from New York."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">They had not long to wait.  The next day's mail brought
+three letters,--from Mrs. Heath, Mr. Clyde, and Jack.
+Hazel could not read them fast enough to suit her audience.
+There was an order from Mrs. Heath for two dozen of each
+kind, and the assurance that she would ask her friends, but
+she would like her order filled first.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde wrote that he was coming up very soon and
+would advance Hazel's quarterly allowance; at which
+Hazel cried, "Oh-ee!" and hugged first herself, then
+Mrs. Blossom, but said not a word.  She wanted to surprise
+them with the glass jars and the sugar.  Her father had
+enclosed five dollars with which to pay Chi, and he and
+Hazel were closeted for full a quarter of an hour in the
+pantry, discussing ways and means.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack wrote enthusiastically of the preserves and chickens,
+and, like Hazel, added a postscript as follows:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't forget you said you would write down for me
+the song about Love that Miss Blossom sings when she is
+kneading bread.  Miss Seaton is just now visiting in
+Boston.  I 'm to play in a polo match out at the Longmeadow
+grounds next week, and she stays for that."  This,
+likewise, Hazel kept to herself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Meanwhile, the strawberry blossoms were starring the
+pastures, but only here and there a tiny green button
+showed itself.  It was a discouraging outlook for the other
+Blossoms to wait five long weeks before they could begin
+to earn money; and the thought of the chickens, especially
+the prize chicken, proved a source of comfort as well as
+speculation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the twenty-first day after setting the hens drew near,
+the excitement of the race was felt to be increasing.  Hazel
+had tied a narrow strip of blue flannel about the right
+leg of each of her twelve hens, that there might be no
+mistake; and the others had followed her example, March
+choosing yellow; Cherry, white; Rose, red; and Budd,
+green.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The barn was near the house, only a grass-plat with one
+big elm in the centre separated it from the end of the
+woodshed.  As Chi said, the hens were sitting all around
+everywhere; on the nearly empty hay-mow there were
+some twenty-five, and the rest were in vacant stalls and
+feed-boxes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a warm night in early June.  Hazel was thinking
+over many things as she lay wakeful in her wee bedroom.
+To-morrow was the day; somebody would get the prize
+chicken.  Hazel hoped she might be the winner.  Then
+she recalled something Chi had said about hens being
+curious creatures, set in their ways, and never doing
+anything just as they were expected to do it, and that there
+was n't any time-table by which chickens could be hatched
+to the minute.  What if one were to come out to-night!
+The more she thought, the more she longed to assure
+herself of the condition of things in the barn.  She tossed
+and turned, but could not settle to sleep.  At last she
+rose softly; the great clock in the long-room had just
+struck eleven.  She looked out of her one window and
+into the face of a moon that for a moment blinded her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then she quietly put on her white bath-robe, and,
+taking her shoes in her hand, stepped noiselessly out into
+the kitchen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was not a sound in the house except the ticking
+of the clock.  Softly she crept to the woodshed door and
+slipped out.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, who had the ears of an Indian, heard the soft
+"crush, crush," of the bark and chips underneath his room.
+He rose noiselessly, drew on his trousers, and slipped his
+suspenders over his shoulders, took his rifle from the rack,
+and crept stealthily as an Apache down the stairs.  Chi
+thought he was on the track of an enormous woodchuck
+that had baffled all his efforts to trap, shoot, and decoy
+him, as well as his attempts to smoke and drown him out.
+But nothing was moving in or about the shed.  He stepped
+outside, puzzled as to the noise he had heard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By George Washin'ton!" he exclaimed under his
+breath, "what's up now?" for he had caught sight of a
+little figure in white fairly scooting over the grass-plat
+under the elm towards the barn.  In a moment she
+disappeared in the opening, for on warm nights the great
+doors were not shut.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess I 'd better get out of the way; 't would scare
+her to death to see a man 'n' a gun at this time of night.
+It's that prize chicken, I 'll bet."  And Chi chuckled to
+himself.  Then he tiptoed as far as the barn door, looked
+in cautiously, and, seeing no one, but hearing a creak
+overhead, he slipped into a stall and crouched behind a pile of
+grass he had cut that afternoon for the cattle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He heard the feet go "pat, pat, pat," overhead.  He
+knew by the sound that Hazel was examining the nests.
+Then another noise--Cherry's familiar giggle--fell upon
+his ear.  He looked out cautiously from behind the grass.
+Sure enough; there were the twins, robed in sheets and
+barefooted.  Snickering and giggling, they made for the
+ladder leading to the loft.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The Old Harry 's to pay to-night," said Chi, grimly, to
+himself.  "When those two get together on a spree, things
+generally hum!  I 'd better stay where I 'm needed most."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel, too, had caught the sound of the giggle and
+snicker, and recognized it at once.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Goodness!" she thought, "if they should see me,
+'t would frighten Cherry into fits, she 's so nervous.  I 'd
+better hide while they 're here.  They 've come to see
+about that chicken, just as I have!"  Hazel had all she
+could do to keep from laughing out loud.  She lay down
+upon a large pile of hay and drew it all over her.  "They
+can't see me now, and I can watch them," she thought,
+with a good deal of satisfaction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Surely the proceedings were worth watching.  The
+moonlight flooded the flooring of the loft, and every detail
+could be plainly seen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nobody can hear us here if we do talk," said Budd.
+"You 'll have to hoist them up first, to see if there are
+any chickens, and be sure and look at the rag on the
+legs; when you come to a green one, it's mine, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Budd!  I can't hoist them," said Cherry, in a
+distressed voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They do act kinder queer," replied Budd, who was
+trying to lift a sleeping hen off her nest, to which she
+seemed glued.  "I 'll tell you what's better than that;
+just put your ear down and listen, and if you hear a
+'peep-peep,' it's a chicken."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cherry, the obedient slave of Budd, crawled about over
+the flooring on her hands and knees, listening first at one
+nest, then at another, for the expected "peep-peep."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't hear anything," said Cherry, in an aggrieved
+tone, "but the old hens guggling when I poke under
+them.  Oh! but here 's a green rag sticking out, Budd."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And a speckled hen?" said Budd, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that's the one I 've been looking for; it's dark
+over here in this corner.  Lemme see."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd put both hands under the hen and lifted her
+gently.  "Ak--ok--ork--ach," gasped the hen, as
+Budd took her firmly around the throat; but she was
+too sleepy to care much what became of her, and so hung
+limp and silent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll hold the hen, Cherry, and you take up those eggs
+one at a time and hold them to my ear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What for?" said Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now don't be a loony, but do as I tell you," said Budd,
+impatiently.  Cherry did as she was bidden; Budd listened
+intently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By cracky! there 's one!" he exclaimed.  "Here,
+help me set this hen back again, and keep that one out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What for?" queried Cherry, forgetting her former lesson.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you ninny!--here, listen, will you?"  Budd put
+the egg to her ear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that's a chicken peeping inside.  I can <em class="italics">hear</em>
+him," said Cherry, in an awed voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and I 'm going to let him out," said Budd,
+triumphantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But then you'll have the prize chicken, Budd,"
+said Cherry, rather dubiously, for she had wanted it
+herself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course, you goosey, what do you suppose I came
+out here for?" demanded Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, Budd, will it be fair?" said Cherry, timidly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fair!" muttered Budd; "it's fair enough if it's out
+first.  It's their own fault if they don't know enough to
+get ahead of us."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you think it all out yourself, Budd?" queried
+Cherry, admiringly, watching Budd's proceeding with
+wide-open eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yup," said Budd, shortly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were not far from Hazel's hiding-place, and, by
+raising her head a few inches, she could see the whole
+process.</p>
+<p class="pnext">First Budd listened intently at one end of the egg, then
+at the other.  He drew out a large pin from his pajamas
+and began very carefully to pick the shell.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, gracious, Budd! what are you doing?" cried Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you see," said Budd, a little crossly, for his
+conscience was not wholly at ease.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He picked and picked, and finally made an opening.  He
+examined it carefully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, thunder!" he exclaimed under his breath, "I 've
+picked the wrong end."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What do you mean?" persisted Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wanted to open the 'peep-peep' end first, so he could
+breathe," replied Budd, intent upon his work.  Cherry
+watched breathlessly.  At last the other end was opened,
+and Budd began to detach the shell from something which
+might have been a worm, a fish, a pollywog, or a baby white
+mouse, for all it looked like a chicken.  It lay in Budd's
+hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Budd, you 've killed it!" cried Cherry, beginning
+to sniff.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shut up, Cherry Blossom, or I'll leave you," threatened
+Budd.  Just then the moon was obscured by a passing
+cloud, and the loft became suddenly dark and shadowy.
+Cherry screamed under her breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Budd, don't leave me; I can't see you!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a soft rapid stride over the flooring; and
+before Budd well knew what had happened, he was seized
+by the binding of his pajamas, lifted, and shaken with such
+vigor that his teeth struck together and he felt the jar in
+the top of his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the form loomed so unexpectedly before her, Cherry
+screamed with fright.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll teach you to play a business trick like this on us,
+you mean sneaking little rascal!" roared March.  "Do
+you think I did n't see you creeping out of the room along
+the side of my bed on all fours?  You did n't dare to
+walk out like a man, and I might have known you were
+up to no good!"  Another shake followed that for a
+moment dazed Budd.  Then, as he felt the flooring
+beneath his feet, he turned in a towering passion of guilt
+and rage on March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're a darned sneak yourself," he howled rather
+than cried.  "Take that for your trouble!"  Raising his
+doubled fist, he aimed a quick, hard blow at March's
+stomach.  But, somehow, before it struck, one strong
+hand--not March's--held his as in a vice, and another,
+stronger, hoisted him by the waist-band of his pajamas
+and held him, squirming and howling, suspended for a
+moment; then he felt himself tossed somewhere.  He fell
+upon the hay under which Hazel had taken refuge, and
+landed upon her with almost force enough to knock the
+breath from her body.  Cherry, meanwhile, had not ceased
+screaming under her breath, and, as Budd descended so
+unexpectedly upon Hazel, a great groan and a sharp wail
+came forth from the hay, to the mortal terror of all but
+Chi, who grew white at the thought of what might have
+happened to his Lady-bird, and, unintentionally, through
+him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That awful groan proved too much for the children.
+Gathering themselves together in less time than it takes
+to tell it, they fled as well as they could in the
+dark,--down the ladder, out through the barn, over the
+grass-plat, into the house, and dove into bed, trembling in every
+limb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What on earth is the matter, children?" said Mrs. Blossom,
+appearing at the foot of the stairs.  "Did one
+of you fall out of bed?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd's head was under the bedclothes, his teeth chattering
+through fear; likewise Cherry.  March assumed as
+firm a tone as he could.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Budd had a sort of nightmare, mother, but he 's all
+right now."  March felt sick at the deception.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, settle down now and go to sleep; it's just
+twelve."  And Mrs. Blossom went back into the bedroom
+where Mr. Blossom was still soundly sleeping.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Meanwhile, Chi was testing Hazel to see that no harm
+had been done.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I 'm all right," said Hazel, rather breathlessly.
+"But it really knocked the breath out of my body."  She
+laughed.  "I never thought of your catching up Budd
+that way and plumping him down on top of me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess my wits had gone wool-gatherin', when I never
+thought of your hidin' there," said Chi, recovering from
+his fright.  "But that boy made me so pesky mad, tryin'
+to play such a game on all of us, that I kind of lost my
+temper 'n' did n't see straight.  Well--" he heaved a
+sigh of relief, "he 's got his come-uppance!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where do you suppose that poor little chicken is?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 'll look him up; the moon 's comin' out again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There, close by the nest, lay the queer something on the
+floor.  "I 'll tuck it in right under the old hen's breast,
+'n' then, if there 's any life in it, it 'll come to by mornin'."  He
+examined it closely.  "I 'll come out 'n' see.  Come,
+we 'd better be gettin' in 'fore 't is dark again--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He put the poor mite of a would-be chicken carefully
+under the old hen, where it was warm and downy, and as
+he did so, he caught sight of the rag hanging over the
+edge of the nest.  He looked at it closely; then slapping
+his thigh, he burst into a roar of laughter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it, Chi?" said Hazel, laughing, too, at Chi's
+mirth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look here, Lady-bird! you 've got the Prize Chicken,
+after all.  That boy could n't tell green from blue in the
+moonlight, 'n' he 's hatched out one of yours.  By George
+Washin'ton! that's a good one,--serves him right," he
+said, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The chicken lived, but never seemed to belong to any
+one in particular; and as Chi said solemnly the next
+morning, "The less said on this Mountain about prize
+chickens, the better it 'll be for us all."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="an-unexpected-meeting">X</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">AN UNEXPECTED MEETING</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was a busy summer in and about the farmhouse on
+Mount Hunger.  What with tending the chickens--there
+were four hundred and two in all--and strawberry-picking
+and preserving, and in due season a repetition of the
+process with raspberries and blackberries, the days seemed
+hardly long enough to accomplish all the young people
+had planned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde came up for two days in June, and upon his
+return told Doctor Heath that he, too, felt as if he needed
+that kind of a cure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel was the picture of health and fast becoming what
+Chi had predicted, "an A Number 1" beauty.  Her dark
+eyes sparkled with the joy of life; on her rounded cheeks
+there was the red of the rose; the skull-cap had been
+discarded, and a fine crop of soft, silky rings of dark brown
+hair had taken its place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never, no, never, have I had such good times," she
+wrote to her Cousin Jack at Newport.  "We eat on the
+porch, and make believe camp out in the woods, and we
+ride on Bess and Bob all over the Mountain.  We've
+about finished the preserves and jams, and Rose has only
+burnt herself twice.  The chickens, Chi says, are going to
+be prime ones; it 's awfully funny to see them come flying
+and hopping and running towards us the minute they see
+us--March says it's the 'Charge of the Light Brigade.'</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you could be up here and have some of the fun,--but
+I 'm afraid you 're too old.  I enclose the song
+Rose sings which you asked me for.  I don't understand
+it, but it's perfectly beautiful when she sings it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel had asked Rose for the words of the song, telling
+her that her Cousin Jack at Harvard would like to have
+them.  Rose looked surprised for a moment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What can he want of them?" she asked in a rather
+dignified manner; and Hazel, thinking she was giving
+the explanation the most reasonable as well as agreeable,
+replied:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know for sure, but I think--you won't tell,
+will you, Rose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course I won't.  I don't even know your cousin, to
+begin with."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think he is going to be engaged, or is, to Miss Seaton
+of New York.  All his friends think she is awfully pretty,
+and papa says she is fascinating.  I think Jack wanted
+them to give to her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh," said Rose, in a cool voice with a circumflex
+inflection, then added in a decidedly toploftical tone,
+"I've no objection to his making use of them.  I 'll copy
+them for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Rose," said Hazel, rather puzzled and a
+little hurt at Rose's new manner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This conversation took place the first week in August,
+and the verses were duly forwarded to Jack, who read them
+over twice, and then, thrusting them into his breast-pocket,
+went over to the Casino, whistling softly to himself on the
+way.  There, meeting his chum and some other friends, he
+proposed a riding-trip through the Green Mountain region
+for the latter part of August.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The Colonel and his wife will go with us, I 'm sure,
+and any of the girls who can ride well will jump at the
+chance," said his chum.  "It's a novelty after so much
+coaching."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll go over and see Miss Seaton about it," said Jack,
+and walked off singing to himself,--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'--the stars above</div>
+<div class="line">Shine ever on Love'--"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">His friend turned to the others.  "That's a go; I 've
+never seen Sherrill so hard hit before."  Then he fell to
+discussing the new plan with the rest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack was wily enough, as he laid the plan before Maude
+Seaton, to attempt to kill two birds with one stone.  He
+had had a desire, ever since the first letter of Hazel's, to
+see his little cousin in her new surroundings, and this
+desire was immeasurably strengthened by his curiosity to
+see a girl who sang Barry Cornwall's love-lyrics on Mount
+Hunger.  Consequently, in planning the high-roads to be
+followed through the Green Mountains, he had not omitted
+to include Barton's River, as it boasted a good inn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here 's Woodstock,--just here," he explained to pretty
+Maude Seaton, as they sat on the broad morning-porch of
+the palatial Newport cottage, with a map of Vermont on
+the table between them.  "We can stop there a day or
+two, and make our next stop at Barton's River; I 've
+heard it's a beautiful place, with glorious mountain rides
+within easy distance.  Suppose we arrange to stop three
+or four days there and take it all in?  I 've been told
+it's the finest river-valley in New England."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, do let's!  The whole thing is going to be delightful.
+I 'm so tired of coaching; I believe nobody enjoys it
+now, unless it's the one who holds the reins, and then all
+the others are bored.  But with fine horses this will be no
+end of fun.  We can send on our trunks ahead, can't we?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, yes, that's easily arranged.  By the way, what
+horse will you take?  Remember," he said, looking her
+squarely in the eyes with a flattering concern, "it's a
+mountain country, and we can't afford to have anything
+happen to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No danger for me," laughed Maude, meeting his look
+as squarely.  "And I can't worry about you after seeing
+the polo game you played yesterday," she added with
+frank admiration.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was a good one, was n't it?" said Jack, his eyes
+kindling at the remembrance.  "It was my mascot did the
+business--see?"  He put his hand in his breast-pocket,
+expecting to draw forth a ribbon bow of Maude's that she
+had given him for "colors;" but, to his amazement, and
+to Miss Seaton's private chagrin, he drew forth only the
+slip of paper with Barry Cornwall's love-song in Rose
+Blossom's handwriting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Where the dickens was that bow?  Jack felt the absurdity
+of hunting in all his pockets for something he had
+intended should express one phase, at least, of his
+sentiments.  He felt the blood mounting to the roots of his
+hair, and, laughing, put a bold face on it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He held out the slip of paper.  "It looks innocent,
+doesn't it?" he said mischievously, and enjoyed to the
+full Maude's look of discomfiture, which, only for a second,
+she could not help showing.  "She 'll know now how a
+fellow feels when he has sent her flowers and sees her
+wearing another man's offering," he thought.  He turned
+to the map again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, what horse will you ride?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll take Old Jo; he 's safe, and splendid for fences.
+Of course you 'll take Little Shaver?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, he and I don't part company very often.  So it's
+settled, is it?" he asked, feeling cooler than he did.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So far as I am concerned, it is; and I know the Colonel
+and Mrs. Fenlick will go; it's just the thing they like."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I 'll leave you to speak to the other girls, and
+I 'll go over and see Mrs. Fenlick.  Good-bye."  He held
+out his hand, but Miss Seaton chose to be looking down
+the avenue at that moment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, there are the Graysons beckoning to me!" she
+exclaimed eagerly.  "Excuse me, and good-bye--I must
+run down to see them."  As she walked swiftly and gracefully
+over the lawn, she knew Jack Sherrill was watching
+her.  "Yes, it's settled," she thought, as she hurried on;
+"and something else is settled, too, Mr. Sherrill!  You 've
+been hanging fire long enough--and the idea of his
+forgetting that bow!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Graysons thought they had never seen Maude
+Seaton quite so pretty as she was that morning, when she
+stood chatting and laughing with all in general, and
+fascinating each in particular.  The result was, the Graysons
+joined the riding-party in a body, and Sam Grayson vowed
+he would cut Jack Sherrill out if he had to fight for it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a glorious first of September when the riding-party,
+ten in number, cantered up to the inn at Barton's
+River, and it was a merry group in fresh toilets that
+gathered after dinner and a rest of an hour or two in their rooms,
+on the long, narrow, vine-covered veranda of the inn.  It
+had been a warm day, and the afternoon shadows were
+gratefully cooling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Will you look at that load coming down the street?"
+said Mrs. Fenlick.  "I never saw anything so funny!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The whole party burst out laughing, as the vehicle, an
+old apple-green cart, apparently filled with bobbing calico
+sunbonnets and straw hats, shackled and rattled up to the
+side door of the inn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I shall call them the Antediluvians," laughed Maude
+Seaton.  "Do you know where they come from?" she
+said, speaking in at the open office-window to the boy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I guess they come to sell berries from a place the
+folks round here call 'The Lost Nation,'" he replied,
+grinning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'The Lost Nation!' Do you hear that?" said Sam
+Grayson.  "Let's have a nearer view of the natives."  They
+all went to the end of the veranda nearest the cart.  Sam
+Grayson and Jack went out to investigate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Two boys in faded blue overalls and almost brimless
+straw hats jumped down before the wagon stopped, and
+began lifting out six-quart pails of shining blackberries
+from beneath an old buffalo robe.  Jack, with his hands
+in his pockets, sauntered up to the tail of the cart.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Buy them all, do--do!" cried Miss Seaton, clapping
+her hands.  "We need them to-morrow for our picnic;
+and pay a good price," she added, "for the sake of the
+looks.  I wouldn't have missed it for anything?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you sell them?" said Jack to the tall boy
+who stood with his back to him, busied with the berries.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The boy turned at the sound of the pleasant voice, and
+lifted his brimless hat by the crown with an air a Harvard
+freshman might have envied.  Jack, seeing it, was sorry he
+was bareheaded, for he hated to be outdone in such courtesy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ten cents a quart, sir."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What a handsome fellow!" whispered Mrs. Fenlick.
+"You rarely see such a face; and where did he get such
+manners?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How many quarts have--halloo, Little Sunbonnet!
+Look out!" said Jack, laughing, as he caught the owner
+of the yellow sunbonnet, who, perched on the side of the
+wagon, suddenly lost her balance because of Bess's uneasy
+movements in fly-time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you are an armful," he laughed as he set her
+down and tried in vain to peer up under the drooping
+bonnet and discover a face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whoa--ah, Bess!" shouted the driver, as Bess reared
+and snorted and shuddered and finally rid herself of the
+tormenting horse-fly.  "All right, Cherry Bounce?" he
+said, turning at last when the horse was quieted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Cherry was dumb with embarrassment, and Jack
+answered for her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Little Sunbonnet's all safe, but what--"  He got no
+further with that sentence.  To the amazement of the
+group on the veranda and Jack's overwhelming astonishment,
+a wild, gleeful "Oh-ee!" issued from the depths
+of another sunbonnet in the cart, and the owner thereof
+precipitated herself recklessly over the side, and cast
+herself upon Jack's neck, hugging and "oh-eeing" with all
+her might.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Hazel!  Hazel!"  Except for that, Jack was
+dumb like Cherry, but not with embarrassment.  Was
+this Hazel?  Her sunbonnet had fallen off, and the dark
+blue gingham dress set off the wonderful richness of
+coloring that helped to make Hazel what she had become, "a
+perfect beauty."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Jack, you old darling, why did n't you let us know
+you were coming?  Chi, Chi!"  Hazel was fairly wild
+with joy at seeing a dearly loved home-face.  "This is my
+Cousin Jack we 've talked about.  Jack, this is my friend,
+Chi."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi put out his horny brown hand, and Jack grasped it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess she 's givin' you away pretty smart, ain't she?"
+said Chi, with a twist of his mouth and a motion of his
+thumb backwards to the veranda.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, rather," said Jack, laughing, for he felt that
+Chi's keen eyes had taken in the whole situation at a
+glance.  "I meant to surprise her, but she has succeeded
+in surprising me."  He stood with his arm about Hazel.
+"And these are your friends, Hazel?" he inquired; he felt
+he must make the best of it now.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Jack, I 'm ashamed of myself; I 'm so glad to see
+you I 've forgotten my manners.  Rose," she spoke up to
+the other sunbonnet that had kept its position straight
+towards the horse and never moved during this surprise
+party.  Then Rose turned.  "Rose, this is Cousin Jack."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The sunbonnet bowed stiffly, and Jack heard a low laugh
+behind him.  It was Maude Seaton's.  Rose heard it, too;
+so did Chi and March.  It affected each in the same way.
+As Chi said afterwards, he "b'iled" when he heard it.
+Then Rose spoke:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm very glad to see you, Mr. Sherrill, we 've heard
+so much of you."  Her voice rang sweet and clear; every
+word was heard on the veranda.  "And these berries
+are n't to be preserved; but evidently you are going to
+buy them just the same,--as well as your friends," she
+added, looking towards the veranda.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack bit his lip.  "I should like to introduce all my
+friends to you," he said, without much enthusiasm,
+however.  "I know this is March;" he turned pleasantly to
+him, but dared not offer his hand, for the look on the
+boy's face warned him that March had resented the laugh.
+"Will you come?"  He held up his hand to Rose to help
+her down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you."  Rose sprang down, ignoring the proffered help.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She knew just how she looked, and her face burned at
+the thought.  Her old green and white calico dress was
+shrunken and warped with many washings; her shoes
+were heavy and patched; fortunately her sunbonnet with
+its green calico cape was of a depth to hide her burning
+face.  But that laugh had been like a challenge to her
+pride.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Drive up to the front veranda, Chi," she commanded
+rather brusquely; and Chi, muttering to himself, "She's
+game, though; I would n't thought it of Rose-pose; but
+I glory in her spunk!" drew up to the front door in a
+truly rattling style.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Rose and Hazel were introduced to them all; but
+in vain did Maude Seaton try to get a look into her face.
+It was only a ceremony, and Rose felt it as such;
+nevertheless she said very pleasantly, "Hazel, wouldn't you
+like to invite your friends up to tea on the porch
+to-morrow? that is, if you are to be here?" she added,
+addressing Mrs. Fenlick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Rose, that would be lovely.  Then they can see
+the chickens!" said Hazel.  There was a general laugh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I fear it will be too much trouble, Miss Blossom," said
+Mrs. Fenlick, courteously, for she felt like apologizing for
+that laugh of Maude Seaton's; "there are so many of us."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, no, my mother will be glad to meet you," Rose
+replied with serene voice; "won't she, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure," said Chi, addressing the general assembly; "the
+more the merrier; 'n' if you come along about four, you 'll
+get a view you don't get round here, 'n' a wholesale piazzy
+to eat it on.  How many do you count up?"  Jack winced
+at the burst of merriment that followed the question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We'll line up, and you can count," said Sam Grayson,
+the fun getting the better of him.  "Here, Miss Seaton,
+stand at the head."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Miss Blossom, there are ten of us; are you going to
+retract your invitation?" said Mrs. Fenlick, shaking her
+head at Sam.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not if you wish to come," said Rose, pleasantly.  "We
+will have tea at five.  Come, Hazel, we must be going:
+there are the berries to sell--or shall we leave you here
+with your cousin till we come back?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I won't leave you even for Jack," said Hazel,
+earnestly; "besides, I 've never had the fun of selling
+berries."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm thinkin' you 've lost your fun, anyway," said Chi,
+"for Budd says the tavern-keeper has taken all; guess
+<em class="italics">he 's</em> goin' into the jam business, too."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll pick some more, then, to-morrow, and you 'll have
+to buy some of them, Jack," said Hazel, "for I 'm bound
+to sell some berries this summer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 'll take all you can pick, Hazel," said Maude
+Seaton, sweetly.  Then, as the cart rattled away with
+the three sunbonnets held rigid and erect, she turned to
+Mrs. Fenlick and the other girls: "What an idea that
+was of Doctor Heath's to put Hazel away up here in such
+a family--a girl in her position!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She seems to have thriven wonderfully on it," remarked
+Mrs. Fenlick; "she will be the prettiest of her set
+when they come out.  I am delighted to have a chance to
+see Doctor Heath's mountain sanatorium."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I 'm sure it will be amusing," replied Maude, dryly.
+Then she shook out her light draperies, pulled down her
+belt, and went down the road a bit to meet Jack and Sam
+Grayson, who had accompanied the cart for a few rods
+along the village street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When they had turned back to the inn, the storm in
+the apple-green cart burst forth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you hear that girl laugh?" demanded March, with
+suppressed wrath in his voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just as plain as I hear that crow caw," said Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't bear her," said Hazel; "telling me she would
+buy my berries when I only meant Jack."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kinder sweet on him, ain't she?" asked Chi, carelessly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should think so!" was Hazel's indignant answer.
+"I heard Aunt Carrie tell papa she was always sending
+him invitations to everything.  But is n't Cousin Jack
+splendid, Rose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose's sunbonnet was still very rigid, and Chi knew
+that sign; so he spoke up promptly, knowing that she did
+not care to answer just then:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He 's about as handsome as they make 'em, Lady-bird;
+if he wears well, I sha'n't have nothin' against him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel felt rather depressed without knowing exactly
+why.  March returned to the charge.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you hear that laugh, Rose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I did," said Rose, shortly.  March looked at her
+in surprise, but Chi managed to give him a nudge, which
+March understood, and the subject was dropped on the
+homeward way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That the berry-sellers were under a cloud was evident
+to Mrs. Blossom as soon as they drove up to the woodshed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you have good luck, children?" she called to
+them cheerily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 've sold all our berries," said Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But March and Rose are cross, Martie," added Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tired 'n' hungry, too, Mis' Blossom," Chi hastened to
+say, trying to shield Hazel and the other two.  "I wish
+you 'd just step out to the barn with a spoonful of your
+good lard.  Bess has rubbed her shin a little mite, 'n' I
+want to grease it good to save the hair."  Mrs. Blossom,
+reading his face, took the hint.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He made his confession in the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know what we 've done, Mis' Blossom; but
+Rose has invited 'em all up here to-morrow to supper,--they 're
+regular high-flyers, girls 'n' fellers, 'n' the Colonel
+and his wife.  There 's ten of 'em; 'n' it's a-goin' to make
+you an awful sight of work, but, by George Washin'ton! that
+pesky girl--Miss Seaver, or somethin' like it--riled
+me so, that I ain't got over it yet, 'n' I 'd backed up
+Rose if she 'd offered to take the whole of 'em to board
+for a week.  I just b'iled when I heard her laugh, 'n' she
+can't hold a candle to our Rose; 'n' she's that
+sassy--although you can't put your finger on anything
+special--that you can't sass back; the worst kind every time; 'n'
+she 's set her cap for the straightest sort of chap--that's
+Hazel's cousin--there is goin', 'n', by George Washin'ton!
+I 'm afraid he 's fool enough to catch at that bait.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There!" said Chi, stopping to draw breath, "I 've had
+my blow-out 'n' I feel better.  Now, what are we goin' to
+do about it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 'll manage it, Chi," said Mrs. Blossom, smiling in
+spite of herself at Chi's wrath.  "After all, the children
+have been carefully guarded in our home up here, and,
+sometimes, I think too much,--it won't hurt them to take
+a prick now and then.  Besides, Chi," she added, laughing
+outright as she turned to go into the house, "the children
+did look perfectly ridiculous in those old berry-picking
+rigs.  I laughed myself when I saw you drive off with
+them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But she left Chi grumbling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That night, after the children were in bed, and
+Mrs. Blossom was sure they were all asleep except Rose, she
+went upstairs a second time and spoke softly at the door:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Martie; oh, you 're coming!  I 'm so glad."  And
+as Mrs. Blossom knelt by the bed, whispering, "Now tell
+me all about it," Rose threw one arm over her mother's
+shoulder and whispered her confession.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They were n't rude to you, dear, were they?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Martie," whispered Rose, "it was n't that, but I
+just <em class="italics">hated</em> them far a minute,--Hazel's cousin and all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That is n't like you, Rose dear, to hate anyone without
+reason."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Martie, I 'm ashamed to tell you--" the arm came
+close about her mother's neck, "I 'm too old to have such
+feelings, but I could n't bear them because I looked as I
+did.  I was ashamed of my looks and the children's; and
+I was ashamed even of Chi--dear, old Chi!--" there
+was a smothered sob and an effort to go on.  "And they
+were all dressed so beautifully, and Hazel's cousin had on
+a lovely white flannel suit, and I was just a little rude to
+him; but it was nothing but my dreadful pride!  I did n't
+know I had it till to-day,--oh, dear!"  The head went
+under the counterpane to smother the sound of the sobs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, my dear little girl--" (When Rose cried, which
+was seldom, Mrs. Blossom called her daughter who was as
+tall as herself, "little girl," and nothing comforted Rose
+more than that.)  So now, hearing the loving words, the
+head emerged from the bedclothes, and a tear-wet face was
+meekly held over the side of the bed for a kiss.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, my dear little girl," Mrs. Blossom went on after
+the interruption, "surely you were courteous and thoughtful
+of Hazel's happiness, at least, to ask them all up here
+to tea.  You have n't that to regret."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a fresh burst, smothered quickly under the
+sheet.  "Oh, Martie, that's the worst part of it!  I did n't
+ask them for Hazel's sake, but just for myself, because I
+knew--I knew--"  Rose smothered the rising sob; "that
+if they came, I could have on my one pretty dress, and
+they 'd see that I--that I--"  Rose was unable to finish.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Could look as well as they did?" said Mrs. Blossom,
+completing the sentence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," sighed Rose, "and I feel like a perfect hypocrite
+towards every one of them;--and, oh, Martie! the truth
+is, I was ashamed of being poor and selling berries--"
+again the head went under the coverlet, and Mrs. Blossom
+caught only broken phrases:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am so proud of--of you and Popsey--poor Chi
+made it worse--they laughed--March was mad, too,--and
+Miss Seaton 's so pretty--clothes--Hazel's cousin
+tried to be polite--Hazel--just her dear own self--but
+she 's rich--and Cherry f-fell into his arms--and I
+know--and I know--I know he wanted to be out of the
+whole thing--oh dear!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom patted the bunch under the clothes whence
+came the smothered, broken sentences, and smiled while a
+tear rolled down her cheek.  After all, this was real grief,
+and she wished she might have shielded her Rose from
+just this kind of contact with the world.  But she was
+wise enough not to say so.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Rose dear, let's look on the other side now the
+invitation has been given.  I, for my part, shall be glad
+to see what they are like.  I know you looked queer in
+those old clothes, but, after all, would n't it have been just
+as queer to have been all dressed up selling berries?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I think it would, Martie," said Rose, emerging
+from her retreat.  "I 'm not such a goose as not to realize
+we must have looked perfectly comical."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, now comfort yourself with the thought, that
+to-morrow you need only look just as nice as you can in
+honor of our guests.  I 'm sure I shall," said Mrs. Blossom,
+laughing softly.  "I 'm not going to be outdone by
+all those 'high-flyers,' as dear, old Chi calls them.  We 'll
+put on our prettiest--and there is n't much choice, you
+know, for we have just one apiece--and we 'll set the
+table with grandmother's old china out on the porch, and
+we 'll give them of our best, and queens, Rose-pose, can
+do no more.  That's <em class="italics">our</em> duty; we'll let the others look
+out for theirs.  Now, what will be nice for tea?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not preserves, Martie, for Chi said--"  Her mother
+interrupted her,--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never mind what Chi said now, dear, but plan for the
+tea.  We shall have to work as hard as we can jump
+to-morrow forenoon to get ready.  I 'm sorry father can't
+be at home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Could n't we have blackberries and those late garden
+raspberries Chi has been saving?" said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, those will look pretty and taste good; and then
+hot rolls, and fresh sponge and plum cake, and tea, and
+cold chicken moulded in its jelly, the way we tried it last
+month--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that will be lovely, Martie," whispered Rose,
+eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And if Chi and March have the time," went on Mrs. Blossom,
+entering heart and soul into the hospitable plan,
+"I 'll ask them to go trout-fishing and bring us home two
+strings of the speckled beauties, and if those served hot
+don't make them respect old clothes--then nothing on
+earth will," concluded Mrs. Blossom, with mock solemnity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Martie Blossom, you're an angel!" cried Rose,
+softly, rising in bed and throwing both arms about her
+mother's neck--"there!"--a squeeze, "and there--" another
+squeeze and a kiss, "and now you won't have to
+complain of me to-morrow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's mother's own daughter Rose," said Mrs. Blossom,
+smoothing the sheet under the round chin.  "Now,
+good-night--sleep well, for I depend upon you to make
+those rolls to-morrow forenoon."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="jack">XI</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">JACK</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Jack Sherrill had always had a particularly warm
+interest in his Cousin Hazel.  He, too, was motherless.
+The fifteen-year-old lad had gone into one of the great
+preparatory schools with the terrible mother-want in his
+heart and life.  Like Hazel, he, too, was an only child,
+and consequently without the guidance and help of an
+elder brother or sister.  His father was all that a man,
+absorbed in large business interests, could be to the son
+whom he saw in vacation time only.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are born a gentleman, Jack," he had said to him
+when he was about to enter Harvard; "remember to
+conduct yourself as such.  You 'll not find it an easy
+matter at times--I did n't--but you will find it pays;
+and--and remember your mother."  Then Mr. Sherrill
+had wrung his boy's hand, and hurried away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was the only time in the three years since she had
+been lost to him, that his father had borne to mention the
+lad's mother to him.  To Jack it was like a last will and
+testament, and he wrote it not only in his memory, but on
+his heart.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had tried, yes, honestly, amid the manifold temptations
+of his life and his "set," to live up to a certain ideal
+of his own, but it had been slow work; and the last three
+months of his sophomore year had been far from
+satisfactory to himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was thinking this over as he rode slowly up the
+steep road to Mount Hunger.  He had come up that morning
+to call on Mrs. Blossom, for he knew that the social
+law of hospitality demanded that he should pay his
+respects to Rose Blossom's mother and Hazel's guardian
+before his friends should break bread in the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That tall girl in the sunbonnet was a disappointment--but
+then, he had been a fool to expect anything else just
+because she happened to sing one of Barry Cornwall's
+love-songs.  He rode out of the leafy woods'-road, and
+came unexpectedly upon the farmhouse.  Chi saw him
+from the barn, and came out to meet him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is Mrs. Blossom at home?" asked Jack, lifting his cap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi patted Little Shaver's neck, shining like polished
+mahogany.  "Yes, she 's home, 'n' she 'll be glad to see
+you.  You 'll find her right in the kitchen, 'n' I 'll tend to
+this little chap--what's his name?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Little Shaver, he 's my polo pony."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"George Washington!  He knows a thing or two.
+He most winked at me," laughed Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, he knows a stable when he sees it," said Jack,
+smiling; "but where 's the kitchen?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Right off the porch.--There 's Rose singing now;
+guess that 'll be as good a guide-post as you could have.
+Come along, Little Shaver,--a good name for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack went up on the porch, but stopped short at the
+open door.  Rose was at the kitchen table, patting out the
+dough for the rolls.  Her sleeves were turned up above
+the elbows, and the round, yet delicate, white arms and the
+pretty hands were working energetically with the rolling-pin.
+She was singing from pure lightheartedness, and
+she emphasized the rhythm by substantial thumps with
+the culinary utensil.</p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 60%" id="figure-39">
+<span id="rose-was-at-the-kitchen-table-patting-out-the-dough-for-the-rolls"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-118.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+"Rose was at the kitchen table, patting out the dough for the rolls"</div>
+<div class="legend">
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'I told thee when love was hopeless; (thump)</div>
+<div class="line">But now he is wild and sings--(thump)</div>
+<div class="line">That the stars above (thump! thump!!)</div>
+<div class="line">Shine ever on Love--(thump--)'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Jack knocked rather loudly, and Rose turned with a little
+"Oh!" and an attitude that made Jack long for a
+button-hole kodak.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come in, Mr. Sherrill," she said, cordially, but thinking
+to herself, "Caught again! well, I don't care."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope I have n't come too early this morning to be
+received," said Jack, extending his hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't shake, Mr. Sherrill," laughed Rose, "and if I
+stop to wash them, you won't have any rolls for tea."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do go on then," said Jack, eagerly, "only don't let me
+be a bother.  I was afraid it might be too early and
+inconvenience you, but--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not a bit," said Rose as she turned to the kneading-board
+again.  "If you don't mind, I 'm sure I don't; only
+these rolls must be attended to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're very good to let me stay and watch the process,"
+said Jack, humbly, deferentially taking his stand by
+the table.  "I hope I shall not interfere so much with
+Mrs. Blossom; I forgot that--that--"  Jack grew red and
+confused.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That we did our own work?"  Rose supplied the rest
+of his thought with such winning frankness, that Jack
+succumbed then and there to the delight of a novel
+experience.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll be out in a few minutes, Mr. Sherrill," called a
+cheery voice from the pantry behind him.  Jack
+started,--then laughed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Am I interrupting you, too, Mrs. Blossom?" he said,
+addressing a crack in the pantry door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't mean to let you, or you will have no sponge
+cakes for tea; I 'm beating eggs and can't leave them or
+they 'll go down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can't I help, Mrs. Blossom?  I 've no end of unused
+muscle," said Jack, entering into the fun of the situation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, thank you, I shall be but a few minutes.  Rose
+dear, just feel the oven, will you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack began to think himself a nonentity in all this
+domesticity.  "'Feel the oven,'" he said to himself.  "Do
+girls do that often, I wonder."  He watched Rose's every
+movement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, confess, Mr. Sherrill, have you ever seen anyone
+make biscuit before?" said Rose, cutting off a piece of
+dough, flouring it, patting it, cuddling it in both hands,
+folding it over with a little slap to hold a bit of butter, and
+tucking it into the large, shallow pan.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--"  Jack drew a long breath, "I never have.  You
+see I have always thought it a kind of drudgery, but
+this--"  Jack sought for a word that should express his
+feelings in regard to the process as performed by Rose--"this
+is, why--it's poetry!" he exclaimed with a flashing
+smile that became his expressive face wonderfully, and
+caused Rose to fail absolutely in making a shapely poem
+of the next roll.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She laughed merrily.  "There now, they 'll soon be
+done--in good shape too, if you don't compliment them
+too much."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll eat a dozen of them, I warn you now."  Jack was
+waxing dangerous, for he was already possessed with an
+insane desire to become a piece of dough for the sake of
+having those pretty hands pat him into shape.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you hear that, Martie?" cried Rose, flushing with
+pleasure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes.  That's the best compliment you can pay them,
+Mr. Sherrill.  I hope my cakes will fare as well," she said,
+coming from the pantry with extended hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was strange!  But when Jack Sherrill returned the
+cordial pressure of that same hand, small, shapely, but worn
+and hardened with toil, his eyes suddenly filled with tears.
+This, truly, was a home, with what makes the home--a
+mother in it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom saw the tears, the struggle for composure,
+and, knowing from Hazel he was motherless, read his
+thought;--then all her sweet motherhood came to the
+surface.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My dear boy," she said with quivering lip, "it is very
+thoughtful of you to come up and pioneer the way over the
+Mountain for all your city friends."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack found his voice.  "Mrs. Fenlick wanted to come,
+too, Mrs. Blossom, but I managed to put it so she thought
+it would be better to wait until afternoon.  They are all
+looking forward to it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm sorry Hazel is n't here; she is out picking berries
+with the children.  If Rose had n't so much to do, I 'd send
+her to hunt them up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack protested.  He had come to call on Mrs. Blossom
+and had detained them altogether too long.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to go," he said laughingly, "but I know
+I ought.  It seems almost an imposition for so many of us
+to come up here and put you to all this trouble.  Why did
+you ask us, Miss Blossom?"  At which question, Rose did
+not belie her name, for a sudden wave of color surged into
+her face, and she looked helplessly and appealingly at her
+mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 've put my foot into it now," was Jack's thought, as
+Mrs. Blossom responded quickly, "For more reasons than
+one, Mr. Sherrill."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were out on the porch; Chi was bringing up
+Little Shaver.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It will be a regular stampede this afternoon," said
+Jack, gayly, as he vaulted into the saddle.  "Have
+you room enough for so many horses?"  He turned
+to Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Plenty 'n' to spare, 'n' I 'm goin' to give 'em a piazzy
+tea of their own.  Little Shaver knows all about it: I 've
+told him.  I never saw but one horse before that could
+most talk, 'n' that's Fleet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Little Shaver whinnied, and with a downward thrust
+and twist of his head tried to get it under Chi's arm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did n't I tell you?" said Chi, delightedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can I get on to the main road by going over the
+Mountain?" Jack asked him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you can get over, if you ain't particular how you
+get," said Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No road?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kind of a trail;--over the pasture 'n' through the
+woods, an acre or two of brush, 'n' then some pretty steep
+slidin' down the other side, 'n' a dozen rods of swimmin',
+'n' a tough old clamber up the bank--'n' there you are on
+the river road as neat as a pin."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack laughed.  "Just what Little Shaver glories in;
+I 'll try it, and much obliged to you, Mr.--" he hesitated.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Call me, Chi."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi," said Jack, in such a tone of good comradeship
+that it brought the horny hand up to his in a second's time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack grasped it; "Good-bye till this afternoon."  He
+spoke to Little Shaver, who ducked his head and fairly
+scuttled across the mowing, scrambled up the pasture, took
+the three-rail fence at the top in a sort of double bow-knot
+of a jump, and then disappeared in the woods, leaving the
+three gazing after him in admiration.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That feller's got the right ring," said Chi, emphatically;
+"but if he had n't come up here this mornin', first
+thing, after that invite of Rose-pose's, I 'd have set him
+down alongside of that Miss Seaver--'n' a pretty low
+seat that would be!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll put up some lunch, Chi, for you and March, and,
+if you can find him, you would do well to start now for
+the trout."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom turned to Rose.  "Come, dear, we 've
+a hundred and one things to do to be ready in time.  You
+may set the table on the porch, and we 'll all picnic for
+dinner to-day; I 've no time to get a regular one, and
+father is n't at home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a perfect afternoon on that second of September.
+At a quarter of five Mrs. Blossom and Rose and Hazel
+were on the porch, looking down upon the lower road for
+the first glimpse of the party.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The table was set on the huge rough veranda that
+Mr. Blossom and Chi had built just off the kitchen long-room.
+Clematis and maiden-hair ferns, which abounded on the
+Mountain, were the decorations, and set off to good
+advantage Mrs. Blossom's mother's old-fashioned tea-set of
+delicate green and white china.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On one end was a large china bowl heaped with blackberries,
+on the other stood a common glass one filled with
+luscious, red raspberries.  The sponge cakes gleamed,
+appetizingly golden, from plates covered with grape-vine
+leaves for doilies.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The chicken quivered in its own jelly on a platter
+wreathed with clematis.  The delicious odor of fried trout
+floated out from the long-room, and the rolls were steaming
+hot in snow-white napkins.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, dear!" moaned Rose.  "Everything will get cold,
+it's so late."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then there was a shout from the advance-guard of
+the twins, and the cavalcade came into view; Jack on
+Little Shaver, who, after his thirty-mile morning ride, was
+as fresh as a pastured colt--riding beside Maude Seaton
+on Old Jo.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a general dismounting, assisted by Chi; a
+gathering and looping up of riding habits; a bit of general
+brushing down among the men; then, with one accord
+they turned to the broad step of the porch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fenlick, telling of it afterwards, said that, for a
+moment, she did nothing but look with all her eyes; for
+there on the porch step stood a woman still in the prime
+of life and beautiful.  She was dressed in an India mull of
+the fashion of a quarter of a century ago, with a lace
+kerchief folded in a V about the open neck, and fastened
+with an old-fashioned brooch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"At her side," said Mrs. Fenlick, "stood one of the
+loveliest girls off of canvas I have ever seen.  She had on
+a gown of old-fashioned lawn--pale blue with a rose-bud
+border.  She was tall and straight, and the skirt was a
+little skimpy, and so plain that had she designed it to set
+off the grace of her figure she could n't have succeeded
+better.  And the face and head!"  Mrs. Fenlick used to
+wax eloquent at this point--"were simply ideal.  Hazel,
+of course, looked as handsome as a picture in her full, dark
+blue frock of wash silk trimmed with Irish lace, and with
+that rich color in her cheeks--but that girl's face was
+simply divine!  Just imagine a complexion of pure white,
+and dark blue eyes--real violet color--black almost in
+her pretty excitement of welcoming us, and the loveliest
+golden brown hair just plaited and puffed a little at the
+temples, and a braid, that big--"  Mrs. Fenlick generally put
+her two delicate wrists together at this point,--"that fell
+below her waist fully half a yard!  I never saw such hair!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fenlick used to pause for breath at this point, and
+then add, "Well, the whole thing was too lovely to be
+described.  Of course, we ate--lots; for that ride and the
+air were enough to make a saint hungry in Lent, but I was
+only dimly conscious of ever so many good things I was
+eating, for that face fascinated me.  And manners!  Just
+as if those two women had had nothing to do all their
+lives but entertain royalty!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I had sense enough, however, to notice that Jack
+Sherrill said very little and ate a great deal.  I counted
+twelve rolls--of course they were small--for one thing;
+and I don't blame him,--I wanted more.  Well, the whole
+thing was perfect--the valley and the great mountains
+were just in front of the porch, and everything harmonized.
+Even that lovely girl had a bunch of purple-blue pansies
+at her belt and a few in the bit of cotton lace at her throat;
+and the sunset and the mountains matched them--as if
+she had had the whole thing made to order."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fenlick always ended with, "I 've got one bone
+to pick with that dear Doctor Heath--a mountain
+sanatorium!  I 'd be willing, almost, to get nervous
+prostration to be sent up there.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But oh! you should have seen Maude Seaton!"  And
+thereupon, Mrs. Fenlick would go off into a fit of laughter
+at the remembrance.  "She was looking about for the
+'rigid sunbonnet,' as she called it, of the day before, and
+did n't hear when Rose Blossom spoke to her; and when
+she did realize that the two were one and the same, her
+look was the kind 'Life' likes to get hold of, you know.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As for Jack Sherrill," Mrs. Fenlick concluded in her
+most serious manner, "I have my own thoughts about
+some things."  More than that she would not say, for
+fear it might get back to Maude Seaton's ears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack, too, had his own thoughts about some things--and
+kept them to himself.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="results">XII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">RESULTS</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was the middle of November.  A wild, cold wind
+was sweeping over the Mountain, and driving black clouds
+in quick succession across the tops of the woodlands.  It
+howled around the farmhouse and, as now and again a
+more furious blast hurled itself against doors and windows,
+the children drew nearer together on the rug before the
+huge fireplace with a delightful sense of safety and
+cosiness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A kettle of molasses was simmering on the stove, and
+Chi was wielding the corn-popper with truly professional
+skill before the open fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was such fun to see the hurry, and scurry, and hustle,
+and rattle, and pop, and sudden white transformation of
+the heated kernels!  A huge, wooden bowl received the
+contents of the popper, and March salted them.  Oh, how
+good it smelt!  And Rose was going to make molasses
+corn-balls to put aside for the next evening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's just like having a party every night, there
+are so many of us," said Hazel, clapping her hands in
+delight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should think you 'd miss some of your real parties,
+Hazel," said Rose, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Miss them!  Not a bit; why, they are n't half so nice
+as this, and at home it's so lonesome when papa isn't
+there.  Is n't it lovely to think he 's coming up Christmas?
+Even up here, you know, it would n't be quite Christmas
+for me without him.  That makes me think, I must write
+him very soon about some things."  Hazel looked mysterious.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We hung up our stockings last year, but we did n't
+get what we wanted," said Cherry rather mournfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not?" asked Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Coz Popsey was so sick he could n't go out to the
+Wishing-Tree, and so he did n't know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is the Wishing-Tree?" said Hazel, consumed
+with curiosity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cherry's mouth was full of corn, so Budd carried on the
+conversation between mouthfuls.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll show you to-morrow.  It's a big butternut up in
+the corner of the pasture, an' there 's a little hollow in the
+trunk where the squirrels used to hide beech-nuts, but
+March has made a door to it with a hinge and put a
+little padlock on it--that's the key hanging up on the
+clock."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel saw a tiny key suspended by a string from one of
+the pointed knobs that ornamented the tall clock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'N' nobody touches it till All-hallow-e'en," said Cherry,
+when the sound of her munching had somewhat diminished,
+although her articulation was by no means clear.
+"'N' then Chi goes up with us in the dark, 'n' we put in
+our wishes, 'n'--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let me tell Hazel," said Budd.  "You 've begun at
+the wrong end.  You see, we write what we want for
+Christmas down on paper, an' seal it with beeswax, an'
+then don't tell anybody what we 've written; an' then
+Chi goes up there with us after dark, an' we 're all dressed
+up like Injuns--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Indians, Budd," corrected March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Old Pertic'lar, Indians, then," said Budd, a
+little crossly, "an' then--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you 've forgot the dish-pan and the little tub,"
+Cherry's voice came muffled through the corn.  "We
+take the dish-pan, Hazel, 'n' the little wash-tub, me 'n'
+Budd between us, 'n' beat on them with the iron spoon
+'n' the dish-mop handle, 'n' play 'tom-toms'--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, an' March gives an awful war-whoop--"  Budd,
+in his earnestness, had risen and gone over to Chi's side,
+and now sat down by the big bowl, but, unfortunately, on
+the popper which Chi had just emptied.  There was a
+smell of scorched wool, and, simultaneously, a wild, "Oh,
+gee-whiz!!" from Budd, who leaped as if shot, and stood
+ruefully rubbing the seat of his well-patched knicker-bockers,
+while the rest rolled over on the rug in their
+merriment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, do go on, Budd!" cried Hazel, wiping the tears
+of mirth from her eyes.  Cherry had laughed so hard that
+she was hiccoughing with outrageous rapidity; and
+March--forgetting May--chose that opportune moment to give
+forth a specimen of his best war-whoop, for the purpose, as
+he explained afterwards, of frightening her out of them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">By the time order had been restored, Cherry was able
+to take up the thread of the story;</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'N' we join hands--Chi 'n' all of us--'n' sing as loud
+as we can sing:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'Intery, mintery, cutery corn,</div>
+<div class="line">Apple seed, apple thorn;</div>
+<div class="line">Wire, briar, limber lock,</div>
+<div class="line">Five geese in a flock--</div>
+<div class="line">Sit and sing by the spring;</div>
+<div class="line">You are OUT.'</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Then we all give a great shout and grunt like In-di-ans--,"
+said Cherry, emphatically, looking at March; and March
+nodded approval.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How's that?" asked Hazel, who was listening with
+all her ears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A hánnah--a hánnah--a hánnah," grunted the children
+as well as they could, hampered by mouths full of
+corn.  "An' then," went on Budd, "we drop the wishes
+into the hollow in the tree-trunk, an' Chi locks the door
+an' keeps it, an'--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'N' each of us ties two feathers from a rooster's tail to
+different colored strings, 'n' fastens them on to a branch
+of the tree, 'n' that brings us good luck; March calls
+it 'winging the wishes.'  That's the way we get our
+presents."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, what fun!" cried Hazel.  "May I do it this year?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Course," replied Budd, "but how will your father
+know anything about it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never thought of that," said Hazel, all her Christmas
+castles toppling over suddenly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 'll fix it somehow, Lady-bird," said Chi, who,
+having finished his labors, had seated himself in a chair
+behind the children and provided himself with a private
+bowl of his own.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But now, speakin' of roosters, I 'd like to know how
+you 're comin' out about chicken money.  I sold the last
+lot but one down in Barton's to-day.  There 's been a lot
+of express to pay, 'n' I thought I 'd better pay dividends
+to-night, 'n' get it off my mind, seein' it's most
+Wishin'-Tree time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose took her little account book from her pocket.
+"We cleared one hundred and ten dollars on our preserves
+and jams after we 'd paid Hazel what we had borrowed
+for the jars and sugar, and paid for the express and boxes.
+I 'm awfully sorry we could n't fill all the orders, but we 'll
+try to next year.  I 'll go and get the money.  I like to
+look at it, knowing it means so much to us all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She ran upstairs and came back with a little wooden
+box that Chi had made for her years ago.  The children
+crowded about her.  "There," said Rose, proudly, as she
+took out the money and smoothed it, one crisp bill after
+another, on her knees; "they 're all in ones, so it will
+seem as if we had more when we divide.  Now we 've
+agreed to divide this equally, so that 'll make just
+twenty-two apiece."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let's play 'Hold-fast-all-I-give-you' in earnest," said
+Cherry, sitting down again on the rug and holding out
+her hands.  "That 'll be twenty-two times round and
+make it seem a lot more."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good for you, Cherry," said March, approvingly, and
+they all followed her example.  With a gravity befitting
+the occasion, the "truly-bruly" game, as Budd called it,
+went on to the supreme satisfaction of those interested as
+well as the enjoyment of father and mother and Chi; for
+to the two former the money-making had long been, of
+necessity, an open secret.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, after watching them a little while, left the room.
+When he reappeared a few minutes later, he was greeted
+with a prolonged "Ah!" of satisfaction; for in one hand
+he held his old account-book, and in the other a long, dark
+blue woollen stocking which bulged fearfully from the toe
+halfway up the leg, where it was tied with a stout piece
+of leather whip-lash.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The whole business of disposing of the chickens had
+been intrusted to Chi, and the members of the
+N.B.B.O.O. Society had pledged themselves not to ask him any
+questions in regard to the sale of them until he should
+tell them of his own accord.  This pledge they had kept,
+and now they were to have their rewards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If this is going to be a meeting of the N.B.B.O.O. Society,
+I move we ask those who aren't members to
+adjourn to the bedroom," said March, looking significantly
+at his mother and father.  Mr. and Mrs. Blossom
+took the hint, and, without waiting for anyone to "second
+the motion," betook themselves, laughing, into the other
+room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess we 'll sit up to the table 'n' count it out," said
+Chi, "coz we don't want any of it to fly up chimney.  We
+should never find it again in this gale."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He emptied the stocking of its contents--bills, pennies,
+and silver pieces of all denominations--upon the table, and
+the children drew up their chairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now we 'll sort," said Chi.  "You take the bills, Rose,
+'n' the rest take the other pieces, 'n' make little piles before
+you of a dollar each.  Then we can reckon up easy.  I 'll
+take the pennies and the nickels."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I choose the ten-cent pieces," said Cherry, "an' you
+take the quarters, Budd."  March and Hazel took the rest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This is a kind of stockholders' meetin'," said Chi, as
+the piles were completed.  "We 'll divide the proceeds
+accordin' the number of hens each set; coz I could n't
+keep run of so many chicks after they'd struck out for
+themselves."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He opened his book.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here 's some items you better hear, before you find any
+fault with the management:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mem.  July.  15 chicks killed by hen-hawks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mem.  August.  21 chicks died of the pip.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mem.  September.  Skunks stole ten.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mem.  October.  2 can't find.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There 's a dead loss to all the stockholders, share 'n'
+share alike.  Now for expenses:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mem.  Corn for feed till October--7 bushels.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mem.  November.  Express, $5.50.  Crates
+expressin'--$1.10.  Now for the profits!" said Chi, with a
+ring of triumph in his voice.  "Count up your piles."</p>
+<p class="pnext">How the cheeks flushed and the eyes grew dark with
+excitement as the counting proceeded: "One hundred--one
+hundred and thirty-two--one hundred and
+seventy-seven--two hundred!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh-ee!" cried Hazel, as March fairly thundered "Two
+hundred!"  "There 's more, there 's more!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Go on, go on!" she cried again, almost beside herself
+with excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Two hundred and seven--TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN!!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi!" exclaimed Rose, almost breathless, "How <em class="italics">did</em>
+you make all that?" and thereupon, without waiting for
+his answer, she sprang up from her chair, and, to Chi's
+amazement, took his weather-worn face between her two
+hands, and popped a kiss upon his forehead.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi cleared his throat and attempted to make his explanation,
+but was interrupted by March, who got hold of his
+right hand and wrung it without speaking.  Chi saw the
+boy turn a little white about the mouth and his gray eyes
+flash through tears; words were not needed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd and Cherry did not realize all this meant to the
+elder brother and sister, but they did not wish to be
+outdone by the others in expressing their appreciation of Chi.
+So Budd thumped him unmercifully on the back, saying,
+"You 're a trump, Chi; tell us how you did it," in a most
+patronizing tone, and Cherry danced around the table,
+singing; "I love my Love with a big, big C!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel looked on, rejoicing in their joy, but wondering
+why such a little sum, less than her yearly allowance,
+should create all that happiness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But tell us how you did it, Chi," said Rose again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I sold most of them for broilers, they bring a
+pretty good price; 'n' then I sold the feathers; 'n' you
+forget all those forty hens have been layin' the last two
+months, 'n' I sold the eggs.  Then, too,--" a slow smile
+wrinkled Chi's eyes--"I was n't interfered with, 'n' that
+made a great difference in the business.  How much have
+you got altogether?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Three hundred and twenty-seven dollars," said March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you goin' to do with it? that's the next question.
+You can't let your money lay round in wooden boxes 'n'
+old stockin's.  It ought to be bringing you in interest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm going to give my share to Rose, to prepare for
+college with," said Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Indeed, I sha'n't take your money, Hazel; you 've
+earned it fairly for yourself.  I should be ashamed to
+accept it, but it's lovely of you to think of it--  Why,
+Hazel!" she cried, throwing her arm around her, for the
+tears were rolling down Hazel's cheeks, and her chest
+heaving with a bona fide sob.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Hazel flung off the encircling arm and threw herself
+full length upon the settle in an abandonment of woe.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't care anything about your old money," she
+sobbed.  "I did n't want it for myself, and I 've worked so
+hard picking berries and all--and you said you 'd keep
+the by-law--and I 've been so happy working to help
+others, and I never would have believed it of you, Rose
+Blossom, that you 'd go back on your word--you promised--you
+promised to help others--a regular solemn pl-pledge,
+Chi says, and now--and the only way you could help me--was
+to let--to let me help y-ou-oo-oo!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">March and Rose looked at each other aghast at this
+unwonted outburst from Hazel, and Mrs. Blossom, hearing
+the wail, made her appearance from the bedroom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Hazel dear, what is the matter?" she said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 've spoiled all my good times," sobbed Hazel,
+refusing to be comforted even when Mrs. Blossom, sitting
+down by her, stroked her head and begged her to sit up
+and tell her all about it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, mother!" cried Rose, holding back the tears as
+well as she could, "it's all my fault.  It's my old pride
+that keeps coming up at every little thing, somehow,
+and I know it 'll be the death of me!  March has it,
+too; and between us we have made it just horrid for
+Hazel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Rose, what do you mean?" asked her mother,
+gravely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Things that we 've kept from you, Martie.  Hazel
+wanted to give us the jars and the sugar, and we would n't
+let her; and she wanted to give me a blue wash silk like
+hers, because I said I wished I could afford one like
+it,--and I--and I was a little angry, and showed it; and
+March spoke up and said we would n't be patronized if we
+were poor--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, March Blossom!" was all his mother said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," broke in Budd, ready to place himself on the
+side of righteousness, "an' Cherry told her that March
+called her 'a perfect guy,' an' that meant she was homely;
+an' that Chi said she was awful poor, an' we were a great
+deal richer than she was, an' that you would n't have had
+her here if you had n't pitied her--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Children!"  Not one of them ever remembered to
+have heard their mother speak with such stern anger in
+her voice.  "I 'm ashamed of you; you have disgraced
+your parents' name."  Then she turned to Hazel, drew
+her up into her arms, and said, tenderly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hazel, my dear little girl, why did n't you come to
+me with this trouble?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Because--because you were n't <em class="italics">my mother</em>, you were
+theirs; but, oh!  I wish you were mine!  I love you
+so--"  Hazel flung both arms around Mrs. Blossom's neck and
+sobbed out,--"I 've wanted to call you Mother Blossom
+and hug and kiss you like the rest--but Cherry was so
+jealous--the first time I did it--that she--she stuck
+burrs in my bed and led me through the nettle-patch when
+we were raspberrying, because she knew I did n't know
+nettles; and Chi told me we 'd got to be brave if we
+joined the N.B.B.O.O., and I knew I ought to bear it--for
+I <em class="italics">do</em> love to be here--and I love them all, for most
+of the time they 're lovely to me;--and I don't think
+you 've been horrid, Rose, only you did hurt my feelings
+when you would n't let me give you the blue silk--and--and
+it is n't my fault if I <em class="italics">am</em> rich, and it is n't fair not to
+like me for it!"</p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 62%" id="figure-40">
+<span id="hazel-flung-both-arms-around-mrs-blossom-s-neck"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-137.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+"Hazel flung both arms around Mrs. Blossom's neck"</div>
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"No more it ain't, Lady-bird," said Chi, who, after
+drawing the back of his hand across his eyes, was
+apparently the only dry-eyed one in the room.  March had
+flung himself on the other end of the settle and buried his
+face deep among the patch-work cushions.  Rose was
+sobbing outright with her head on her arms as she sat at
+the dining-room table.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cherry, in her shame and misery--for she had come to
+love Hazel dearly without wholly conquering her jealousy--softly
+opened the pantry door and slipped inside where
+she sniffed to her heart's content.  As for Budd, he stood
+over the wood-box, repiling its contents while the tears
+ran off his nose so fast that he saw all the sticks double
+through them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You may go to bed, children," said Mrs. Blossom, still
+holding Hazel in her arms.  At this fiat, there was a
+general increase in the humidity of the atmosphere; and,
+knowing perfectly well when their mother spoke in that
+tone, that words, tears, or prayers would not avail, they,
+one and all,--for Cherry had been listening at the pantry
+door,--made a rush for the stairs and stumbled up, blinded
+by their tears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom led Hazel still sobbing into her own little
+bedroom, and shut the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, president of the vanished N.B.B.O.O. Society,
+was left alone.  He gazed meditatively awhile at the little
+piles of money and the vacant chairs opposite each.  Then
+he gathered them up carefully and placed them in orderly
+rows in the wooden box.  His next move was to the shed
+door.  As he opened it, a gust of wind extinguished the
+lamp on the table.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess I 'll go to bed, too," said Chi to himself, coming
+back for the box, which the firelight showed plainly
+enough.  "The barometer's dropped, 'n' it always makes
+me feel low in my mind."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He heaved a prodigious sigh and went out into the shed
+and up the back stairs.  The wooden box he put under
+the head of the mattress; he barricaded the door and
+placed his rifle beside it against the wall.  Then he turned
+in and drew the coverlet up over his head with another
+sigh, so long, so profound, that it mingled with the wind
+as it swept through the cracks of the shed beneath, and
+made a part of the dismality of the night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom returned to the long-room, and, sitting
+down in her low rocker before the fire, waited.  She knew
+her children.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Soon, it might have been within half an hour, she heard
+Rose call softly at the top of the stairs:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Martie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Rose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"May I come?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, dear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"O Martie! may I, too?" wailed Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm coming, mother," said March, speaking in a low,
+determined voice through the knot-hole.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well, March."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come along, Budd," said March, and Budd was only
+too glad to grip his brother's pajamas and follow after.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Down they came, tiptoeing in their bare feet, Rose
+heading the penitential procession.  She knelt by her
+mother's side, and March and Budd and Cherry knelt, too.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then, to their mother's, "Are you <em class="italics">truly</em> ready,
+children?" they answered heartily, "Yes, Martie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Together they said in subdued but earnest tones, "Our
+Father;" together they prayed, "'Forgive us our
+trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us'"--and
+after the heart-felt, "Amen," each received a kiss by
+way of absolution; and together, until the clock struck
+ten, they talked the whole matter over and resolved to
+fight their Apollyons daily and hourly, and, with God's
+grace, conquer them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These were the rare hours, the memory of which held
+March Blossom in the way of right and honor when he
+went out to battle for himself in the world.  These were
+the hours, the memory of which kept him in his college
+days unspotted from the world.  It was such an hour
+that ripened Rose Blossom into a thinking, feeling woman,
+and made Budd into a knight of the Twentieth Century.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was for such an hour that Jack Sherrill would have
+given his entire fortune.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-social-addition">XIII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A SOCIAL ADDITION</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was a chastened household that gathered about the
+breakfast table the next morning; and for a week
+afterwards, every one was so thoughtful and considerate of
+everybody else that Mrs. Blossom said, laughing, to her
+husband; "They 're so angelic, Ben, I 'm afraid they are
+all going to be ill.  I declare, I miss their little
+naughtinesses."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Several things had been settled during the week and,
+apparently, to everyone's satisfaction.  At a very
+serious-minded meeting of the N.B.B.O.O., it had been decided
+to keep the larger part of the money in order to start
+March on his career.  Not without protest, however, on
+March's part.  But he was overruled.  Rose argued that
+if he were going to college, he must begin to prepare that
+very winter, and if their earnings were divided among
+the five, no one would reap any special benefit from them,
+least of all, March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can wait well enough another year, perhaps two,"
+she said; "and, meanwhile, we 'll be earning more.  But
+you, March, ought to be in the academy at Barton's this
+very minute."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know it," said March, dejectedly; "but I do hate
+to take girls' money; somehow, it does not seem
+quite--quite manly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Better remember what your mother talked to you 'bout
+last Sunday, 'bout its bein' more of a blessin' to give than
+to get," said Chi, sententiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do remember, and there 's nobody in the world I 'd
+be more willing to take it from than from you, all of you,
+but--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Me, too?" interrupted Hazel, leaning nearer with
+great, eager, questioning eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you, too, Hazel," March replied gently, with such
+unwonted humility of spirit shining through his rare,
+sweet smile, that Hazel bounced up from her seat at the
+table, and, going behind March's chair, clasped both arms
+tightly around his neck, laid the dark, curly head down
+upon the top of his golden one, exclaiming delightedly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, March, you are the dearest fellow in the world.
+I never thought you 'd give in so--and I love you for it!
+There now,"--with a big squeeze of the golden head--"you 've
+made me superfluously happy."  Hazel took her
+seat, flushed rosy red in pleasurable anticipation of being
+allowed, at last, to give to those she loved, and wholly
+unmindful of her slip of the tongue.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now that's settled, I move that each of you keep three
+dollars of that money 'gainst the Wishin'-Tree business.
+Chris'mus 'll be here 'fore you can say 'Jack Robinson.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Second the motion," said Budd and Cherry in the
+same breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a unanimous vote.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There is just one thing I want to say," said March,
+who, in a bewilderment of happy emotions, had been
+unable to reply one word to Hazel, "and that is, that I
+want you to consider that you have lent it to me and
+let me have the pleasure of paying back, sometime, when
+I am a man."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's fair enough," said Chi.  "I glory in your
+independence, Markis.  That's the right kind to have.
+Put it to vote."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again there was a unanimous vote of approval, for they
+all knew that to one of March's proud spirit it meant
+much to accept the money, from the girls especially; and
+they felt it would make him happier if he were to accept
+it as a loan.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can save a lot by not boarding down at Barton's,
+and by working for my board at the tavern, or in some
+family," said March, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No you don't," said Chi, emphatically.  "'T ain't no
+way for a boy to be doin' chores before he goes to school
+in the mornin' 'n' tendin' horses after he gets out in the
+afternoon.  If you 're goin' to try for college in two years,
+you 've got to buckle right down to it--'n' not waste time
+workin' for other folks that ain't your own.  Here comes
+Mis' Blossom, we 'll ask her what she has to say about it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Martie, where have you been all this afternoon?
+I saw you and father driving off in such a sly sort of way,
+I knew you did n't want us to know where you were
+going.  Now, 'fess!" laughed Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Fess, 'fess, Martie!" cried Budd and Cherry,
+hilariously breaking up the meeting.  "We 've got you
+now!"  And without more ado they anchored her to the settle,
+each linked to an arm, while Hazel took off her hood,
+March drew off her rubbers, and Rose unpinned her shawl.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom laughed.  "No, you guess," she replied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Down to the Mill Settlement?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wrong."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Over to Aunt Tryphosa's?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Down to see the Spillkinses?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wrong again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Over eastwards to the Morris farm," said Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Right," said Mrs. Blossom, smiling.  "How did you
+know, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't, just guessed it; coz I knew the new folks
+was goin' to move in this week."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What new folks?" chorussed the children in surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"An addition to the Lost Nation," replied their mother,
+"and a very charming one.  Now there are five families
+on our Mountain."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who are they, Martie?"--"Are you going to ask
+them to Thanksgiving, too?"--"What's their name?"--"How
+many are there of them?"--"Any boys?"  They
+were all talking together.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"One at a time, please," laughed Mrs. Blossom, putting
+her hands over her ears.  "I never heard such mill-clappers!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Do</em> hurry up, mother," said March, appealingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A young man from New Haven has taken the lease of
+the farm for three years.  He has his mother and sister
+with him.  He was in the law school at Yale until last
+spring; then his father died, and his sister, a little older
+than you, Rose, was injured in some accident--I don't
+know what it was--and now she is very delicate.  The
+doctor says if she can live in this mountain country for a
+few years, she may recover her health.  The brother and
+mother are perfectly devoted to her.  She calls herself
+a 'Shut-in'--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then she can't come over for Thanksgiving dinner,"
+said Rose, interrupting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not this year, but I hope she may next."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did he give up college for his sister's sake?" asked
+March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He gave up the last year of his law course; they could
+not afford to travel so many years for the benefit of her
+health, so they came up here.  I do pity them; it must be
+such a change.  But, oh, March! how you will enjoy that
+house!  They have been there only a week, yet it looks
+as if they had lived there always.  They have such
+beautiful framed photographs of places they visited when they
+were in Europe with their father, and cases of books, and
+a grand piano--I don't see how they ever got it up the
+Mountain.  The young man and his mother both play, and
+he plays the violin, too."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The children and Chi were listening open-eyed as
+Mrs. Blossom went on enthusiastically:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's just like a fairy story, only it's all true.  Just
+two weeks ago, when your father and I drove by there,
+that long, rambling house looked so bleak and bare and
+desolate--your father and I always call it the 'House of
+the Seven Gables,' for there are just seven--and the
+spruce woods behind it looked fairly black, and the wind
+drew through the pines by the south door with such an
+eerie sound, that I shivered.  And to-day, what a change!
+All the shutters were open, and muslin curtains at the
+windows, and the sun was streaming into the four windows
+of the great south room that they have made their living-room.
+There was a roaring big fire in the hall fireplace,
+and plants--oh, Rose, you should see them! palms and
+rubber trees and sword ferns,--and lovely rugs, and--I
+can't begin to tell you about it; you must go and see for
+yourselves."  Mrs. Blossom paused for breath, with a glad
+light in her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It sounds too good to be true," said Rose, "and you
+look as if you had been to a real party, Martie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I have, my dear.  Just to see such people and
+such a house is a party for me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you can keep having it, too, can't you, Martie? because
+they 're going to be neighbors," cried Cherry,
+every individual curl dancing and bobbing with excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is the young man good-looking?" asked Hazel, earnestly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very," replied Mrs. Blossom, smiling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As handsome as Jack?" said Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very different looking, Hazel; quiet and grave, but
+genial.  Not so tall as Mr. Sherrill, I should say; talks
+but little, but what he says is well worth listening
+to--and when he smiled!  I did n't hear him laugh, but I know
+he can enjoy fun.  He has a fine saddle horse, Chi, and
+he wants you to come and give him some advice about
+selecting stock."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Fraid he 's too high-toned for me," said Chi, modestly;
+"but if I can help him anyway, I 'd like to.  Seems a
+likely young man from all you say."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He 's more than 'likely,' Chi," returned Mrs. Blossom,
+with a twinkle in her eye that only Chi caught.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Speakin' of horses, Mis' Blossom, we 've decided to
+send March to the Academy at Barton's, 'n' if I let him
+have Fleet, he could come 'n' go, a matter of sixteen miles
+a day, without bein' from home nights.  I don't approve
+of that for boys."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, indeed, neither his father nor I would think of
+such a thing for a moment.  But how kind of you, Chi, to
+let March have Fleet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to help on the college education all I can; 'n'
+if our boy wants to go, he 's goin' to have the best to get
+him there so far as I 'm concerned."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know how to thank you, Chi," said March,
+"but I 'll treat Fleet like a lady and I 'll study like
+a--like a house on fire.  I don't envy that other fellow his
+saddle horse if I can have Fleet.  What's his name,
+mother? you haven't told us yet."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, so I have n't--Ford, Alan Ford, and his sister's
+name is Ruth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When can we go over and see them, Martie?" said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought two or three days after Thanksgiving, and
+then you can take a little neighborly thank-offering with
+you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What can we take?" queried Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, a mince pie or two, some raspberry preserves, a
+comb of last summer's honey, a pat of butter, a nice bunch
+of our white-plume celery, and, perhaps, Chi could find a
+brace of partridges."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"M-m--does n't that sound good-tasting!" said Cherry,
+patting her chest ecstatically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who 's coming for Thanksgiving, Martie?" asked Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All the Lost Nation--the Spillkinses and Aunt
+Tryphosa and Maria-Ann, Lemuel and his wife and--who
+else?  Guess."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that's all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not this year, you forget your new teacher, Budd.
+She boards around, and it's the Mountain's year, so she
+is at Lemuel's now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, good!" cried Budd enthusiastically.  "She 's a
+daisy.  I know you 'll like her, Hazel.  All the fellows
+are awfully soft on her, though--bring her butternut
+candy, an' sharpen her pencils, an' black the stove, an'
+wash off the black-board; an' I saw Billy Nye sneak out
+the other day and wipe the mud off her rubbers with his
+paper lunch-bag!  Catch me doing it, though," he added,
+his chest swelling rather pompously as he straightened
+himself and thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his
+knickerbockers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not?" his mother asked with an amused smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, coz," was Budd's rather sheepish reply, and thereupon
+he followed Chi out to the barn, whistling "Dixie"
+with might and main.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-lost-nation">XIV</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">THE LOST NATION</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">The four families on Mount Hunger were known to
+the towns about as The Lost Nation.  Two of them, the
+Blossoms and the Spillkinses, were, in reality,
+lumber-dealers rather than farmers.  The third, Lemuel Wood,
+had a sheep farm, and Aunt Tryphosa Little with her
+granddaughter, Maria-Ann, was the fourth.  The two
+women owned a spruce wood-lot and let it out to men who
+cut the bark.  They cultivated a small garden-patch of
+corn, beans, and squash, kept a cow and a few hens, and
+eked out their scanty income with a day's work here and
+there in fine weather.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Every two weeks they did the washing and ironing for
+the Blossom family, as Mrs. Blossom's cares were too
+heavy for her, and she felt that not only could she afford
+it this year, but that in putting it out she was giving a
+little help to her poorer neighbors.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi or March took the huge basket of linen over on the
+wagon or sledge, and always left with it a neighborly gift--a
+peck of fine russets or greenings, a bunch of celery, a
+pound or two of salt pork, a bunch of delicious parsnips,
+or a dozen eggs when the old dame's hens were moulting.
+Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann were not to be outdone
+in neighborly kindnesses, and, regularly, the willow basket,
+full to overflowing with snow-white clothes, was returned
+with something tucked away under the square covering
+of oil-cloth--a tiny bunch of sage or summer savory, an
+ironing-holder made of bits of bright calico or woollen
+rags, a little paper-bag of spruce gum, a pair of woollen
+wristers for Mr. Blossom or Chi, a new recipe for spring
+bitters with a sample of the herbs--sassafras, dockroot,
+thoroughwort, wintergreen, and dandelion--gathered by
+Aunt Tryphosa herself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had one cow which they regarded as the third
+member of their family.  She had been named Dorcas,
+after Aunt Tryphosa's mother, and proved a model animal
+of her kind.  She gave a more than ordinary amount of
+creamy milk; presented her mistress with a sturdy calf
+each year; never hooked or kicked; never, during the
+bitter winter weather, grew restless in her small shed
+which adjoined the woodshed, and never broke from
+pasture in the sweet-smelling summer-time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann vied with each other in
+petting her.  They brushed her coat as regularly as they
+did up their own back hair.  They gave her a weekly
+scrubbing as conscientiously as they took their Saturday
+bath.  For cold nights Aunt Tryphosa had made for her
+a nightdress of red flannel (although she had never heard
+of "Cranford"), which she and Maria-Ann had planned to
+fit the cow-anatomy, and it had proved a great success.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For the midsummer fly-time they had contrived a
+wonderfully fashioned garment of coarse fish-netting, into
+which they had knotted a cotton fringe.  They claimed,
+and rightly, that freedom from chill and irritation, incident
+upon zero weather and August dog-days, affected the milk
+most favorably, both in quantity and quality; and, as it
+all went to make delicious small cheeses, which sold at
+Barton's River for twenty-five cents apiece and were
+renowned throughout the county, people had ceased to
+laugh at the cow's appearance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It had become one of Hazel's great treats to be permitted
+to go with March or Chi to the little house--not much
+more than a cabin--on the east side of the Mountain; and
+when she knew that the two were to be guests for Thanksgiving,
+but not for Christmas, she began to lay plans
+accordingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Spillkinses were an aged set, not one was under
+seventy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were the Captain and his wife, who had
+celebrated their Golden Wedding, and his wife's two maiden
+sisters, Melissa and Elvira, of whom he always spoke as
+the "girls."  They were funny old maidens of seventy one
+and two, who did up their hair in curl-papers, precisely as
+they did a half a century ago; wore black cotton mitts when
+they went to church, and white silk ones when they went
+out to tea; called each other "Lissy" and "Elly," and
+were still sensitive in regard to their ages.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In addition to these, the old, gray-shingled, vine-covered
+farmhouse on the lower mountain-road, sheltered the
+Captain's elder brother, Israel, who was just turned
+ninety-three, hale and hearty, and Israel's eldest son, Reuben,
+a youth of seventy, who in our North Country parlance
+"was not all there," but harmless, kindly, and generally
+helpful.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All these, together with Lemuel Wood and his wife, and
+the new teacher, were to be Thanksgiving guests, and
+wonderful preparations went on for days beforehand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Such a sorting and paring and chopping of apples!
+Such a seeding of raisins, and whipping of eggs, and
+compounding of cakes!  Such a tucking away of chickens
+beneath the flaky crust of the huge pie!  Such a moulding
+of cranberry jelly, so deeply, darkly, richly red!  Such a
+cracking of butternuts, and a melting of maple sugar!
+Such a stuffing of an eighteen-pound turkey, and such a
+trussing of thin-linked sausages!  Such a making of goodly
+pies, pumpkin, mince, and apple!  Such a quartering of
+small cheeses contributed by Aunt Tryphosa!  Such an
+unbottling of sweet pickles, and unbarrelling of sweet
+cider;--and, on the final day, such a general boiling, and
+baking, and roasting, and basting, and mashing, and
+grinding, and seasoning, and whipping, and cutting, and
+kneading, and rolling, as can occur only once a year in an
+old-fashioned, New England farmhouse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel was in her glory.  Arrayed in a checked gingham
+apron, which she had made herself, she beat eggs, whipped
+cream, helped Rose set the table, wiped the dishes and
+baking-pans, basted the noble Thanksgiving bird once, as
+a great privilege, although in so doing, she burned her
+fingers with the sputtering fat, scorched her apron, and
+parboiled her already flushed face with the escaping steam.
+But she was happy!</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Oh, papa!" she wrote the day after the party, "I never
+had such a good time in my life!  If only you could see the
+things we made!--apple and lemon tarts, and mince and
+cranberry 'turnovers,' and doughnuts all twisted into a sort of
+French bow-knot such as Gabrielle used to make of her back
+hair, and a queer kind of cake they call 'marble,' all streaky
+with chocolate and white, and butternut candy made with maple
+sugar, and an <em class="italics">Indian</em> pudding, and little bits of nut-cakes with
+a small piece of currant jelly inside and all powdered sugar out;
+and--oh, I can't begin to tell you, for this is only a part of the
+dessert.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll try to paragraph this letter in the right places so you 'll
+understand about the party.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All the Lost Nation was invited; Captain and Mrs. Spillkins,
+Miss Melissa and Miss Elvira, Uncle Israel and Poor Reub,
+Mr. Lemuel Wood and his wife, and Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann,
+and--  Oh, I forgot Miss Alton.  She 's awfully sweet;
+she is Budd and Cherry's teacher in the district school at the
+Mill Settlement.  She's more like a city person than the others.
+I wish you 'd been here! for I can't tell it half as nice as it was;
+but I 'll do my best because you wrote you wanted me to tell
+you everything.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We were already for the party at eleven o'clock--in the
+morning, I mean--(I can't remember the sign for forenoon).
+We don't have any lunch up here, as you know, but the dinner
+comes between 12 and 1, so everything was ready then.  I got
+up at five o'clock! and worked hard till it was time to change
+my gown.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was awfully cold.  Chi said the thermometer was shivering
+when he looked at it just after breakfast; he means by that,
+it's below zero--a good deal; and I couldn't help thinking
+how cosy and warm and deliciously smelly it would be for the
+Lost Nation when they came in out of the cold into the
+long-room and saw the table (it looked beautiful, with baskets of
+red apples, and nuts and raisins, and a big centre-piece of
+red geranium) just loaded with goodies.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"March had driven over for Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann,
+and they arrived first--Mrs. Blossom says they always do.
+(I want you to go over and call on them when you are up here
+Christmas; it's just like a story in Hans Andersen; they keep
+a cow, Dorcas, who wears a kimono on very cold nights.)</p>
+<p class="pnext">"March helped Aunt Tryphosa out just as if she had been
+Queen Victoria.  (I forgot to tell you she and Maria-Ann do our
+laundry work.)  March is perfectly splendid about such things--and
+Maria-Ann sort of bounced out, although Chi held out
+his hand to help her.  It's so funny to see them together!
+Aunt Tryphosa is so small and wrinkled and thin that,
+sometimes, Chi says he has known a good wind to knock her right
+over; and Maria-Ann is almost as tall as Chi, and stout and
+rosy-cheeked, with nice brown eyes that talk to you.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And, oh, papa!--I'll tell you, but it's a confidence--I
+saw Aunt Tryphosa shiver hard when she came into the house,
+and I 'm afraid she did not have enough warm things on.  I
+know her shawl was n't <em class="italics">very</em> thick, for I went into the bedroom
+afterwards and felt of it; and she had no furs at all!  Think
+of that with the thermometer way down below zero, papa!
+I 'll tell you all about it when you come.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, after Mrs. Blossom had given the old lady a cup of
+hot tea, she felt better and began to talk; and, honestly, papa,
+she never stopped talking all day long!  March said he timed
+her.  She lives away over on the east side of the Mountain
+away from everybody, and yet she knows everything that is
+going on, on the Mountain, and at the Mill Settlement, and at
+Barton's River, and that, as you know, is quite a large place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She told us all about the new neighbors in the seven-gabled-house;
+how they had their dinner at bed-time, and what 'help'
+they have, and whom they are going to have for hired man, and
+how they have music every night after dinner, and how the
+lights were n't put out in the north-east chamber till one o'clock.
+She even knew the pattern of lace on the underclothes that
+were hung out to dry! and Maria-Ann was trying to crochet
+some in imitation; I saw it myself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And she said that one of the chambers was all lined with
+books, and another just covered, floor and walls, with
+pictures--what can she mean, papa? and that down stairs off the
+living-room in what used to be old Mrs. Morris's milk-room,
+there were ropes, and weights, and pulleys, and a stretcher,
+and iron balls, and that every one said it did n't have the right
+look.  But she said she meant to stand up for them, because
+the young man had come over to call just two or three days
+ago and said, as she was his nearest neighbor, they ought to
+become acquainted before winter set in; and he ordered a half
+a dozen cheeses and brought word from his mother that she
+would like them to come over and see her daughter, for she
+thought Maria-Ann might be able to do something for her.
+Now, what do you suppose it all means?</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course, it makes us all wild to go over there, and I hope
+we shall go soon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, oh! if you could see the Spillkinses!  I had to go off
+up stairs and bury my face in Rose's feather bed so I could
+laugh without being heard.  They 're the funniest lot of people
+I ever saw.  They all came over in a big wagon filled with
+straw, and before they came in sight, Chi said, 'They 're
+coming, I know by the cackle;' and, papa, that is just what
+it was.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They are all awfully aged, but they act just like young
+people, and Mrs. Blossom says it's their young hearts that
+keep them so young.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Uncle Israel, he's ninety-three, but he wears a dark brown
+wig and looks younger than his son, Poor Reub, who is seventy
+and has snow-white hair.  Mrs. Spillkins wears what they call
+up here a 'false front;' it's just the color of Uncle Israel's,
+so she looks more like his sister.  But her two sisters, Miss
+Melissa and Miss Elvira, are perfectly comical.  They're just
+as small as Aunt Tryphosa, but they don't talk; only nod and
+smile and bow as if they were talking.  They have little
+corkscrew curls, three on each temple, and they bob and shake
+when they nod and smile and sort of chirrup; it's the Captain
+and his wife and Uncle Israel who cackle so when they laugh.
+Poor Reuben does n't say much either, only he looks perfectly
+happy, and always sits by his father when he can get a chance.
+Chi was just lovely to him all the afternoon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, after Mr. Wood and his wife and the new teacher
+came, we all sat down to dinner, and Mr. Blossom said 'grace,'
+and all the Spillkinses said 'Amen,' which surprised us all
+very much.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We don't have courses up here, because there is nobody to
+serve us; so everything is put on your plate at once, except,
+of course, dessert, and papa!--I would n't say it to any one
+but you, but I never saw any one eat so much as Aunt Tryphosa
+for all she is so small and thin.  Mr. Blossom piled her
+plate up twice with turkey, and squash, and onion, and potato,
+and turnip, and then she helped herself to cranberry jelly and
+sweet pickles three times; and yet she managed to talk all the
+time; and the queer part of it was that she did n't cut herself
+once, they all eat with their knives--except, of course, our
+family and Miss Alton.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rose and Cherry and I removed the dinner plates, and that
+was all the waiting there was.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We sat till half-past three at the table; then Uncle Israel
+said another 'grace'--'after-grace,' he called it,--and
+Mr. Blossom and Chi took the--the gentlemen part out to see the
+horses and cows, and all the rest went to work to clear off
+the table and do up the dishes.  There were so many of us it
+did n't take long, and then we lighted the lamps, and all
+the--the ladies took out their knitting and began to work as fast as
+they could.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then in a little while all the--the gentlemen came in, and
+the ladies put up their work, and they all sat round the room
+and sang Auld Lang Syne.  Rose led, and Miss Alton sang a
+lovely alto.  It was lovely, and I longed to have you with me.
+Then Captain Spillkins said it was time to hitch up, and Chi
+said it was time to be going as it was very dark and cold.  He
+drove Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann home, and Mrs. Blossom
+filled a large basket with all sorts of goodies, and Mr. Blossom
+set it in behind in the apple-green cart without their knowing
+it; so now they can have a surprise party of their own and
+Thanksgiving for a whole week.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There!  This is the longest letter I ever wrote in all my
+life.  I 've written it at different times during the day.  I ate
+so much yesterday, that I don't feel very bright to-day, so you
+must excuse any mistakes, although I've used the dictionery as
+you wanted me to.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">"Always your loving, and now your dreadfully sleepy</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">"DAUGHTER HAZEL.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">"P.S. I think I shall feel better, if I tell you that we all had
+a very unhappy time two weeks ago.  I had a really dreadful
+heartache, papa, and, for the first time, was homesick for you.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You see, March and Rose are very proud of spirit, and I
+don't think they liked it in me because we are rich--but you
+and I understand each other, don't we? and know that being
+rich does n't mean anything to us, does it? and then, too, Chi
+says we 're poor because we have n't so much family to love as
+the Blossoms have, and that's true, too, is n't it?--and I think
+that kind of poorness ought to balance our riches, don't you?
+And--well, I can't explain how it all came about, but now
+they are willing to let me give them things when I want to,
+and that makes me very happy, and we are all a great deal
+happier than we were before, and I'm going to call
+Mrs. Blossom, 'Mother Blossom,' after this, she says she wants me
+to, and she takes me in her arms just as she does Rose and
+Cherry, and we talk things over together; so everything is all
+right now.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Please send up my violin by express when you receive this.
+There is a very good-looking young man, the new neighbor at
+the seven-gabled-house, and he plays the violin, too, and his
+mother the piano.  Love to Wilkins and Minna-Lu.  I 'll send
+him a present from here--Oh, I forgot! don't forget to write
+Chi within a week sure, to inform you about the Wishing-Tree,
+and don't buy any presents for anybody till you hear from
+him.  H.C."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">When Mr. Clyde read this long letter at the breakfast
+table, his face was the despair of Wilkins, who hovered
+about, seeking, ineffectually, for an excuse to ask about
+Miss Hazel.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Doan know what kin' er news Marse John get from
+little Missy," he told Minna-Lu, the cook; "but he laffed
+pow'ful part de time, an' den he grow pow'ful sober, an'
+de fust ting I know, de tears come splashin' onto de paper,
+an' he speak up rale sharp, 'Wha' fo' yo' hyar, Wilkins?'
+an' sayin' nuffin', I jes' makes tracks, case I see he wan's
+nobuddy see dem tears.--  Fo' Gawd, I 'se be glad when
+little Missy come home."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde took this manuscript, as he called it, over to
+the Doctor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There, Dick, read that," was all he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After the Doctor had read it, he whisked out his
+handkerchief in a remarkably suspicious manner, and Mr. Clyde
+busied himself with a medical journal without reading one
+word, till the Doctor spoke:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I say, Johnny, let's get up a theatre party of us two
+for the Old Homestead to-night; it's the nearest thing
+we can get to this of Hazel's."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You always hit the right thing, Dick, I 'll call for you
+at eight."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="wishing-tree-secrets">XV</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">WISHING-TREE SECRETS</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallow-e'en had come.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The exercises about the tree had been carried out with
+great success--tom-toms, war-whoop, song and dance.
+After supper, the apples had been roasted, and the whole
+family "bobbed" for them in the wash-tub; father, mother,
+Chi, and even little May joining heartily in the fun.  Then
+they had melted lead, sailed nutshells freighted with wishes,
+and finally "loved their Loves" with all the letters of the
+alphabet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When all were off to bed and sound asleep, Chi took his
+lantern, and went up again to the old butternut tree in
+the corner of the pasture.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was preparing to snow.  A chill wind drew through
+the bare branches, and caused a wild commotion among
+the roosters' tail feathers that dangled from one of the
+lower ones.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi unlocked the little door, and from the hollow took
+out a handful of notes.  He thrust them into the side
+pocket of his coat, relocked the door, and went back to
+his room over the shed.  There, by the light of the
+lantern, he read them and rejoiced over them; re-read them
+and cried a little over them, nor was he ashamed of his
+tears; for in the precious missives, Rose and Hazel, March
+and Budd and Cherry, had shown, as in a mirror, the
+workings of their loving hearts.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallo w-e'en.</p>
+<p class="pnext">MY DEAR MOTHER,--I have a great favor to ask of you and
+father.  Will you hang up <em class="italics">your</em> stockings this year and let us
+children fill them instead of your filling ours?  I don't want
+you to take one cent of the money you are earning by having
+Hazel here to buy me anything.  I want every penny of it to
+go to pay off that mortgage you told us of--for I feel just as
+you do about it, and only wish I had known it last Hallow-e'en
+when I asked for the paints and brushes.  It makes me sick
+just to think of all we asked for, and you not having any money
+to buy them with--and never telling us!  Oh, mother!</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your devoted son,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">MARCH BLOSSOM.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallow-e'en.</p>
+<p class="pnext">MY DEAR POPSEY,--Me and Cherry want to help you and
+Martie pay off that morgige she told us about.  March says
+it is a dreadfull thing that we must get rid of just as soon as
+we can.  So Cherry and me are going to give you 2 dollars
+apeace out of our $3 we saved for ourselves out of the jam and
+the chickens as we voted in the N.B.B.O.O.  That will make
+four dollars and March says it will be just 1/300 of what you
+owe and will help a great deal.  I think the other $1 we have
+left will be enough to buy presents for the rest of the famly,
+don't you?</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your Son,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">BUDD BLOSSOM.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">P.S. I meant to say I don't expect anything this year 'cause
+last year I asked for a double-runner and a bat and a new cap
+with fir on the edges like the boys at Barton's and 20 cents to
+buy marbles with and I didn't get them 'cause you were sick
+and I 'm sorry I asked for so much to bother you when you
+were sick.  B.B.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAR FRIEND CHI,--Do you think you can find out in some
+way what March and Budd would like for Christmas?  And if
+you know anything special that Rose wants very <em class="italics">specially</em>,
+please let me know at your earliest convenience so I can send
+to New York for it.  I should like to consult you about some
+gifts for Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann, and if you could get
+a chance to take me down to the Barton's River shops all alone
+by myself, I should esteem it a great favor.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your true friend,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL CLYDE.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallow-e'en.</p>
+<p class="pnext">P. S. I 'm rather anxious about the note I put in the
+Wishing-Tree for papa.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallow-e'en.</p>
+<p class="pnext">DARLING PATER NOSTER,--When I think of last year, my
+heart aches for you and my precious Martie.  Oh, why did n't
+she tell us before!  I never should have asked for that dress
+and the French grammar and dictionary and the cheap set of
+Dickens', if I had only known.</p>
+<p class="pnext"><em class="italics">Do</em>, Pater dear, let us know in the future if you are in
+trouble, and let us help share it.  Would n't that make it easier
+for you?</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now a favor; I want you and Martie to play boy and girl
+again this year and hang up <em class="italics">your</em> stockings for a change; and
+please, <em class="italics">please</em>, father dear, don't give us anything this
+year--we don't want anything but you and Martie, and besides, we
+have money of our <em class="italics">own</em>!  Chi calls us "bloated bond-holders,"
+and says we have formed a "combine."</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your loving daughter,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">ROSE BLOSSOM.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAREST COUSIN JACK,--I have n't answered your letter
+because I 've been having too good a time.  This is only a
+Wishing-Tree note; I want you to do me a favor, please; find
+out what I can buy nice for papa with a dollar.  I 've earned
+it myself (and a great deal more, Jack, you would be surprised
+if you knew how much the preserves and chickens came to)
+and want him to have a present out of it.  Then, I would like
+to buy something for Doctor Heath, about fifty cents' worth,
+and another fifty cents' worth for Mrs. Heath.  I want to give
+Aunt Carrie a little something, too, <em class="italics">out of my own earnings</em>;
+(I've all my two quarterly allowances besides,) I can afford
+fifty cents for her; and then I would like to remember Wilkins
+with a little gift out of <em class="italics">my earnings</em> for mamma's sake as well
+as my own, and then I shall have twenty-five cents left of the
+money I worked for.  The rest we all voted to put aside for
+March to help him through college.  He wants to be an
+architect, you know, and he draws beautifully.  I shall be glad of
+your advice.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">In haste, yours devotedly,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallow-e'en, MOUNT HUNGER.</p>
+<p class="pnext">DEAR CHI,--May wants a doll the kind she saw last summer
+down at Barton's River.  I ve got only a doller to spend for
+all the famly, so will you plese ask the pris for me as I am
+afrade it will be to high.  There is a big french one in the right
+hand window at Smith's store with a libel on it 7$, and I play
+it's mine when I am down there and you are buying horse-feed.
+I have named her Emilie Angelique.  Rose spelt it for me.</p>
+<p class="left pnext white-space-pre-line">Your loving CHERRY BOUNCE.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAR OLD CHI,--If you can find out what Hazel would
+like specially for Christmas, just let me know.</p>
+<p class="pnext">MARCH.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAR CHI,--Can you manage to get us all down to Barton's
+some Saturday to do some Christmas shopping?</p>
+<p class="pnext">Your ROSE-POSE.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">All-hallow-e'en.</p>
+<p class="pnext">DEAREST PAPA,--Will you please ask Aunt Carrie to please
+help you buy these Christmas things?  I enclose fifty dollars;
+(your check.)</p>
+<p class="pnext">A white serge dress pattern, like mine.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A book of lovely foreign photographs of buildings and
+pictures for March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">2 pairs of white kid gloves, number 6.</p>
+<p class="pnext">2 pairs of tan kid gloves, number 6-¼.</p>
+<p class="pnext">1 pair fur-lined gloves for March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">1 pair ditto for Mr. Blossom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A year's subscription for the Woman's Hearthstone Journal
+for Maria-Ann.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A small shirt waist ironing-board for Aunt Tryphosa.</p>
+<p class="pnext">1 pair brown woolen gloves and one pair of those fleece-lined
+beaver gauntlet driving gloves like those of yours, for Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">1 blue Kardigan jacket for Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The other things I think I can get at Barton's River.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Your devoted daughter,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL CLYDE.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Well," said Chi, thoughtfully, as he finished reading
+them a second time, "I 've got more than one string to
+my bow this year.  Beats all, how Chris'mus limbers up
+a man's feelin's!  Guess 't was meant for all of us children
+of a lovin' Father."  So saying, Chi knelt beside his bed,
+and, dropping his face in his hands, remained there motionless
+for a few minutes, while his loving, gentle, manly
+"soul was on its knees."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-christmas-prelude">XVI</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A CHRISTMAS PRELUDE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"It 's goin' to be an awful cold night, grandmarm,"
+said Maria-Ann as she stepped to the door just after sunset
+on Christmas eve.  The old dame followed her and looked
+out over her shoulder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know 't is; my fingers stuck to the latch when I went
+out to see after Dorcas.  While your gettin' supper, I 'm
+goin' to bundle up the rooster and the hens, or they 'll
+freeze their combs, sure's your name's Maria-Ann; looks
+kinder Chris'musy, don't it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I was just thinkin' of that, grandmarm; just look at
+that star in the east!"  She pointed to a shoulder of the
+Mountain, where a serene planet was ascending the dark
+blue heavens.  "An' there 's been just enough snow to
+make all the spruces look like the Sunday School tree, all
+roped over with pop-corn.  Do you remember that last one,
+grandmarm?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I ain't never forgot it, Maria-Ann; that's ten year ago,
+an' I sha'n't never see another?"  She shivered, and drew
+back out of the keen air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nor I," said Maria-Ann, shutting the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know why not," snapped Aunt Tryphosa, who
+always contradicted Maria-Ann when she could.  "I guess
+we can have a Chris'mus tree same's other folks; we 've got
+trees enough."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's so," replied Maria-Ann, laughing.  "Let's have
+one to-morrow, grandmarm.  I don't see why we can't
+have a tree just as well as we can have wreaths--see what
+beauties I 've made!  I 've saved the four handsomest for
+Mis' Blossom an' Mis' Ford."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You do beat all, Maria-Ann, making wreaths with them
+greens and bitter-sweet; I wish you 'd hang 'em up
+to-night; 'twould make the room seem kinder Chris'musy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To be sure I will."  And Maria-Ann bustled about,
+hanging the beautiful rounds of green and red in each of the
+kitchen windows, on the panes of which the frost was
+already sparkling; then, throwing her shawl over her head,
+she stepped out into the night and hung one on the outside
+of the narrow, weather-blackened door.  Again within, she
+set the small, square kitchen table with two plates, two
+cups and saucers of brown and white crockery, the pewter
+spoons and horn-handled knives and forks that her
+grandmother had had when she was first married.  Finally, she
+put on one of the pots of red geranium in the centre and
+stood back to admire the effect.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess we 'll have a treat to-night, seein' it's night
+before Chris'mus--fried apples an' pork, an' some toast;
+an' I 'll cut a cheese to-night, I declare I will, even if
+grandmarm does scold; she 'll eat it fast enough if I don't
+say nothin' about it beforehand."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann had formed the habit of thinking aloud, for
+she had been much alone, and, as she said, "she was a good
+deal of company for herself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, hum!" she sighed, as she cut the pork and sliced
+the apples, "a cup of tea would be about the right thing this
+cold night, but there ain't a mite in the house."  Then she
+laughed: "What you talkin' 'bout luxuries for, Maria-Ann
+Simmons?  You be thankful you 've got a livin'.  I can
+make some good cambric-tea, and put a little spearmint in
+it; that 'll be warmin' as anything."  She began to sing in
+a shrill soprano as she busied herself with the preparations
+for the supper, while the kettle sang, too, and the pork
+sizzled in the spider:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'Must I be carried to the skies</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">On flowery beds of ease,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">While others fought to win the prize</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">And sailed through bloody seas?'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Meanwhile, Aunt Tryphosa, with her lantern in one hand
+and a bundle of red something in the other, had repaired to
+the hen-house which was partitioned off from the woodshed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Had either one of them happened to look out down the
+Mountain-road just at this time, they would have seen a
+strange sight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Along the white roadway, sparkling in the light of the
+rising moon, came six silent forms in Indian file.  Two
+were harnessed to small loaded sledges.  Sometimes, all
+six gesticulated wildly; at others, the two who brought
+up the rear of the file silently danced and capered back
+and forth across the narrow way.  They drew near the
+house on the woodshed side; the first two freed themselves
+from the sledges, and left them under one of the unlighted
+windows.  Then all six, attracted by the glimmer of the
+lantern shining from the one small aperture of the
+hen-house, stole up noiselessly and looked in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What they saw proved too much for their risibles, and
+suppressed giggles and snickers and choking laughter
+nearly betrayed their presence to the old dame within.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the low roost sat Aunt Tryphosa's noble Plymouth
+Rock rooster, and beside him, in an orderly row, her ten
+hens.  Every hen had on her head a tiny flannel hood--some
+were red, some were white--the strings knotted
+firmly under their bills by Aunt Tryphosa's old fingers
+trembling with the cold.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was just blanketing the rooster, who submitted with
+a meekness which proved undeniably that he was under
+petticoat government, for all the airs he gave himself with
+his wives.  The funny, little, hooded heads twisting and
+turning, the "aks" and "oks" which accompanied Aunt
+Tryphosa in her labor of love, the wild stretching and
+flapping of wings, all furnished a scene never to be
+forgotten by the six pairs of laughing eyes that beheld it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The moment the old dame took up her lantern, the
+spectators sped around the corner.  Under the dark
+windows they noiselessly unloaded the wood-sleds, and silently
+carried bundles, baskets, and burlap-bags around to the
+front door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At last they had fairly barricaded it, and the tallest of
+the party, after fastening a piece of paper in the Christmas
+wreath that Maria-Ann had hung up only a half-hour
+before, motioned to the others to step up to the kitchen
+window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just one glimpse they had through the thickening frost
+and the wreathing green: a glimpse of the kitchen table,
+the steaming apples, the pot of red geranium, the two cups
+of smoking spearmint tea, and of two heads--the one
+white, the other brown--bent low over folded, toil-worn
+hands in the reverent attitude for the evening "grace."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"For what we are now about to receive, may the Lord
+make us truly thankful," said Aunt Tryphosa, in a
+quavering voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Amen," said Maria-Ann, heartily--"Land sakes,
+grandmarm! how you scairt me, looking up so sudden!"
+she exclaimed, almost in the same breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thought I heerd somethin'," said the old dame, holding
+her head in a listening attitude--"Hark!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't hear nothin', grandmarm.  Now, just eat your
+apples while they 're hot.  What did you think you heard?"
+she continued, dishing the apples.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought I heerd it when I was out in the shed, too."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should n't wonder if 't was a deer.  I saw one come
+into the clearing this afternoon, an' seein' 't was Christmas
+evening, I put a good bundle of hay out to the south door
+of the cow-shed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess 't was that, then," said Aunt Tryphosa.  "You
+clear up, Maria-Ann, an' I 'll keep up a good fire, for I
+want to finish off them stockings for Ben Blossom an' Chi.
+I s'pose you 've got your things ready in case we see a
+team go by to-morrow?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, they 're all ready," said her granddaughter, rather
+absently, and set about washing the few dishes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When all was done, neatly and quickly as Maria-Ann so
+well knew how, she flung on her shawl, saying:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm goin' out a minute to see if the bundle of hay is
+gone, and besides, I want to look at the moon on the snow;
+it's the first time I 've seen it so this year."  She opened
+the door--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Luddy!" she screamed, as bundle, and basket, and
+bag toppled over into the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Land sakes alive!" quavered Aunt Tryphosa, hurrying
+to the rescue.  "Did n't I tell you I heerd somethin'?
+What be they?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Presents!" cried Maria-Ann, pulling, and hauling,
+and gathering up, and finally getting the door shut.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Seems to me I see somethin' white catched onto the
+door 'fore you shut it," said Aunt Tryphosa.  "Better
+look an' see."  Again her granddaughter opened the door,
+and found the strip of paper on which was written;</p>
+<p class="left pnext white-space-pre-line">"Merry Christmas! with best wishes of<br />
+Benjamin and Mary Blossom and May,<br />
+Malachi Graham and Rose Eleanor Blossom,<br />
+March Blossom and Hazel Clyde,<br />
+Benjamin Budd Blossom and Cherry Elizabeth Blossom of<br />
+the N.B.B.O.O., and of<br />
+John Curtis Clyde of New York; U.S.A.; N.A.; W.H."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Oh, grandmarm!  It's just like a romantic novel!"
+cried Maria-Ann, who was as full of sentiment as an egg
+is full of yolk.  "It makes me feel kinder queer, comin'
+just now right after we was talkin' 'bout our tree.  You
+open first, an' then we 'll take turns."  Aunt Tryphosa,
+who was winking very hard behind her spectacles, was not
+loath to begin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let's haul 'em up to the stove; it's so awful cold,"
+she said, shivering.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you 've let the fire go down; that's the reason.
+Don't you remember you was goin' to put on the wood just
+as the things fell in?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So I was," said her grandmother, making good her
+forgetfulness; in a few minutes there was a roaring fire,
+and the room was filled with a genial warmth.  Then they
+sat down to their delightful task, Maria-Ann kneeling on
+the square of rag carpet before the stove.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My land!" cried Aunt Tryphosa, clapping her hands
+together as she opened the largest burlap bag; "if that
+boy ain't stuffed this two-bushel bag chock full of birch
+bark!  Look a-here, Maria-Ann, you read this slip of
+paper for me; my specs get so dim come night-time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The truth was, the tears were running down Aunt
+Tryphosa's wrinkled cheeks and filming her eyes to such
+an extent that she saw the birch bark through all the
+colors of the rainbow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'For Aunt Tryphosa from Budd Blossom to make
+her fires quick with cold mornings.'  Did you ever?"
+said Maria-Ann, untying another large burlap bundle--"What's
+this?  'Made by Rose Blossom and Hazel Clyde
+to keep Aunt Tryphosa snug and warm o' nights when the
+mercury is below zero.'  O grandmarm, look at this!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann unrolled a coverlet made of silk patch-work
+(bright bits and pieces that Hazel had begged of Aunt
+Carrie and Mrs. Heath and others of her New York
+friends) lined with thin flannel and filled with feathers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Aunt Tryphosa was speechless for the first time in
+her life; and, seeing this, Maria-Ann took advantage of it
+to do a little talking on her own account.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She don't seem like a city girl in her ways; she ain't
+a bit stuck up--Oh, what's <em class="italics">this</em>!"  She poked, and
+fingered, and pinched, but failed to guess.  Aunt Tryphosa
+grew impatient.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let me <em class="italics">see</em>, you 've done nothin' but feel," she said,
+reaching for the package, and Maria-Ann handed it over
+to her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again Mrs. Tryphosa Little was nearly dumb, as the
+miscellaneous contents of the queer, knobby parcel were
+brought to light.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"These are for you, Maria-Ann," she said in an awed
+voice, laying them on the kitchen table one after the
+other:--A copy of the Woman's Hearthstone Journal, with the
+receipt for a year's subscription pinned to it;--A small shirt
+waist ironing-board;--A pair of fleece-lined Arctics that
+buttoned half-way up Maria-Ann's sturdy legs when, an
+hour later, she tried them on;--Six paper-covered novels
+of the Chimney Corner Library including Lorna Doone
+(Hazel had discovered in her frequent visits, that Aunt
+Tryphosa's granddaughter at twenty-nine was as romantic
+as a girl of seventeen);--A box of preserved ginger;--Two
+pounds of Old Hyson Tea;--(upon which Maria-Ann
+bounced up from the floor, and without more ado made
+two cups, much to her grandmother's amazement);--Six
+pounds of lump sugar;---A dozen lemons;--A dozen
+oranges;--A white Liberty-silk scarf tucked into an
+envelope;--Six ounces of scarlet knitting-wool;--All
+for "Miss Maria-Ann Simmons, with Hazel Clyde's best
+wishes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then it was Maria-Ann Simmons's turn to break down
+and weep, at which Aunt Tryphosa fidgeted, for she had
+not seen her granddaughter cry since she was a little girl.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't act like a fool, Maria-Ann," she said, crustily,
+to hide her own feelings; "take your things an' enjoy 'em.
+I 've seen tears enough for night before Chris'mus," she
+added, ignoring the fact that she had established a precedent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I won't, grandmarm," said her granddaughter,
+laughing and crying at the same time; "but I 'm goin' to
+have that cup of tea first to kind of strengthen me 'fore I
+open the rest," she added decidedly.  "Besides, I don't
+want to see everything at once; I want it to last."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't mind if I have mine, too.  Guess you may put
+in two lumps, seein' as we did n't have to pay for it," and
+the old dame sipped her Hyson with supreme satisfaction,
+as did likewise her granddaughter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the latter pushed back her chair from the table, her
+grandmother cautioned her:--"Look out! you 're settin'
+it on another bag!"  But it was too late.  To Aunt
+Tryphosa's amazement and Maria-Ann's horror, the bag
+suddenly flopped up and down on the floor, the motion
+being accompanied with such an unearthly,
+"A--ee--eetsch--ok--ak--ache--eetsch!" that the two women's
+faces grew pale, and they jumped as if they had been
+shot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Maria-Ann, with her hand on her thumping heart,
+burst into a shrill laugh, and Aunt Tryphosa quavered a
+thin accompaniment.  How they laughed! till again the
+tears rolled down their cheeks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Scairt of hens!" chuckled the old dame as she undid
+the strings of the bag--"at my time of life!  Oh, my
+stars and garters, Maria-Ann! ain't they beauties?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She drew out by the legs two snow-white Wyandotte
+pullets, and held them up admiringly.  "They 're from
+March, I know; but just to think of this, Maria-Ann!"  Again
+words and, curiously enough, eyes, too, failed her,
+and her granddaughter read the slip of paper tied around
+the leg of one of the hens:--"'One for Aunt Tryphosa,
+and one for Maria-Ann; have laid three times; last time
+day before yesterday; I hope they 'll lay two
+Christmas-morning eggs for your breakfast.  March Blossom.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm goin' to put 'em on some hay in the clothes-basket,
+Maria-Ann, an' keep 'em right under my bed where
+it's good an' warm," said Aunt Tryphosa, decidedly.
+"They 're kinder quality folks and can't be turned in
+among common fowl.  Besides, I ain't got another hood,
+an' if they <em class="italics">should</em> freeze their combs, I 'd never forgive
+myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I would, grandmarm," said Maria-Ann, still
+laughing, as she untied the last two bundles.  "Laws!"
+she exclaimed, "Here 's New York style for you."  She
+read the visiting card:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To Mrs. Tryphosa Little, with the Season's compliments
+from John Curtis Clyde.  4 East ----th Street."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I 'm dumbfoundered," sighed Mrs. Tryphosa
+Little, and more she could not say as she took out of the
+large pasteboard box, a white silk neckerchief, a cap of
+black net and lace with a "chou" of purple satin
+lutestring, a black fur collar and a muff to match, in all of
+which she proceeded to array herself with the utmost
+despatch, forgetful of the two hens, which, after wandering
+aimlessly about the kitchen, had roosted finally on the
+back of her wooden rocking-chair, where they balanced
+themselves with some difficulty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But suddenly, as she was thrusting her hands into the
+new muff, she paused, laid it down on the table, and said,
+rather querulously, "Help me off with these things,
+Maria-Ann; I 'm all tuckered out.  I can stan' a day's washin'
+as well as anybody, if I am eighty-one come next June,
+but I can't stan' no such night 'fore Chris'mus as this,
+an' I 'm goin' to bed, an' take the hens."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I would, grandmarm," said her granddaughter, gently,
+taking off the unwonted finery and kissing the wrinkled
+face.  "You go to bed; I put the soap-stone in two hours
+ago, so it's nice an' warm.  I 'll clear up, an' don't you
+mind me--here, let me take one of those hens."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I can take care of hens anytime," snapped Aunt
+Tryphosa, for she was tired out with happiness, "but I
+can't stan' so many presents, an' I 'm too old to begin."  She
+disappeared in the bed-room, the two Wyandotte hens
+hanging limply, heads downward, from each hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann picked up the paper and the wraps, and
+made all tidy again in the kitchen.  She put her hand on
+the last bag that was so heavy she had not moved it from
+the door.  "It's a bag of cracked corn--hen-feed," she
+said to herself, "an' it's from Chi, I know as well as if
+I'd been told."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then she sat down in the rocker before the stove and
+put her feet in the oven to warm.  She blew out the light
+and sat awhile in silence, thinking happy thoughts.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The fire crackled in the stove, and dancing lights,
+reflected from the open grate, played on the wall.  The
+moon shone full upon the frosted window panes, and the
+Christmas wreaths were set in masses of encrusted
+brilliants.  The kettle began to sing, and so did
+Maria-Ann--but softly, for fear of waking Aunt Tryphosa:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'My soul, be on thy guard;</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">Ten thousand foes arise;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">The hosts of sin are pressing hard</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">To draw thee from the skies.'"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="hunger-ford">XVII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">HUNGER-FORD</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Such a line of communication as was soon established
+between Mount Hunger and New York, Mount Hunger
+and Cambridge, the Lost Nation and Barton's River,
+Hunger-ford--the Fords' new name for the old Morris
+farm--and the Blossom homestead on the Mountain!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Uncle Sam's post, the Western Union Telegraph Company,
+the American Express, a line of freight, saddle
+horses, sleds, and the old apple-green cart on runners were
+all pressed into service; in all the United States of
+America there were no busier young people than those
+belonging to the Lost Nation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They wrote notes to one another with an air of great
+mystery; they drove singly, in couples, or all together to
+Barton's River with Chi; they smuggled in bundles and
+express packages of all sorts and sizes; looked guilty if
+caught whispering together in the pantry; took many a
+sled-ride over to Hunger-ford, and audaciously remained
+there three hours at a time without giving Mrs. Blossom
+any good reason either for their going or remaining.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The acquaintance formed between the Blossoms and the
+Fords just after Thanksgiving, was fast ripening into
+friendship.  March, usually shy with strangers, fairly
+adored the tall, quiet son with the wonderful smile, and
+expanded at once in his genial presence.  With Ruth Ford
+he had much in common; and regularly once a week since
+Thanksgiving he had drawn and painted with her in her
+studio, the room that Aunt Tryphosa had so graphically
+described.  His gift was far more in that direction than
+hers; and Ruth, recognizing it, encouraged him, spurred
+his ambition, and placed all her materials at his disposal.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose's sweet voice had proved a delight to them all, and
+Hazel's violin was being taught to play a gentle
+accompaniment to Alan Ford's, that sang, or wept, or rejoiced
+according to the player's mood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am so thankful, Ben, that our Rose can have the
+advantage of such companions just at this time of her life,"
+said Mrs. Blossom, on the afternoon before Christmas
+when the two eldest, with Hazel, had gone over to Hunger-ford
+with joyful secrets written all over their happy faces.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So am I, Mary.  When I see young men like Ford, I
+realize what I lost in being obliged to give up college on
+father's account," said Mr. Blossom, with a sigh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do, too, Ben; and what I 've lost in opportunity
+when I see that gifted woman, Mrs. Ford.  She has
+travelled extensively, she reads and speaks both German and
+French, she is a really wonderful musician, and keeps up
+with every interest of the day, besides being a splendid
+housekeeper and devoted to her children."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you regret it, Mary?" said her husband, looking
+straight before him into the fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not with you, Ben," was Mary Blossom's answer.
+Taking her husband's face in both her hands and turning
+it towards her, she looked into his eyes, and received the
+smile and kiss that were always ready for her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If we did n't have all this when we were young people,
+Mary, we 'll hope that we may have it in our children," he
+said, earnestly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then Chi came in, and gave a loud preliminary,
+"Hem!" for to him, Ben and Mary Blossom would always
+be lovers.  "Guess 't is 'bout time to hitch up, if you 're
+goin' clear down to Barton's to meet the train, Ben; I 've
+got to go over eastwards with the children."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, Chi, I 'd rather drive down to the station
+to-night; it's good sleighing and our Mountain is a fine
+sight by moonlight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can't be beat," said Chi, emphatically.  "S'pose you 'll
+be back by seven, sharp?  I kind of want to time myself,
+on account of the s'prise."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 'll say seven, and I 'll make it earlier if I can.
+You 're off for Aunt Tryphosa's now?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just finished loadin' up--There they are!" and in
+rushed the whole troop, hooded and mittened and jacketed
+and leggined, ready for their after-sunset raid.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-bye, Martie!" screamed Cherry, wild with excitement,
+and made a dash for the door; then she turned back
+with another dash that nearly upset May, and, throwing her
+arms around her mother's neck, nearly squeezed the breath
+from her body.  "O Mumpsey, Dumpsey, dear!  I 'm
+having such an awfully good time; it's so much happier
+than last Christmas!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And, O Popsey, Dopsey, dear!" laughed Rose, mimicking
+her, but with a voice full of love, and both mittens
+caressing his face, "it's so good to have you well enough
+to celebrate this year!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel slipped her hand into Chi's, and whispered, "Oh,
+Chi, I wish I had a lot of brothers and sisters like Rose.
+Anyway, papa's coming to-night, so I 'll have one of my
+own," she added proudly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess we 'd better be gettin' along," said Chi, still
+holding Hazel's hand.  "It's goin' to be a stinger, 'n' it's
+a mile 'n' a half over there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come on all!" cried March; "we 'll be back before
+you are, father."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 'll see about that," laughed his father, as he caught
+the merry twinkle in his wife's eye.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But March was right by the margin of only a minute or
+two; for just as the merry crowd entered the house on their
+return from their errand of "goodwill," they heard
+Mr. Blossom drive the sleigh into the barn.  In another moment
+Hazel had flung wide the door and was caught up into her
+father's arms.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the midst of their cordial greetings there was a loud
+knock at the door.  They all started at the sound, and
+Budd, who was nearest, opened it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Please, Budd, may I come in, too?" said a voice
+everyone recognized as the Doctor's.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then the whole Blossom household lost their heads where
+they had lost their hearts the year before.  Rose and Hazel
+and Cherry fairly smothered him with kisses; Budd wrung
+one hand, March gripped another; May clung to one leg,
+and the monster of a puppy contrived to get under foot,
+although he stood two feet ten.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack Sherrill, looking in at the window upon all this
+loving hominess, felt, somehow, physically and spiritually
+left out in the cold.  "What a fool I was to come!" he
+said to himself.  Nevertheless he carried out his part of
+the program by stepping up to the door and knocking.
+This time Mrs. Blossom opened it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you room for one more, Mrs. Blossom?" he said
+with an attempt at a smile, but looking sadly wistful, so
+wistful and lonely that Mary Blossom put out both hands
+without a word, and, somehow,--Jack, in thinking it over
+afterwards, never could tell how it happened so naturally--he
+was giving her a son's greeting, and receiving a
+mother's kiss in return.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In a moment Hazel's arms were around his neck;--"Oh,
+Jack, Jack!  I 've got three of my own now; I 'm
+almost as rich as Rose!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose, hearing her name, came forward with frank, cordial
+greeting, and May transferred her demonstrations of
+affection from the Doctor's trousers to Jack's; Cherry's curls
+bobbed and quivered with excitement when Jack claimed a
+kiss from "Little Sunbonnet," and received two hearty
+smacks in return; March took his travelling bag; Budd
+kept close beside him, and the puppy, who had been
+christened Tell, nosed his hand, and, sitting down on his
+haunches, pawed the air frantically until Jack shook hands
+with him, too.</p>
+<p class="pnext">By this time the wistful look had disappeared from
+Jack's eyes, and his handsome face was filled with such a
+glad light that the Doctor noticed it at once.  He shook
+his head dubiously, with his eyebrows drawn together in a
+straight line over the bridge of his nose, and, from
+underneath, his keen eyes glanced from Jack to Rose and from
+Rose back again to Jack.  Then his face cleared, and
+explanations were in order.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you see," the Doctor said to Mrs. Blossom, "my
+wife had to go South with her sister, and could not be at
+home for Christmas--the first we 've missed celebrating
+together since we were married--and when I found John
+was coming up to spend it with you, I couldn't resist
+giving myself this one good time.  But Jack here has
+failed to give any satisfactory account of how or why he
+came to intrude his long person just at this festive time.
+I thought you were off at a Lenox house-party with the
+Seatons?" he said, quizzically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack laughed good-naturedly.  "I don't blame you for
+wondering at my being here; but I've been here before,"
+he said, willing to pay back the Doctor in his own coin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The deuce you have!" exclaimed the Doctor.  "I say,
+Johnny, are we growing old that these young people get
+ahead of us so easily?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know how you feel, Dick, but I 'm as young as
+Jack to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That 's right, Papa Clyde," said Hazel, approvingly,
+softly patting her father on the head; "and, Jack, you 're
+a dear to come up here to see us, for you 've just as much
+right as the Doctor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Doctor pretended to grumble:--"Come to see you,
+indeed, you superior young woman--<em class="italics">you</em> indeed!  As if
+there weren't any other girls in the world or on Mount
+Hunger but you and Rose--much you know about it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I 'd like to know who you came to see, if not
+us?" laughed Hazel, sure of her ultimate triumph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, my dear Ruth Ford, to be sure."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ruth Ford!" they exclaimed in amazement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not Ruth Ford?  You did n't suppose I would
+come away up here into the wilds of Vermont in the dead
+of winter, did you?  just to see--"  But Hazel laid her
+hand on his mouth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stop teasing, do," she pleaded, "and tell us how you
+knew our Ruth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Our</em> Ruth!  Ye men of York, hear her!" said the
+Doctor, appealing to Mr. Clyde and Jack.  "The next
+thing will be 'our Alan Ford,' I suppose.  How will you
+like that, Jack?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I feel like saying 'confound him,' only it would n't be
+polite.  You see, Doctor, I thought I had preëmpted the
+whole Mountain, and was prepared to make a conquest of
+Miss Maria-Ann Simmons even; but if Mr. Ford has
+stepped in"--Jack assumed a tragic air--"there is
+nothing left for me in honor, but to throw down the
+gauntlet and challenge him to single combat--hockey-sticks
+and hot lemonade--for her fair hand."</p>
+<p class="pnext">At the mention of Maria-Ann, Rose and Hazel, Budd
+and Cherry and March went off into fits of laughter.
+They laughed so immoderately that it proved infectious
+for their elders, and when Chi entered the room Budd
+cried out, "Oh, Chi, you tell about the--we can't--the
+rooster and the hoods, and--Oh my eye!--"  Budd was
+apparently on the verge of convulsions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I stuffed snow into my mouth and made my teeth ache
+so as not to laugh out loud," said Cherry; at which there
+was another shout, and still another outburst at the table
+when Chi described the scene in the hen-house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, children," said Mrs. Blossom, after the somewhat
+hilarious evening meal was over, the table cleared, the
+dishes were wiped and put away, "we 're going to do just
+for this once as you want us to--hang up our stockings;
+but I want all of you to hang up yours, too.  If you don't,
+I shall miss the sixes and sevens and eights so, that it will
+spoil my Christmas."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We will, Martie," they assented, joyfully; for, as
+March said, it would not seem like night before Christmas
+if they did not hang up their stockings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and papa, and you," said Hazel, turning to the
+Doctor, "must hang up yours, and you, too, Jack."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, of course," said Mrs. Blossom, "everybody is to
+hang up a stocking to-night, even Tell."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Martie, how funny!" cried Cherry, "but he
+has n't a truly stocking."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, but one of Budd's will do for his huge paw--won't
+it, old fellow?" she said, patting his great head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Budd must needs bring out a pair of his pedal
+coverings and try one brown woollen one on Tell, much
+to his majesty's surprise; for Tell was a most dignified
+youth of a dog, as became his nine months and his famous
+breed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Early in the evening the stockings were hung up over
+the fireplace, all sizes and all colors:--May's little red
+one and Chi's coarse blue one; Mr. Clyde's of thick silk,
+and Budd's and Tell's of woollen; Hazel's of black
+cashmere beside Jack's striped Balbriggan.  What an array!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Mrs. Blossom and May went off into the bedroom,
+and Mr. Blossom and his guests were forced to smoke
+their after-tea cigars in the guest bedroom upstairs, while
+the young people brought out their treasures and stuffed
+the grown-up stockings till they were painfully distorted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't they look lovely!" whispered Hazel, ecstatically
+to March, who begged Rose to get another of their mother's
+stockings, for the one proved insufficient for the fascinating
+little packages that were labelled for her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let's go right to bed now," suggested Budd, "then
+mother 'll fill ours--Oh, I forgot," he added, ruefully,
+"we are n't going to have presents this year--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes, we are, too, Budd," said Rose, "we 're going
+to give one another out of our own money."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Cracky!  I forgot all about that--"  Budd tore upstairs
+in the dark, and tore down again and into the bedroom,
+crying:--"Now all shut your eyes while I 'm going
+through!" which they did most conscientiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Soon they, too, were invited laughingly to retire, and by
+half-past ten the house was quiet.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE,</div>
+<div class="line">NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, NOT EVEN A MOUSE;"</div>
+<div class="line">Stretched out on the hearth-rug lay Tell snoring loudly,</div>
+<div class="line">And above from the mantel the stockings hung proudly;</div>
+<div class="line">When down from the stairway there came such a patter</div>
+<div class="line">Of stockingless feet--'t was no laughing matter!</div>
+<div class="line">As the good Doctor thought, for he sprang out of bed</div>
+<div class="line">To see if 't were real, or a dream iii its stead.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">But no! with his eye at a crack of the door</div>
+<div class="line">He discovered the truth--'t was the Blossoms, all four,</div>
+<div class="line">With Hazel to aid them, tiptoeing about</div>
+<div class="line">Like a party of ghosts grown a little too stout.</div>
+<div class="line">They pinched and they fingered; they poked and they squeezed</div>
+<div class="line">Each plump Christmas stocking--then somebody sneezed!</div>
+<div class="line">Consternation and terror!!  The tall clock struck one</div>
+<div class="line">As the ghosts disappeared on the double-quick run!</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+<div class="line">"'T WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE,</div>
+<div class="line">NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, NOT EVEN A MOUSE;"</div>
+<div class="line">Without in the moonlight, the snow sparkled bright;</div>
+<div class="line">The Mountain stood wrapped in a mantle of white,</div>
+<div class="line">With a crown of dark firs on his noble old crest</div>
+<div class="line">And ermine and diamonds adorning his breast;</div>
+<div class="line">And the stars that above him swung true into line</div>
+<div class="line">Once shone o'er a manger in far Palestine.</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">What a Christmas morning that was!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi was up at five o'clock, building roaring fires, for it
+was ten degrees below zero.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With the first glint of the sun on the frosted panes the
+household was astir.  At precisely seven the order was
+given to take down the thirteen stockings.  But bless
+you!  You 're not to think the stockings could hold all
+the gifts.  In front of each wide jamb were piled the
+bundles and packages, three feet high!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose hesitated a moment when the children sat down on
+the rug with their stockings, as was their custom every
+Christmas morn; then she plumped down among them,
+saying, laughingly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't care if I <em class="italics">am</em> growing up, Martie--it's Christmas."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Upon which Jack, hugging his striped Balbriggan, sat
+down beside her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Such "Ohs" and "Ahs"!  Such thankings and squeezings!
+Such somersaults as were turned by March and
+Budd at the kitchen end of the long-room!  Such
+rapturous gurgles from May!  Such hand-shakes and kisses!
+Such silent bliss on the part of Chi, who, though suffering
+as if in a Turkish bath, had donned his new, blue woollen
+sweater, drawn on his gauntleted beaver gloves, and
+proceeded to investigate his stocking with the air of a man
+who has nothing more to wish for.  And through all the
+chaotic happiness a sentence could be distinguished now
+and then.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi, these corn-cob pipes are just what I shall want
+after Christmas when I give my Junior Smoker."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Martie, it can't be for me!" as the lovely white
+serge dress, ready made and trimmed with lace, was held
+up to Rose's admiring eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd was caressing with approving fingers a regular
+"base-ball-nine" bat and admiring the white leather balls.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I say, it's a stunner, Mr. Sherrill; but how did you
+know I wanted it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde, who was touched to his very heart's core by
+Hazel's gift of a dollar pair of suspenders which she had
+earned by her own labor, felt a small hand slipped into his,
+and found Cherry Bounce looking up at him with wide,
+adoring, brown eyes, which, for the first time, she had
+taken from her beautiful Émilie Angélique, whom she
+held pressed to her heart:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to whisper to you," she said, shyly.  Mr. Clyde
+bent down to her;--"After I said my prayers to Martie,
+I asked God to give me Émilie Angélique--every night,"
+she nodded--"but I only told Budd, so how <em class="italics">did</em> you know?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">March was lost to the world in his volume of foreign
+photographs, in his boxes of paints and brushes, and a
+whole set of drawing materials.  He had not as yet thanked
+Hazel for them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Everybody was happy and satisfied.  Everybody said he
+or she had received just exactly the thing.  Tell alone
+could not express his gratification in words.  He had been
+given his woollen stocking, and nosed about till he had
+brought forth three fat dog-biscuit, a deliciously
+juicy-greasy beef bone, wrapped in white waxed paper and tied
+at one end with a blue ribbon, a fine nickelplated dog
+collar with a bell attached, and last, from the brown
+woollen toe, three lumps of sugar.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One by one he took the gifts and laid them down at
+Mrs. Blossom's feet; putting one huge paw firmly on the
+waxed-paper package, he waved the other wildly until she
+took it and spoke a loving word to him.  Then, taking up
+his beloved bone, he retired with it to the farthest end
+of the long-room, under the kitchen sink, and licked it in
+peace and joy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack and Chi in the joyful confusion had slipped from
+the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Soon there was a commotion in the woodshed, and the
+two made their appearance dragging after them a
+brand-new double-runner and a real Canadian toboggan, which
+Jack had ordered from Montreal for March.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Breakfast proved to be a short meal, for the whole family
+was wild to try the new toboggan with Jack to engineer
+it.  Then it was up and down--down and up the steep
+mountain road; Jack and Doctor Heath, Mr. Clyde,
+Mr. Blossom and Chi, all on together--clinging for dear life,
+laughing, whooping, panting, hurrahing like boys let out
+from school, while March and Budd and Rose and Hazel
+and Cherry flew after them on the double-runner, the keen
+air biting rose-red cheeks, and bringing the stinging water
+to the eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But what sport it was!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, this is something like," panted Jack, drawing
+up the hill with Chi, his handsome face aglow with life
+and joy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By George Washin'ton! it's the nearest thing to
+shootin' Niagary that I ever come," puffed Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Didn't we take that water-bar neatly?" laughed Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'N inch higher, 'n' we 'd all been goners;--I had n't
+a minute to think of it, goin' to the rate of a mile a
+minute; but if I had--I 'd have dusted!  Guess I 'll make
+it level before I try it with the children,--'n' I want you
+to know there 's no coward about me, but I 'm just
+speakin' six for myself this time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">So the morning sped.  Even Mrs. Blossom and May
+were taken down once, and the Doctor stopped only
+because he wanted to make a morning call on his patient,
+Ruth Ford; for it was by his advice the family had come
+to live for three years in this mountain region.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The horn for the mid-day meal sounded down the Mountain
+before they had thought of finishing the exciting
+sport, and one and all brought such keen appetites to the
+Christmas dinner, that Mrs. Blossom declared laughingly
+that she would give them no supper, for they had eaten
+the pantry shelves bare.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Such roast goose and barberry jam!  Such a noble
+plum-pudding set in the midst of Maria-Ann's best wreath,
+for she and Aunt Tryphosa had sent over their simple
+gifts by an early teamster.  Such red Northern Spies and
+winter russet pears!  And such mirth and shouts and
+jests and quips to accompany each course!</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was genuine New England Christmas cheer, and the
+healths were drunk in the wine of the apple amid great
+applause, especially Doctor Heath's:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Health, peace, and long life to the Lost Nation--May
+its tribe increase!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">And how they laughed at Chi, when he proposed the
+health of the Prize Chicken (which, by the way, he had
+kept for the next season's mascot,) and recounted the
+episode in the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What shouts greeted Budd, who, rising with great
+gravity, his mouth puckered into real, not mock,
+seriousness--and that was the comical part of it all--said
+earnestly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To my first wife!" and sat down rather red, but
+gratified not only by the prolonged applause, but by the
+enthusiasm with which they drank to this unexpected toast from
+his unsentimental self.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Directly after dinner Mr. Clyde declared that a seven-mile
+walk was an actual necessity for him in his present
+condition, and invited all who would to accompany him to
+call in state on Mrs. Tryphosa Little and Miss Maria-Ann
+Simmons.  Only Doctor Heath and Jack went with him,
+for Mr. Blossom and Chi had matters to attend to at home,
+and Rose and Cherry and Hazel were needed to help
+Mrs. Blossom.  Even March and Budd turned to and wiped
+dishes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll set the table now, Martie," said Rose, "then there
+will be no confusion to-night--there are so many of us."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No need for that to-night, children," replied Mrs. Blossom,
+with a merry smile.  "'The last is the best of
+all the rest,' for we were all invited a week ago to take
+tea and spend Christmas evening at Hunger-ford."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Martie!"  A joyful shout went up from the six,
+that was followed by jigs and double-shuffles, pas-seuls
+and fancy steps, in which dish-towels were waved wildly,
+and tin pans were pounded instead of wiped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the din had somewhat subsided there were numberless
+questions asked; by the time they were all answered,
+and Rose and Hazel had donned their white serge dresses,
+the gentlemen had returned from their walk, and it was
+time to go.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's why Mrs. Ford had us learn all those songs,"
+said Rose to Hazel.  "Don't forget to take your violin."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A merrier Christmas party never set forth on a straw-ride.
+Mr. and Mrs. Blossom and May went over in the
+sleigh, but the rest piled into the apple-green pung, and
+when they came in sight of the seven-gabled-house, a
+rousing three times three, mingling with the sound of the
+sleigh-bells, greeted the pretty sight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Every window was illumined, and adorned with a
+Christmas wreath.  In the light of the rising moon, then
+at the full, the snow that covered the roof sparkled like
+frosted silver.  The house, with its background of sharply
+sloping hill wooded with spruce and pine, its twinkling
+lights and the surrounding white expanse, looked like an
+illuminated Christmas card.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Within, the hall was festooned with ground hemlock
+and holly; a roaring fire of hickory logs furnished light
+and to spare.  In the living-room and dining-room,
+Mr. Clyde and Jack Sherrill found, to their amazement, all the
+elegance and refinement of a city home combined with
+country simplicity.  The tea-table shone with the service
+of silver and sparkled with the many-faceted crystal of
+glass and carafe.  For decoration, the rich red of the holly
+berries gleamed among the dark green gloss of their leaves.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At first, the younger members of the Blossom family
+felt constrained and a little awed in such surroundings;
+for although they had been several times in the house,
+they had never taken tea there.  But the Fords and the
+other city people soon put them at their ease, and, as
+Cherry declared afterwards, "It was like eating in a fairy
+story."  There was a real pigeon pie at one end and a
+Virginia ham at the other, as well as cold, roast duck with
+gooseberry jam.  There were sparkling jellies, and the
+whole family of tea-cakes--orange, cocoanut, sponge, and
+chocolate; and, oh, bliss!--strawberry ice-cream in a nest
+of spun cinnamon candy, followed by Malaga grapes and
+hot chocolate topped with a whip of cream.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After tea there was the surprise of a beautiful Christmas
+Tree in the library.  Ruth Ford had occupied many a
+weary hour in making the decorations--roses and lilies
+fashioned from tissue paper to closely copy nature; gilded
+walnuts; painted paper butterflies; pink sugar hearts,
+and cornucopias of gilt and silver paper, in each of which
+was a bunch of real flowers--roses, violets, carnations,
+and daisies, ordered by Jack Sherrill from New York.  On
+the topmost branch, there was a waxen Christ-child.  The
+tree was lighted by dozens of tiny colored candles.  When
+the door was opened from the living-room, and the children
+caught sight of the wonderful tree, they held their breath
+and whispered to one another.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But more lovely than the tree in the eyes of the older
+people were the radiant faces of the young people and the
+children.  Rose, with clasped hands, stood gazing up at
+the Christ-child that crowned the glowing, glittering mass
+of dark green.  She was wholly unconscious of the many
+pairs of eyes that rested upon her in love and admiration.
+There was nothing so beautiful in the whole room as the
+young girl standing there with earnest blue eyes, raised
+reverently to the little waxen figure.  Her lips were parted
+in a half smile; a flush of excitement was on her cheeks;
+the white dress set off the exquisite fairness of her skin;
+the shining crown of golden-brown hair, that hung in a
+heavy braid to within a foot of the hem of her gown,
+caught the soft lights above her and formed almost a halo
+about the face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly there was a burst of admiration from the
+children, and, under cover of it, Doctor Heath turned to
+Mr. Clyde, who was standing beside him:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By heavens, John!  That girl is too beautiful; she
+will make some hearts ache before she is many years older,
+as well as your own Hazel--look at <em class="italics">her</em> now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The father's eyes rested lovingly, but thoughtfully, on
+the graceful little figure that was busy distributing the
+cornucopias with their fragrant contents.  Yes, she, too,
+was beautiful, giving promise of still greater beauty.  He
+turned to the Doctor and held out his hand:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Richard, I have to thank you for this transformation."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--not me," said the Doctor, earnestly, "but,"
+pointing to Mrs. Blossom, "that woman there, John.  Hazel
+needed the mother-love, just as much as Jack does at this
+moment."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack had turned away when the Doctor began to speak
+of Rose, and, joining her, said, "Won't you wear one of my
+roses just to-night, Miss Blossom?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Your roses!  Why, did you give us all those lovely
+flowers?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I wanted to contribute my share, and flowers
+seemed the most appropriate offering just for to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're lovely," said Rose, caressing the exquisite
+petals of a La France beauty.  "Of course I 'll wear
+one--" she tucked one into her belt; "but why--why!--has n't
+anyone else roses?" She looked about inquiringly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No,--the roses were for their namesake," said Jack,
+quietly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose laughed merrily,--a pleased, girlish laugh.
+"Then won't the giver of the roses call their namesake,
+'Rose'?--for the sake of the roses?" she added
+mischievously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now Jack Sherrill had seen many girls--silly girls,
+flirty girls, sensible girls, charming girls, smart girls, nice
+girls, and horrid girls, and flattered himself he knew every
+species of the genus, but just this once he was puzzled.
+If Rose Blossom had been an arrant flirt, she could not have
+answered him more effectively; yet Jack had decided that
+she had too earnest a nature to descend to flirting.
+Somehow, that word could never be applied to Rose
+Blossom--"My Rose," he said to himself, and knew with a kind of
+a shock when he said it, that he was very far gone.  But
+in the next breath, he had to confess to himself that he
+had "been very far gone" many a time in his twenty-one
+years, so perhaps it did not signify.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Indeed, in the next minute, he was sure it did not
+signify, for, before he could gather his wits sufficiently to
+reply to her, Rose had slipped away to the other side of
+the room, where she was busying herself in fastening one
+of Jack's roses into the buttonhole of Alan Ford's Tuxedo.
+In consequence of which, Jack turned his batteries upon
+Ruth Ford with such effect, that she declared afterwards
+to her mother he was one of the most fascinating <em class="italics">young</em>
+men--for Ruth was twenty-one!--she had ever met.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Ford and Hazel and Mr. Ford had done their best
+to persuade Chi to remain with them for the tree.  Even
+Rose urged--but in vain.  True, the girls had insisted
+upon his taking one look, then he had begged off, saying,
+as he patted Hazel's hand that lay on his arm:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not to-night, Lady-bird.  I don't feel to home in there.
+I 'll sit out here and hear the music, then I can beat time
+with my foot if I want to."  He remained in the hall, just
+outside the living-room door, enjoying all he heard.</p>
+<p class="pnext">First there was a lovely piano duet, an Hungarian waltz
+by Brahms, Mrs. Ford and the grave, quiet son playing
+with such a perfect understanding of each other, as well as
+of the music, that it proved a delight to all present.  Then
+there was a carol by all the children, Rose leading, and
+Mrs. Ford playing the accompaniment:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'Cheery old Winter! merry old Winter!</div>
+<div class="line">Laugh, while with yule-wreath thy temples are bound;</div>
+<div class="line">Drain the spiced bowl now, cheer thy old soul now,</div>
+<div class="line">"Christmas <em class="italics">waes hael</em>!" pledge the holy toast round.</div>
+<div class="line">Broach butt and barrel, with dance and with carol</div>
+<div class="line">Crown we old Winter of revels the king;</div>
+<div class="line">And when he is weary of living so merry,</div>
+<div class="line">He 'll lie down and die on the green lap of Spring.</div>
+<div class="line">Cheery old Winter! merry old Winter!</div>
+<div class="line">He 'll lie down and die on the green lap of Spring!'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">This won great applause, and a loud thumping could be
+heard in the hall.  Jack went out to try his powers of
+persuasion with Chi, and found him sitting close to the door
+with one knee over the other and a La France rose (!) in
+his buttonhole.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come in, Chi, do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ruther 'd sit here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, come on."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nope."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack laughed at the decided tone.  "Where did you get
+this?" he asked, touching the boutonniere.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rose-pose," answered Chi, laconically, but with a
+happy smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Out of her bunch?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nope--took it out of her belt," said Chi, with a
+curious twist of his mouth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack went back crestfallen, and Chi smiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm afraid I cut him out, just for once; kind of rough
+on him, but 't won't hurt him any to have a change.  He 's
+had his own way a little too much," said Chi to himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again there was music, a Schubert serenade, with the
+two violins, and after that, the children begged Hazel to
+dance the Highland Fling as she did once in the barn.
+Hazel, nothing loath, borrowed a blue Liberty-silk scarf
+from Ruth Ford; the rugs being removed and Alan Ford
+tuning his violin, she made her curtsy, and, entering
+heart and body into the spirit of the thing, danced like
+thistle-down shod with joyousness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a pretty sight! and Chi edged into the room,
+while the company made believe ignore him in order to
+induce him to remain there; but when the singing began,
+he slipped out again.  Such singing!  Everybody joined
+in it.  They sang everything;--"Oh, where, tell me
+where, is your Highland laddie gone?";--"Star-spangled
+Banner";--"Marching Along";--"John Anderson, my
+Jo";--"Ye banks and braes o' Bonnie Doon";--"Twinkle,
+twinkle, little star";--"Annie Laurie";--"A
+grasshopper sat on a sweet-potato vine";--"Ben
+Bolt";--"Fair Harvard" and, finally, "Old Hundred."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It had been arranged that Mr. Blossom should take his
+wife and the younger children home in the pung; the rest
+were to walk.  Chi, meanwhile, had driven home in the
+single sleigh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the walk home Jack tried what he had been apt to
+term--of course, to himself--his "confidential scheme"
+with Rose.  He had tried it before with many another,
+and it had never failed to work.  The thought of one of
+his roses in Alan Ford's buttonhole still rankled, and the
+best side of Jack's manhood was not on the surface when
+he entered upon the homeward walk.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Miss Blossom,"--somehow Jack had not quite the
+courage to say "Rose," although he had been so frankly
+invited to--"I want to tell you why I came up here; it
+must have seemed almost an intrusion."</p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 60%" id="figure-41">
+<span id="i-want-to-tell-you-why-i-came-up-here"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-199.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+"'I want to tell you why I came up here'"</div>
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Oh, no, indeed," said Rose, earnestly, "and I know
+why you came; Hazel told me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, she did," said Jack, rather inanely, and a little
+uncertain as to his footing, figuratively speaking; for he
+had given her the chance to ask "Why?"--and she had n't
+taken it; in which she proved herself different from all
+those other girls of his acquaintance.  To himself he
+thought, "Well, for all the cordial indifference, commend
+me to this girl."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I 'm sure it would have seemed like anything but
+Christmas to you in New York with your father in Europe;
+you must miss him so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack felt himself blush in the moonlight at the remembrance
+that he had seen his father but little in the last
+three years, and did not know what it was in reality to
+miss him.  He never remembered to have missed anything
+or anybody but his mother, and that indefinite something
+in his life which he had not yet put himself earnestly to
+seek.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I suppose you 'll be shocked, Miss Blossom, but I
+don't really miss my father.  I 'm only awfully glad to
+see him when I get the chance--which is n't often.  He 's
+such a busy man with railroads and syndicates and real
+estate interests.  I wonder often how he can find time to
+write me even twice a month, which he has done regularly
+ever since--" he stopped abruptly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Since what?" asked Rose, innocently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Since my mother died," said Jack, in a hard, dry voice
+that served to cover his feeling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," Rose nodded sympathetically, "Hazel told
+me."  Then--for Rose's love for her own mother was something
+bordering on adoration--she said softly, under her breath,
+but with her whole heart in her voice; "Oh, I don't see
+how you could bear it--how you can live without her!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't," Jack replied with a break in his voice, "not
+really live, you know.  I've always felt it, but never
+realized it until last night, when I stood out on the
+veranda and looked in at the window at you--all.  Then I
+knew I 'd been hungry for that sort of thing for the last
+seven years--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now Rose's heart was swelling with pity for the loneliness
+of the tall, young fellow swinging along beside her,
+and at once her inner eyes were opened to see a, to her,
+startling fact.  She turned suddenly towards him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that why you kissed Martie last night, and came up
+here to us?" she demanded rather breathlessly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes;" Jack had forgotten his scheme, and was in dead
+earnest now.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then," cried Rose, impulsively--but at the same time
+thinking, "I don't care if he is engaged to that Miss
+Seaton"--"I hope you 'll come to us whenever you feel
+like it; for," she added earnestly, "I 'm beginning to
+understand what Chi means when he talks about Hazel's
+being poor and our being rich, and--and I 'd love to share
+mine with you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're awfully good," said Jack, rather awkwardly
+for him; for, suddenly, in the presence of this young girl,
+as yet unspoiled by the world, he realized that Life was
+dependent upon something other than polo and club
+theatricals, railroad syndicates and Newport casinos, stocks
+and bonds and marketable real estate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack was young, and the moonlight was transfiguring
+the face that, framed in a white, knitted hood, was turned
+towards him full of a frank, loving sympathy for him in
+his "poverty."---And, seeing it, Jack suddenly braced
+himself as if to meet some shock, thinking, as he strode
+along in silence, "Oh, I 'm gone!--for good and all this
+time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose, a little surprised at the prolonged silence,
+welcomed the sound of sleigh-bells behind them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that's Chi!" she exclaimed.  "I thought he
+was at home long before this.  I 'm sure he left long
+before we did.  Where have you been, Chi?" she called
+so soon as the sleigh was within hailing distance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 've been Chris'musin'," said Chi.  "It ain't often
+you get just such a night on the Mountain as this, and
+I 've made the most of it.  Can I give you a lift?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, thank you, Chi, we 're almost home," said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then I 'd better be gettin' along--it's pretty
+near midnight--chk, Bob--"  And Chi drove away down
+the Mountain, chuckling to himself:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ain't a-goin' to give myself away before no city chap
+that has cut me out as he has.  George Washin'ton!
+When I peeked into the window 'n' saw Marier-Ann sittin'
+there in front of that kitchen table with all those presents
+on it, 'n' the little spruce set up so perky in the middle of
+'em, 'n' she a-wearin' a great handful of those red, spice
+pinks in her bosom, 'n' her cheeks to match 'em, 'n' her
+eyes a-shinin'--I knew he 'd come it over me; he 'd made
+the first call, 'n' given her the first posies.  Guess I won't
+crow over him after this."  Chi undid his greatcoat, and
+bent his face until his nose rested upon Jack's rose:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It ain't touched yet, but it's a stinger; must be twenty
+below, now."  Suddenly Chi gave a loud exclamation:
+"I must be a fool!--I 've broken one of the N.B.B.O.O. rules
+not to be afraid of anything, and did n't dare to give
+my posy to Marier-Ann!--Anyhow, she don't know I
+was goin' to give it to her, so I need n't feel so cheap
+about it--Go-long, Bob!"</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="budd-s-proposal">XVIII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">BUDD'S PROPOSAL</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Before Mr. Clyde and Jack left the next day, Budd
+sought an opportunity to interview the latter on a subject,
+that, for a few weeks past, had been occupying many of his
+thoughts.  The applause, with which his Christmas-day
+toast had been greeted, had encouraged him to seek an
+occasion for acquiring more definite knowledge on a
+subject which lay near his heart.  It came when Jack was
+packing his dress-suit case in the guest chamber.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a knock on the half-opened door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come in," said Jack, and Budd made his appearance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Halloo, Budd!  What can I do for you?  Any commissions
+in New York, or Boston?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't know what you mean by commissions," replied
+Budd, cautiously, thrusting both hands deep into the
+pockets of his knickerbockers, and spreading his sturdy
+legs to a wide V.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Anything I can buy with that hen-and-jam money
+you helped to earn?--you did well, Budd, on that.  I
+congratulate you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have n't any of that money left.  You see, we voted
+to give it to March to go to college with.  But I 've got
+two quarters an' a dollar--Christmas presents, you know;
+an' that 'll do, won't it?" he asked rather anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that depends on what you buy," said Jack, with
+due seriousness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 'll keep mum, Mr. Sherrill, if I tell you?" said
+Budd, inquiringly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mum's the word, if you say so, Budd; out with it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I want two things; one thing to make me feel
+grown up, an' I 've wanted it for a year."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that, Budd?" asked Jack, immensely amused
+at Budd's swelling manhood--"A pair of long trousers?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--" Budd hesitated for a moment, then went on in
+rather an aggrieved tone; "I hate to wear waists with
+buttons; it's just like a baby, an' a fellow can't feel grown
+up when he has to button everything on.  I want to hitch
+things up the way March an' Chi do, an' I want you to buy
+me a shirt like that one you 're rolling up--only not
+flannel,--with a flap, you know, to tuck in."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Jack, endeavoring to keep
+his face and voice from betraying his inward amusement.
+"Well, I think you can get one for seventy-five cents--plain
+or striped?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I like those narrow blue striped ones like yours best,"
+he replied, pointing to one of Jack's.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Like mine it shall be, Budd; but you 'll want a pair of
+suspenders, or there 'll be too much hitching to be agreeable
+to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"March has an old pair, an' I 'm going to borrow them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's an idea; now, what's the second thing?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A ring."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A ring?" Jack looked amazed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd nodded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"For yourself?" Jack questioned further.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--for somebody else."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you mean a finger ring?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd nodded again emphatically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Engagement?" laughed Jack, at last, the fun getting
+the better of him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd's mouth puckered into solemnity; "No--wedding."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack gave up the packing, and sat down, shaken with
+laughter, on the first convenient chair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pardon me for laughing, Budd, but I can't help it.
+What do you want of a wedding ring?  Is it for that 'first
+wife' of yours you toasted yesterday at dinner?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd nodded again.  "I don't see anything to laugh at,"
+he said, with a reproachful glance.  "You would n't if
+you was me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I don't think I should; you 're right there, Budd,"
+he replied, sobering suddenly after his outburst of laughter.
+"When is the wedding to be?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd looked thoughtful.  "I have n't proposed yet,"
+was his matter-of-fact answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, why don't you?" Jack, sinner that he was,
+scented some fun at Budd's expense.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm going to when I know how," said Budd, humbly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why don't you take lessons?" suggested Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of whom?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack shouted.  "What did Chi say?" he demanded
+when he had regained his breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He said if he wanted to marry a girl, he 'd say what he
+wanted to--tell 'em he was fond of 'em."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Fond of them'--hm," repeated Jack, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What do <em class="italics">you</em> say?" questioned Budd, turning the
+tables rather suddenly on Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't say--never said," replied Jack, shortly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's what Chi said.  He said if I begun early I 'd
+find out how."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You seem to be on the right road for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Would you say 'fond of her'?" persisted Budd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I think I should," Jack replied with a peculiar
+smile; "but, of course, it would depend on the girl."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that's just what Chi said!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He did, did he!" Jack laughed; "Chi knows a thing
+or two."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I thought you 'd know more."  Budd's face began
+to wear a puzzled look.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then Jack heard Rose's voice in the long-room
+asking where Mr. Sherrill was, and the sound brought
+home to him a realizing sense of the fact that there was
+but an hour before they left for the station, and every
+moment too precious to be wasted on Budd.  Rising,
+and proceeding with his packing, he said with perfect
+seriousness:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Budd, all I can say is, that if I were going to
+ask a girl to marry me, I should ask her if she thought
+enough of me to take me with all my imperfections and--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where are you, Jack?" called Hazel, at the foot of
+the stairs; "Chi has to go an hour earlier than he said,
+and the sleigh is at the door."</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the hurry of Jack's good-byes and departure, the
+sentence was never finished, and the ring forgotten by him.
+But Budd remembered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was a sturdy little chap, broad of shoulder, strong
+of limb.  His sandy red hair bristled straight up from his
+full forehead.  His pale blue eyes, with thick reddish-brown
+lashes, were round and serious.  His nose was a
+freckled pug, and his small mouth puckered, when he was
+very much in earnest, to the size of a buttonhole.  From
+the time he had championed Hazel's coming to them, nearly
+a year ago, he had never wavered in his allegiance to her,
+and in his small-boy way showed her his entire devotion.
+Hazel had been so grateful to him for his whole-souled
+welcome of her, that she took pains to make his boy's
+heart happy in every way she could.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For Hazel, Budd was never in the way; never asked
+too many questions for her patience; never teased her
+beyond endurance.  He found in her a ready listener, a
+good sympathizer, a capital playmate, and a loving girl-friend,
+who reproved him sometimes and, at others, praised
+him.  What wonder that his ten-year-old heart had warmed
+towards her with its first boy-love? and that in his manly,
+practical way, he made of her an ideal?</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I love Hazel, and when I am big enough, I shall marry
+her," was what he said to himself whenever he stopped his
+play long enough to think about it at all.  Naturally it
+seemed the wisest thing to tell her this when he should
+find the opportunity, and at the same time recall the fact.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Fortified by the testimony of Chi and Jack, he bided his
+time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One Saturday afternoon in January, Rose said suddenly
+to Hazel: "I wish I could do some of the things that you
+do, Hazel."  Hazel looked up from her book in surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What can I do that you can't do, Rose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You dance so beautifully, and I 've always wanted to
+know how.  I feel so awkward when I see you dance the
+Highland Fling."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that all?" Hazel laughed a happy laugh.  "I can
+teach you to dance as easy as anything, if you 'll let me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let you!" Rose exclaimed, flushing with pleasure;
+"just you try me and see.  But where can we practise?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, out in the barn," cried Hazel.  "It'll be lots of
+fun; of course, it's awfully cold, but the skipping about
+will keep us warm.  I 'll tell you what--I 'll play on the
+violin, and you and March and Budd and Cherry can learn
+square dances first."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What fun!" said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the joke?" asked March, coming in at that
+moment with Budd and Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We 're going to have a dance in the barn; Hazel's
+going to teach us.  She says she can do it easy enough."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, bully!"  Budd threw up his tam-o'-shanter, and
+Cherry, attempting to charge up and down the long-room
+as she had seen Hazel at the Fords', tripped on the rug and
+fell her length.  When March had picked her up she
+rubbed her nose, which was growing decidedly pink, and
+sniffed a little, then asked suddenly:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who 's going to be my partner?  They always have
+partners in the story books."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure enough," Rose laughed.  "Whatever will we do,
+Hazel?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never thought of that," said Hazel, ruefully.  "Of
+course, it takes eight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why can't we have chairs for partners?" said Cherry.
+"We can bow to them just as if they were alive, and make
+them move round, can't we?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">They all laughed at Cherry's inspiration.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're a brick, Cherry Bounce?" said March, approvingly.
+"All choose your partners!"  And, thereupon, he
+seized one of the kitchen chairs, and the rest followed his
+example.  Hazel took her violin, and hooded and mittened
+and coated and mufflered, they trooped out to the barn,
+each lugging a wooden chair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now I 'll give you the first four changes," said Hazel,
+illustrating, as well as she could in trying to be two couples
+at once, the first movements.  "Form your square and get
+ready."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They obeyed with alacrity, and Hazel drew her bow
+across the strings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All curtsy to your partners!" she shouted, and the
+chair-partners received a bow, and, in turn, were made to
+thump the floor by being laid over on their backs, and
+righted suddenly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"First couple forward and back!" shouted Hazel, and
+away went Rose dragging her chair after her to meet March
+and his chair--thumpity-thump--thumpity-thump.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were in dead earnest, and the chairs were made to
+behave in a most human way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All went well until they came to the Grand Right and
+Left; then there arose such a medley of shrieks of laughter,
+wild wails from the violin, thumps from sixteen chair-legs,
+and stampings from eight human ones as was never heard
+before.  In a few minutes all was inextricable confusion,
+and the noise might have been best compared to a Medicine
+Dance among the Sioux Indians.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Upon this scene Mr. Blossom and Chi, on their return
+from the wood, looked with amazement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They seem to be havin' a regular pow-wow," Chi
+remarked dryly, as the exhausted dancers and musician sat
+down, panting for breath, on their wooden partners.
+"Rose-pose is about as young as any of 'em--but it
+beats all, how she's shootin' up into womanhood."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She 's no longer my little Rosebud Blossom," said her
+father, rather sadly.  "I dread the time when the birds
+begin to fly from the nest, and I see it coming with March
+and Rose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then Rose caught sight of her father, and ran to
+him linking her arm in his.  "We 've had such fun, father!
+We 're learning to dance; you must be my partner sometime,
+for Hazel's going to teach us the schottische next."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose never forgot the look of love her father gave her,
+nor the feel of his hand as he laid it on her hooded head:
+"Be my little Rose-pose, as long as you can, dear; you 're
+growing up too fast."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She recalled afterwards that this first dance in the barn
+marked the last time that she abandoned herself to the
+children's fun with a girl's careless heart.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The winter twilight was fast closing about the Mountain
+and the children just returning to the house, when
+Chi went out to milk.  Leaving his lantern, stool, and
+pails in the first stall, he entered the third one to tie one
+of the cows to a shorter stanchion.  Before he had finished
+he heard Budd's voice, and, looking over the partition, saw
+him standing with Hazel in the circle of light about the
+lantern.  In another minute he began to feel like an
+eavesdropper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did you want me to come here for, Budd?" said
+Hazel, dancing on the barn floor to warm her feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to tell you something," said Budd, blowing on
+his cold fingers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, hurry up and tell; it's simply freezing here.
+Is it a secret?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kinder," replied Budd, blowing harder; then, suddenly
+ceasing the bellows movement, he drew a step nearer
+to Hazel, and, putting the tips of his pudgy fingers together
+to make a triangle, he puckered his mouth solemnly and
+said, looking up at her with earnest eyes:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm very fond of you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel laughed merrily.  "Why, of course you are, you
+funny boy; you 've always been fond of me, have n't you?
+I 'm sure I 've always been fond of you.  Is <em class="italics">that</em> what you
+kept me out here in the cold to say?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not all;" Budd nodded seriously.  "I 'm very fond
+of you, an'--an' if you 'll take me with all my perfections--I
+think that's the way it goes--if I have n't got the
+ring yet, it will be just the same, you know."  He paused,
+and in the circle of light Chi could see the entire
+earnestness of his attitude.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Goodness me, Budd!  What do you mean about rings
+and things?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to marry you when I 'm big--an' I thought
+I 'd speak 'fore anyone else did to get ahead of 'em."  Budd
+hastened to explain, as Hazel showed signs of impatience.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, is that all!" Hazel breathed a sigh of relief.  "I
+thought something was the matter with you.  Why, of
+course you 're fond of me, Budd; but I could n't marry
+you, for I 'm older than you, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never thought of that," said Budd, beginning to
+blink rather suspiciously, "I thought--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, look here, Budd," said Hazel, in a business-like
+way; "I think everything of you, too, and I 'll tell you
+what you can be--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What?" interrupted Budd, eagerly, balancing himself
+on the tips of his toes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My knight!" said Hazel, triumphantly, "and wear my
+colors.  I 'll give you a bow of crimson ribbon--I 'm
+Harvard, you know--and you must wear it till you die.
+And I have a white kid party glove I 'll give you, too,
+and that will mean I 'm your lady-love, and it will be just
+like the days of chivalry, you know we were reading about
+them the other day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you won't mind about the ring?" queried Budd,
+rather wistfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not a bit--a glove is much nicer than a ring, and--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Moo--oo--oo--" came from the next stall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, goodness gracious!  How that made me jump.
+I 'm not going to stay out here another minute; so come
+along if you 're coming"--and the knight meekly followed
+his lady-love into the house.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-year-and-a-day">XIX</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A YEAR AND A DAY</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"It seems queer to settle down the way we have, ever
+since Christmas.  We had such fun up to that time."  Hazel
+heaved a long sigh as she wrestled with her Latin
+and the Third Conjugation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose looked up from her Cicero and smiled at the bored
+expression on Hazel's face.  "I know, Latin is awfully
+dull at first, but when you can read it, you 'll like it.  If
+only you could hear Cicero give this horrid Catiline--the
+old traitor--'Hail Columbia' as March says, you could n't
+help liking Latin.  Then, too, if we had n't settled down,
+where would my French have been?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Hazel still pouted a little.  "I wish papa had n't
+wanted me to study at all this winter--I don't see why,
+when Doctor Heath is always talking about its 'effect on
+my health--'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was interrupted by a merry laugh.  Rose threw
+down her Cicero, caught away the grammar from Hazel,
+and, seizing her by the hand, drew her into the little
+bedroom.  Then, taking her by the shoulders, she whirled
+her about until she faced the small looking-glass.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There!" she exclaimed, still laughing, "look at that
+face before you talk about any 'effect on your health.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel looked at the reflection in the mirror, and smiled
+in spite of herself.  What a contrast to what she was a
+year ago!  For to-morrow would be St. Valentine's day.
+There were real American Beauty roses on her cheeks;
+the dark eyes were full of sparkling life; the chestnut-brown
+hair fell in heavy curls upon her shoulders.  She
+had grown tall, too, but rounded in the process, and the
+healthful, bodily exercise had given her grace of carriage--she
+was straight as an arrow, and as lithe as a willow wand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Perhaps I shall feel more interest when Miss Alton is
+here, for she is a regular teacher.  When is she coming,
+Rose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The very last of the month, when the spring term
+opens.  It's our turn to have the district-school teacher
+board with us, and I 've never liked it before.  But
+now I can't wait for Miss Alton to come.  I think she 's
+lovely."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She is n't half as lovely as you are, Rose," said Hazel,
+turning suddenly from the glass, in which she had been
+scrutinizing her reflection, and giving Rose an unexpected
+squeeze and a hearty kiss.  "I think you are the most
+beautiful girl I have ever seen, I heard Doctor Heath say
+so; and--I told Jack so on Christmas night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll warrant he did n't agree with you," said Rose, with
+a pleased smile.  "You forget Miss Seaton."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know."  Hazel shook her head dubiously.  "He
+did n't say a word to me about you--I don't care if he
+did n't, Rose-pose, you 're worth all the Maude Seatons in
+the world, and I 'd give anything to have you for my real
+cousin instead of her, if only Jack--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know what you are talking about, Hazel," said
+Rose, interrupting her shortly and sharply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And I don't know why you are speaking to me in that
+tone, Rose Blossom," retorted Hazel, both angry and hurt.
+"I 've said nothing I 'm ashamed of, and I shall say it
+whenever I choose and to whomever I please, so now."  She
+flung out of the room, but not before Rose had laid a
+firm hand upon her shoulder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hazel Clyde, if ever you speak of that again to anyone,
+I 'll break friendship with you, see if I don't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Break then," Hazel twitched her shoulder from under
+the detaining hand.  "I 'll speak whenever I choose.  I
+only said I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had
+ever seen, and I wished that you were going to be my real
+cousin, instead of Miss Seaton, and you need n't get mad
+just because Jack does n't happen to think as I do--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hazel Clyde!"  Rose stamped her foot, "don't you
+speak another word to me; I 'll not hear it."  Rose stuffed
+both fingers into her ears, and beat an ignominious retreat
+to her own room, where she shut herself in, and was
+invisible until tea-time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The family were late in sitting down to the table, for
+Mrs. Blossom wanted to wait for Chi, who had driven
+down to Barton's River to take Mr. Blossom to the train,
+and had arranged to bring March home with him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was seven already.  "We won't wait any longer,
+children," said Mrs. Blossom.  "Something must have
+detained Chi.  Budd, you may say 'grace' to-night?"
+she added as she took her seat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd looked up in amazement.  "Why, Martie, Rose
+is here and you always--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That will do, Budd," said his mother, quietly, ignoring
+the flame that shot up to the roots of Rose's hair, and the
+cool look of indifference on Hazel's face.  Budd folded
+his pudgy hands and repeated reverently the words he had
+heard father, or mother, or sister say ever since he could
+remember.  Scarcely had he finished when Tell's deep
+note of welcome sounded somewhere from the road, and
+the sleigh-bells rang out on the still air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There they are!" cried Cherry.  "May I go to meet them?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes--but put your cape over you, it's so chilly to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">In a minute Cherry was back again, every single curl
+bobbing with excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Martie!  Chi's bringing in something all done
+up in the buffalo robe, and March won't tell me what
+it is."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was followed by March, who walked up to his
+mother, put both arms about her and gave her a quiet kiss.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There, little Mother Blossom, is my valentine for you,"
+he said half-shyly, half-proudly, and placed in her hands
+his first term's report and a set of books.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, March, my dear boy!" said his mother, rising from
+the table and placing both hands on the broad, square
+shoulders of her six foot specimen of youth, "I 'm afraid
+I 'm getting too proud of you.  <em class="italics">Did</em> you get the first
+Latin prize?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet I did, Martie."  March's rare smile illumined
+his face.  "There is n't another fellow at Barton's, who can
+boast of such a mother as I have, and I was n't going to let
+any second-class mothers read those books before you did.
+By Cicky!" (which was March's favorite name for the
+famous orator)--"But I 've worked like a Turk, and
+I 'm hungry as a Russian bear.  Why, Rose, what's the
+matter with you?  You look awfully glum, and Hazel,
+too.  Here comes Chi; he's bringing something that
+will cheer you up.  The truth is, mother, these girls
+miss <em class="italics">me</em>."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Indeed, I do, March?" said Hazel, looking straight up
+into his eyes and showing the amazed lad tears trembling
+in her own.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess there 'll be some breakin' of hearts, this year,
+Mis' Blossom."  Chi's cheery voice was welcome to them
+all for some unknown reason.  He came in loaded with
+huge pasteboard boxes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Your arms will break first, Chi," said Mrs. Blossom,
+hastening with March to relieve him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It ain't the heft of 'em, it's the bulk.  Valentines
+are generally pretty light weight.  Romancin' 'n'
+sentiment don't count for much, nowadays, though they take
+up considerable room."  He deposited the last box on the
+settle.  "'N' there's a whole parcel of things come by
+mail.  I ain't looked at the superscribin's--you read 'em
+out, Rose-pose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose read the addresses; there was more than one
+missive for each member of the family.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let's have supper, first, mother," said March, "then,
+after the table is cleared, we can sit round and guess who
+they 're from."</p>
+<p class="pnext">This proposition was welcomed by Budd and Cherry.
+Rose and Hazel gave a cordial assent, but there was a
+frigidity in the atmosphere which the outside temperature
+did not warrant.  Chi and March were aware of this so
+soon as they entered the room, and Mrs. Blossom had
+known it the moment she saw the girls' faces at the table.
+She thought it not wise to interfere, but let matters
+straighten themselves in good time.  She felt she could
+trust them both to see things in their right light, without
+the aid of her mental glasses.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now let's begin," said Chi, rubbing his hands in glee
+as, directly after supper, he piled the boxes on the table
+while March laid the envelopes in their proper places
+before each member of the family.  "This top one says
+'Miss Hazel Clyde.'  Show us your valentine, Ladybird."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're violets--from Jack, I know.  He always
+sends them.  What's yours, Rose?"  She spoke rather
+indifferently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, roses!" Rose was having the first look all to
+herself.  "The loveliest things I have ever seen.  Look,
+Martie!"  Rose held up the mass of exquisite bloom, and
+the children oh'ed and ah'ed at the sight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're from Mr. Sherrill," said Rose, trying to speak
+in a most common-place tone, but, in her excitement,
+failing signally.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They are lovely," Hazel remarked, shooting an indignant
+glance at Rose.  "They're just like the ones he sent
+Miss Seaton last year, only they were formed into a great
+heart.  Papa gave me one just like it; he got his idea
+from Jack."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose suddenly put down the flowers, in which she had
+buried her face to inhale their fragrance, as if something
+had stung her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Sherrill is very impartial with his favors," she
+said in a tone that increased the pervading chill of the
+domestic atmosphere.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Rose!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom.  "It is not
+like you to receive a favor so ungraciously; you 've never
+had flowers sent you before, and I 'm sure you would
+never have them again if the donor could witness your
+reception of them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't care for them again, thank you."  Rose retorted
+with flaming cheeks; "I 'd give more for this of yours,
+Chi--" she opened a huge yellow envelope, and took from
+it a scarlet cardboard heart, with a small, white, artificial
+rose glued to the centre and a gilt paper arrow transfixing
+both rose and heart.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi hemmed rather awkwardly, thinking: "Beats the
+Dutch what's got into Rose-pose to-night.  I ain't ever
+known her to treat a livin' soul so shabby as that in all
+her life.  Beats all what gets into women 'n' girls,
+sometimes; when a feller thinks he's doin' 'em just the best
+turn he knows how, they up 'n' get mad with him, 'n' turn
+the cold shoulder, 'n' upset things generally."  But aloud
+he said:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm glad it pleases you, Rose.  Can't most always tell
+when it's goin' to please a girl or not.  I suppose Jack,
+now, thought you 'd be tickled to get those posies just in
+the dead of winter.  They don't grow round here on our
+bushes.  What's in the other box?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why!" Hazel exclaimed, laughing rather half-heartedly,
+"it's addressed to 'Miss Maria-Ann Simmons'--and
+just look, Mother Blossom!  See what that dear old Jack
+has sent her!  He's just too dear for anything."  She
+added emphatically;--"I 'd like to give him a kiss for
+thinking of that poor girl all alone over there on the
+Mountain.  I don't believe she ever had a valentine before.
+Look!  Oh, look!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She took out of the many layers of wadding a mass of
+yellow tulips, their closed golden cups shining in the
+lamp-light as if gilded by sunbeams.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sho!" was all Chi said, leaning nearer to examine the
+beautiful blossoms.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 'll take them over in the morning, early, won't
+you, Chi?" said Hazel, replacing them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"First thing, Lady-bird; guess you 're right, Rose,
+about that young feller's bein' 'n all-round man with his
+favors.  Don't seem to be much choice between you and
+Marier-Ann, 'n' that Miss Seaver.  Kind of a toss-up, hey,
+Rose-pose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Rose was too busy with another package to answer
+Chi.  She grew wildly enthusiastic over the calla lilies
+that Alan Ford had sent her, and caressed their white
+envelopes, and praised their pure loveliness, until Hazel,
+growing jealous for poor Jack and his discarded gift, rose
+to put the neglected beauties in water, saying as she
+did so:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm sure, Rose, if Jack had known you cared so much
+for lilies, he would have sent you some Easter ones, they 're
+out now.  I 'll tell him to next time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hazel!" Rose burst forth indignantly, "do you mean
+to tell me you told Mr. Sherrill to send me these flowers
+for a valentine?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Hazel, stung by the tone and the words, yielded
+to temptation--for it had been the last straw.  "What
+if I did?" she said with irritating calm, "he 's my cousin.
+I suppose I can say what I choose to him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose answered never a word; but, rising, took the La
+France roses from the pitcher in which Hazel had just
+placed them, and, going over to the fireplace, deliberately
+cast the mass of delicate pink bloom into the fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom looked both puzzled and shocked; this was
+wholly unlike Rose.  What could it mean?  The children
+were too awed by the proceeding to speak or exclaim.
+March looked gravely at Hazel, who burst into tears--it
+was such an insult to Jack!--and rushed into her
+bedroom and shut the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm going to bed; good-night, Martie," said Rose,
+quietly, after she had watched the last leaf shrivel in the
+flame, and, kissing her mother, she lighted her candle and
+went upstairs.  Mrs. Blossom, following her with her
+eyes, felt that she had lost her "little Rose" in that
+hour.</p>
+<p class="pnext">March looked grave, complained of feeling tired, and
+said he would go to bed, too, as to-morrow was the last
+day of school and there were two more examinations to
+take.  Budd and Cherry kissed their mother twice, bade
+her good-night in suppressed tones and crept upstairs.
+"It's just as if somebody was sick in the house," said
+Cherry, in an awed voice.  Budd's was sepulchral:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's just as if somebody was dead and all the flowers
+had come for the funeral."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Across the dining-room table, loaded with boxes and
+brilliant with valentines, Chi looked at Mrs. Blossom, and
+Mrs. Blossom looked at Chi.  The whole affair was so
+incomprehensible, and the result so painfully disagreeable,
+that, for a while, they found no words with which to give
+expression to their feelings.  Chi broke the silence:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well!  I wish I was one of those clairivoyants they
+tell about, 'n' could kind of see into the meanin' of this
+flare-up of Rose-pose's.  Don't seem natural for Rose to
+go flyin' off at a tangent that way.  What's she got against
+him, anyway?  He 's about as likely as you 'll find.  Beats
+me!"  Chi leaned both elbows on the table, unmindful
+that he was crushing some of the flowers, sank his chin
+in the palms of his hands and thought hard for full a
+minute.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know Hazel and Rose have had some little trouble
+this afternoon--the first quarrel they have had--but
+Rose is too old to allow herself to lose her control in that
+way.  I can't imagine what made her--"  Mrs. Blossom
+broke off suddenly, for Chi had raised his head and sent
+such a look of intelligence across the table, handing her,
+as he did so, Jack Sherrill's card, which Rose in her
+confusion had neglected to read, that, in a flash, something
+of the truth was revealed to Mrs. Blossom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She took the card.  On the back was written, enclosed
+in quotation marks:--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"For I am thine</div>
+<div class="line">Whilst the stars shall shine,</div>
+<div class="line">To the last--to the last."</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">"O Chi!" was all Mary Blossom said; but the tears
+filled her eyes, and, reaching across the table, her hand was
+clasped in Chi's strong one.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish Ben was to home," sighed Chi, so lugubriously
+that Mrs. Blossom laughed through her tears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it is n't so bad as that, Chi.  Girls will be girls, and
+grow up, and hearts will ache even when we 're young.
+We won't make too much of it.  I don't understand the
+ins and outs of it, but I do know Hazel has said her
+family thought he was engaged to Miss Seaton.  I 'm sure
+I 've thought so all along, and it never occurred to me
+there could be any danger for Rose under the circumstances.
+The mere fact of his name being connected so
+closely with Miss Seaton's would be a safeguard.  Then,
+too, I fear he is spoiled by women on account of his riches."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know about that Miss Seaver,--but if it's as
+you say, I kind of wish Rose could cut her out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sh-sh, Chi!" said Mrs. Blossom, reprovingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I do," Chi retorted with some warmth.  "She
+ain't fit to tie Rose's old berryin' shoes, 'n' I saw her
+lookin' at her feet that day we was sellin' berries down to
+Barton's to the tavern, 'n' snickerin' so mean like, 'n' Rose
+just showed her grit--'n' I wish she'd show it again 'n'
+cut her out.  I <em class="italics">do</em>, by George Washin'ton!"  Chi rose
+up in his wrath, lighted his lantern, and started for the
+shed.  At the door he turned:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish Ben was to home," he said again.  "There 's
+goin' to be the biggest kind of a snow-down before long,
+'n' he 'll get blocked on the road, sure as blazes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He 'll be back in two days, at the most, Chi; I would n't
+worry."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I ain't worryin'; I 'm just sayin' I wish he was to
+home," repeated Chi, doggedly, and shut the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom smiled.  She knew Chi's crotchets.
+When there was any disturbance of the family peace, Chi
+was apt to be depressed, and sometimes despondent.  She
+put away the flowers in the cold pantry, smiling as she tied
+up Maria-Ann's box:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He <em class="italics">is</em> universal," she said to herself.  "I know it
+irritated Rose to be classed with her and Miss Seaton; but
+things will work around right with time.  I can trust
+to Rose's common-sense.--Not a prayer to-night!" she
+added thoughtfully.  "Well, we 'll make it up to-morrow."  She
+took up the prize books.  "That dear March!  What
+a manly fellow he is getting to be--and so handsome.  I
+wonder--" here Mary Blossom checked herself, laughing
+softly.  "Goodness! if Ben were here what a goose he
+would think me--a regular old Mother Goose--"  And
+again she laughed as she put out the light.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="snow-bound">XX</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">SNOW-BOUND</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">They were all on the porch the next morning to see
+March off.  It was not so very cold, but there was a
+marked chill in the air and the sky was leaden.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's my last day, mother, then vacation for two weeks.
+Hooray!" He leaped into the saddle, and Fleet reared
+gently to show her approval.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't you get out a little earlier to-day, March?" said
+his mother, looking up at the leaden sky.  "I 'm afraid it's
+going to snow heavily.  Promise me not to start from
+Barton's if the storm is a hard one; you can stay at the
+inn or at the principal's.  I would rather you remained
+away from home two days, or over Sunday, than to have
+you attempt the Mountain in too severe a storm."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll be careful, mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Better give your promise to your mother, March; she 'll
+feel better 'bout you 're not startin' out," said Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I promise, little Mother Blossom."  He threw himself
+off the horse, and gave her another kiss; "I would n't go
+to-day except for the exams.--I can't miss them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good luck, dear," said his mother, and her eyes
+followed the horse and rider down the Mountain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll go over the first thing 'n' give them posies to
+Marier-Ann, 'n' then I 'll make tracks for home, 'n' get my
+snow-shed up before it begins to come down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you think we shall need it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure 's fate," replied Chi, laconically, and went into the
+barn to harness Bess.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was noon before Chi had set up his snow-shed, a long,
+low, wooden tunnel, which he had manufactured to
+connect the woodshed door with a side door of the barn.  By
+means of this he was enabled, in unusually heavy storms,
+to communicate with the barn and attend to the stock
+without "shovelling out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was about three in the afternoon when the first flakes
+began to fall, or rather to "spit," as Chi expressed it, and
+the snow fell intermittently and lightly until four, when
+there was a sudden change of wind.  It veered to the
+north-east, and blast after blast, charged with icy particles,
+hurled itself against the Mountain.  Within half an hour
+it was almost as dark as at midnight, and the snow swept
+in drifting clouds over woodlands and pasture.  When
+the wind ceased for a moment, white, soft avalanches
+descended upon farmhouse, barn, and mountain-road, until,
+by six o'clock, the road was impassable and the drifts at the
+back of the house a foot above the bedroom windows.  Chi
+had made all snug for the night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This beats anything I ever saw, Mis' Blossom.  I 'm
+mighty glad Ben ain't comin' home to-day, 'n' that March
+gave you the promise to stay at Barton's if it stormed
+hard."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You don't think he would venture to start, do you,
+Chi?" asked Mrs. Blossom, trying not to appear anxious
+for the sake of the others.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bless you, no;" was Chi's hearty response.  "March
+has got too level a head to risk himself 'n' Fleet in such a
+storm--it's a regular howler of a blizzard.  If he did
+start," he added, "he 'd go in somewheres on the road--he
+couldn't get far."</p>
+<p class="pnext">After tea there was no settling down to the cosey
+evening pastimes or employments.  If such a thing could be,
+the storm seemed to increase in severity.  The wind
+struck the house at times with terrific force; the
+intermittent drift of snow and ice against the window panes
+startled the inmates of the long-room like the rattle of
+small shot.  Chi had put out the fire in the fireplace before
+supper, for the wind drove flame and ashes out into the
+room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again and again Mrs. Blossom went to the windows--first
+one then another, and pressed her face close to the
+pane; but they were plastered so thick with snow that
+her efforts to see into the night were fruitless.  Chi sat
+by the kitchen stove, which he had filled with wood.  His
+boots rested on the fender, and, apparently, he was
+indifferent to the storm.  But, in reality, not the creak of a
+beam, not the springing of a board, not an unwonted
+sound within or without the house escaped his notice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In marked contrast to Chi's apparent apathy was Tell's
+restlessness.  Since six o'clock he had shown signs of
+uneasiness.  With strides, heavy and long, the huge beast
+paced up and down the long-room.  Sometimes he followed
+Mrs. Blossom to the window, and, sitting down on his
+haunches beside her, rested his nose on the window sill
+and gazed at the whitened panes.  At others he took his
+stand beside Chi and looked into his face, their eyes
+meeting on a level as the man sat and the dog stood.  The
+dog looked as if he were questioning him dumbly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the evening wore on the dog's pace grew more rapid,
+more uneven; his tail waved in a jerky, excited manner.
+At last he lay down by the shed door, and, placing his
+nose on the threshold, gave vent to a long, low, half-stifled
+moan.  At the sound Chi brought down his heels and the
+tipped chair-legs with a thump, and started to his feet.
+Mrs. Blossom turned to him with a white face, and Rose
+cried out:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi!  What is the matter with Tell?  He never
+acted this way before."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't know," said Chi, shortly; "dumb beasts are
+curious creatures.  Guess he don't like the storm.  I 'll
+go out, Mis' Blossom, 'n' see if the stock 's all right.  Kind
+of looks as if Tell was givin' us a warnin'."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi, don't go through the tunnel now," cried Mrs. Blossom,
+all the pent-up anxiety finding expression in her voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi manufactured a laugh: "That's all safe, Mis'
+Blossom.  I chained it and roped it down, both--it can't
+get away, 'n' the snow can't crush it.  Don't you worry
+about me.  I 'll be back inside of fifteen minutes."  He
+took his lantern from the shelf over the sink:--"Get up,
+Tell."  The dog rose, but, as Chi opened the door, he tried
+to push past him.  Chi crowded him with his leg:--"No
+you don't, old feller! there ain't room only for just one of
+us to-night.  Lay down!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">And Tell lay down, with his nose on his paws, and both
+nose and paws pressed close to the crack on the threshold.
+Another long crescendo moan, that, at the last, sounded
+like a sharp wail, filled the long-room, and Budd and
+Cherry clung to their mother in terror.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You must go to bed, children," said Mrs. Blossom,
+her face white as the snow on the window panes, but with
+a voice of forced calm.  "When you 're asleep, you won't
+hear all this trouble the storm is raising to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I don't want to sleep upstairs alone without March,
+Martie," protested Budd, trying to be brave, but showing
+his fear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You can sleep in Hazel's room to-night, Budd, and
+Cherry can get into my bed and sleep with me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The twins looked relieved.  "Oh, that's different,
+Martie," said Budd, with a grateful look.  Cherry begged
+for a little cotton wool to stuff in her ears:--"Then I
+can't hear Tell and this awful noise."  A novel idea, which
+Budd at once adopted and put into practice.  Their mother
+looked relieved when they were safely bestowed in their
+new quarters.</p>
+<p class="pnext">About ten minutes afterwards they heard Chi's steps in
+the shed.  Then the door opened slowly, as he shoved Tell
+aside.  When he entered the room Mrs. Blossom gave one
+look at his face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi, what has happened!"  She cried out as if hurt.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi's face showed grayish white and drawn in the lamplight.
+His hand shook a little as he reached for a second
+lantern, turning his back on the three terrified faces.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Horse stalled, that's all.  Had a tough tussle to get
+him round, but he 's all right now."  His voice sounded
+hoarse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Was it Bob or Bess?" asked Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, without answering, turned quickly to Tell, who
+was pressing him nearly off his feet, and at the same time,
+lashing his tail as if in fury.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What ails you, anyway?" said Chi, roughly.  "D' you
+want to get out?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">For answer the dog rushed to the front door that opened
+on the porch, rose on his hind legs, stemmed his powerful
+forepaws against the panels and, throwing back his massive
+head, sent forth from his deep throat a roar that seemed
+to shake the rafters.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mis' Blossom," Chi's voice shook and his hand
+trembled till the glass globe of the lantern tinkled in the
+wire frame, "I 'm goin' to let him out, 'n' I 'm goin' to
+follow on--there 's trouble somewhere on the Mountain,
+'n' I 'm goin' to find out where 't is."</p>
+<p class="pnext">All three cried out, protesting, entreating, praying him
+to desist.  But Chi shook his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I tell you I 've <em class="italics">got</em> to go, Mary Blossom"--Chi had
+never called her that but once before, and Mrs. Blossom,
+recalling the time, felt her heart as lead within
+her--"you're brave,--brave as a woman can be; don't say
+nothin', but let me go.  Have plenty of hot water 'n'
+flannels, 'n' some spirits ready 'gainst I come back--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lady-bird, give me the dog collar with the bell you
+gave Tell last Chris'mus; 'n' Molly Stark, fill your
+mother's hot water-bag--'n' hurry up; 'n' Mis' Blossom,
+give me Ben's brandy flask, he didn't take it with him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, while issuing these orders, was strapping down his
+trousers over his long boots; then he poured out a
+brimming cup of hot water, and mixed with it some of the
+brandy from the flask.  He put the collar on Tell, the bell
+ringing loud and clear with every movement.  He opened
+the door; the dog bounded out into the night.  Chi
+followed him, a coil of rope around his neck, a shovel over
+one shoulder with a lantern suspended from the handle,
+and in his hand a second lantern.  The hot-water bag he
+had put beneath his sweater, and a leathern belt girded him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So equipped he went out into the drifting snows and
+the night of storm.  The terrified women were left alone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother, oh, mother!" cried Rose, wringing her hands,
+"I know it's something dreadful; Chi would never look
+that way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mary Blossom could not answer.  Her silence was
+prayer.  It was all of which she was capable at that time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know what the matter was in the barn, mother,"
+again cried Rose, in an agony of fear.  "Chi did n't tell
+us all, I 'm sure.  Let me go through the tunnel and find
+out, do, mother!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Rose, I can't--I can't!"  Mrs. Blossom spoke
+under her breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Please, mother.  It 's all safe, and the wind has gone
+down a little since Chi went; let me go--I can't rest till
+I do.  You can hold the light at the shed door end and I
+won't be gone but a minute or two.  I 'll take the dark
+lantern with me--Oh, mother! do, do--!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Rose, perhaps it's for the best.  I 'll watch you
+through."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"May I watch, too?" asked Hazel, eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, dear, I want you to stay here in case the children
+should wake.  Come, Rose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were gone but a few minutes; then Mrs. Blossom
+came in followed by her daughter.  The girl's teeth were
+chattering; she looked blue and pinched.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did you find, Rose?"  Her mother's voice was
+scarce above a whisper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">I found Fleet!</em>"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The two women sat down on the settle, holding each
+other close; and the wind rose again in its fury.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wrapping a heavy shawl about her Hazel crept away
+upstairs to the back garret and the window overlooking
+the woods'-road, which formed the approach to the house.
+There was a little snow-drift beneath it where the flakes
+had sifted through; but the wind was felt less severely on
+that side of the house.  She opened the window a few
+inches, propping it on a corn cob she had stepped upon;
+then, kneeling, she put her ear to the opening and strained
+her hearing in every lull of the storm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At last--she knew not how long she had listened--she
+heard Tell's deep roar.  It came muffled, but distinct.
+She scarce trusted her ears; but again she heard it, and,
+this time, in a dead silence, she caught the sound of the
+bell.  Surely Tell was nearing the house.  She ran downstairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're coming!" she cried, hardly realizing what
+she said in her excitement.  Mrs. Blossom and Rose leaped
+to their feet.  They threw open the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi!  Chi!" they called out into the night.  There
+was a joyous bark for answer---then a groan, and Chi
+staggered across the snow-laden porch and fell with his
+heavy burden on the threshold.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">At midnight the wind went down, but the snow continued
+to fall.  All the next day it fell steadily, but at
+sunset it ceased, and a young moon looked over the
+shoulder of Mount Hunger upon an unbroken white coverlet
+that, in some places, was drifted to the depth of twenty
+feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was twilight in Aunt Tryphosa's little cabin
+"over eastwards," for the snow was piled to the eaves,
+and the tulips furnished their only sunshine for two days.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was consternation at Hunger-ford, for the family
+were cut off from their neighbors and the outside world
+of letters and papers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were councils at Lemuel's and the Spillkinses'--for
+how could they gather their forces to break out the
+Mountain?</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were heavy hearts and reddened eyelids in the
+farmhouse, for March, rescued by Chi and revived by
+vigorous treatment, had succumbed to the exposure and
+chill, and lay unconscious in fever--and no help at hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, spent to exhaustion, had rallied at midnight, but
+knew that it was beyond human powers to attempt to
+reach Barton's or even Lemuel Wood's, their next
+neighbor, through the drifts.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So they waited, helpless--one day, two days.  On the
+second day the white expanse showed no tracks.  Then
+March began to wander, and clutch his breast, where his
+mother had found the telegram, which his father had sent
+to him from Ogdensburg:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Heavy blizzard.  Roads blocked.  Tell mother at once.
+Don't worry."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi walked the house night and day in his misery of
+helplessness.  At last, on the third day, looking
+eastwards he descried a black blotch on the white,--it was
+a four-ox team breaking out from the Fords'.  Later in
+the day, when the men were within two hundred yards
+of the house, he saw another black spot on the lower
+road.  It was the Mill Settlement road-team, with a full
+equipment of men and tools, to cut a way through the
+drifts.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Soon there was help and to spare.  Alan Ford was riding
+down the narrow way between high walls of glittering
+white to Barton's for aid, and bringing back telegrams of
+anxious inquiry from Mr. Blossom and Mr. Clyde.  On
+the fourth day, the blockade was raised, and the
+south-bound express to Barton's River brought Mr. Blossom
+from the north, and another train brought Mr. Clyde from
+the south.  Two days after all the Lost Nation knew that
+March would live.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="a-little-daughter-of-the-rich">XXI</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">A LITTLE DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was days before March himself was aware of that fact.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd and Cherry were at the Fords'.  May was with
+Aunt Tryphosa and Miss Alton at Lemuel Wood's.
+Maria-Ann had come over to help Mrs. Blossom with the
+work, and Chi had taken care of the stock.  Rose and her
+mother watched and waited in the sick room, relieved on
+alternate nights by Mr. Blossom and Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The great storm was a thing of the past.  The sun shone
+in a deep blue heaven, and the white world of the
+Mountain showed daily life and movement.  The teamsters
+were at work loading the sledges with logs, and the
+ponderous drags squeaked and grated as they slid down
+the crisping highway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A crow cawed loudly on the first of March, and the
+hens came out to find a warm nook in the south-east
+corner of the barn-yard, where a heap of sodden straw was
+thawing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All in the farmhouse were rejoicing, for March had
+spoken in his weakness--a few words, but clear, coherent,
+for the frost and fever, both, had left his brain.  When he
+spoke the second time it was to ask for Chi; and Chi had
+tiptoed into the room in his stocking-feet and laid his
+hand on March's thin, white one, gulped down the tears
+and the rising sob that was choking him, and--spoke of
+the weather!</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">The next day March turned to his mother, who was
+sitting by the bed, brooding him with her great love,
+and asked suddenly, but in a clear and much stronger
+voice:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where 's Hazel?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom hesitated for a moment, then spoke
+quietly:--"Hazel is at home with her father for a few
+weeks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">March turned his face to the wall and was silent for
+several hours.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he was stronger Mrs. Blossom gave him the little
+note Hazel had left for him, and, with mother-tact, knowing
+March's reserve of nature, went out of the room while he
+read it.  She saw no signs of it when she returned and
+asked no questions, but March's gray eyes spoke a
+language for which there was but one interpretation.  With
+his rare smile, he held out his hand for his mother's, and
+clasped it closely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Soon he was able to be up and about, and the children
+were again at home.  Life in the farmhouse resumed its
+old course--but with a difference.  Just what it was no
+one attempted to define.  But each felt it in his own way.
+March was more gentle with Budd and Cherry, more
+often with his mother and Chi, more companionable for
+his father.  Rose was quieter, but, if possible, more loving
+towards all.  Budd was at times wholly disconsolate, and
+wasted sheets of his best Christmas note-paper in writing
+letters to Hazel which were never sent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi went oftener to the small house "over eastwards,"
+where he was sure of willing ears and sympathetic hearts
+when he unburdened himself in regard to his "Lady-bird."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fact is," he said to Maria-Ann, as she stood with her
+apron over her head watching him plough their garden
+plot (that was his annual neighborly offering), "she 's left
+a great hole in that house, 'n' there is n't one of us that
+don't know it 'n' feel it;--kind of empty like in your
+heart, you know, just as your stomach feels when you 've
+ploughed an acre of sidlin' ground, before breakfast--Get
+up, Bess, whoa--back!--you don't hear that laugh of
+hers in the barn, nor out in the field, nor up in the
+pasture; 'n' you don't see those great eyes lookin' up at you
+when you 're harnessin', nor peekin' round the corner of
+the stall to see if you 're most through milkin'.  'N' you
+don't hear a fiddle makin' it lively after supper, 'n' the
+children ain't danced once in the barn this spring."  Chi
+sighed heavily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't Mr. Ford go over there pretty often?" queried
+Maria-Ann.  "I see him gallopin' by two or three times
+a week."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, what if you do?" Chi answered grumpily, much
+to Maria-Ann's surprise.  "He can't fiddle the way Ladybird
+does, 'n' they all sit 'n' jabber some kind of lingo--French,
+they call it, but I call it, good, straight
+Canuck--'n' act as if they were at a party,--Rose, 'n' Miss Alton,
+'n' the whole of 'em.  'T ain't much company for me.  I
+get off to bed about dark.  'N' the worst of it is, when he
+isn't to our house, they're all to his--Come around!"  Chi
+jerked the reins, to Bess's resentful surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They say he's payin' attention to Rose," ventured
+Maria-Ann, her eyes following the furrow, which was
+running not quite true.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're a parcel of fools," growled Chi, eyeing the
+furrow with a dissatisfied air, "Rose need n't look Alan
+Ford's way for attention.  She can have all she wants
+most anywheres.--Get up, Bess! what you backin' that
+way for!--'n' folks tongues can be measured by the
+furlong 'twixt here and Barton's."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, there ain't any harm in Rose's havin' attention,
+Chi," said Maria-Ann with some spirit, and ready to stand
+up for her sex.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did n't say there was," retorted Chi, in mollified tones.
+"There ain't no more harm in Rose's havin' attention than
+in your havin' it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Me!" exclaimed Maria-Ann, pleasantly surprised out
+of her momentary resentment.  "I ain't had any chance
+to have any."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ain't you?" said Chi, busying himself with the plough
+preparatory to leaving.  "Well, that ain't any sign you
+won't have--Get along, Bess!--I 'll leave this plough
+here till to-morrow; I ain't drawn those last two furrers
+straight, 'n' I 've got too much pride to have any man
+see that--Malachi Graham, his mark.--No, sir-ee," said
+Chi, emphatically, "straight or starve is my motto every
+time, just you remember that, Marier-Ann Simmons."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I will, Chi," laughed Maria-Ann, and went back to
+her washing, singing joyfully to her rubbing accompaniment:--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"Come, sinners all, repent in time,</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">The Judgment Day is dawning;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">Sun, moon, and stars to earth incline,</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">The trumpet sounds a warning."</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Meanwhile letters were coming to every member of the
+family from Hazel.  As March regained his strength there
+came as special gifts to him, books and magazines, and from
+time to time a beautiful photograph of an old-world
+cathedral--Canterbury, or York; a stately castle like
+Warwick, or Heidelberg; a peasant's chalet, or an English
+cottage to gladden his artist soul and eye, and transform
+the walls of his room into dwelling-places for his ideals.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother," he said rather wistfully to Mrs. Blossom,
+on the first May day as they sat together under the old
+Wishing-Tree, talking over the plans for his future, "how
+can I go to work to make it all come true?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He held in his hand a large photograph of the interior
+of Cologne Cathedral, which Hazel had given him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There are many ways, dear, which are most unexpectedly
+opened at times.  No boy with health and perseverance
+has much to fear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, mother, father had both, and he was n't able to
+go through college.  He told me all about it the other
+day, and how he had missed it all through his life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know, March, father failed in attaining to that which
+was his great desire, but he succeeded so immeasurably
+in another direction, that I think, sometimes, it must have
+been all for the best."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, mother, father is poor now--how do you mean
+he has succeeded?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My dear boy, you are only in your seventeenth year,
+and I don't know that I can make it plain to you because
+you <em class="italics">are</em> young; but when your father conquered every
+selfish tendency in him, put aside what he had striven so
+hard for and what was just within his reach, and turned
+about and did the duty that the time demanded of him;--when
+he took his dead father's place as provider for the
+family, and, by his own exertions, placed his mother and
+sisters beyond want, before he even allowed himself to tell
+me he loved me, he proved himself a successful man; for
+he developed, in such hard circumstances, such nobility of
+character, that he is rich in love and esteem,--and that,
+March, and only <em class="italics">that</em>, is true wealth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see what you mean, mother, but it does n't help me
+to see how I 'm to get through college, and get the
+training I need in my profession."  March uttered the last
+word with pride.  "There is so much a man has to have
+for that.  Look at that now," he continued, holding up
+the photograph; "I need all that, and that means Europe,
+and Europe means money and time, and where is it all
+to come from?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">His mother smiled at the despairing tone.  "As for
+time, March, you are only in your seventeenth year.  That
+means ten years before you can begin to work in your
+profession; and as for the means--" she hesitated--"I
+think it is time to tell you something I 've been keeping
+and rejoicing over these last two weeks."  She drew a
+letter from her dress-waist and handed it to him.  "Read
+this, dear, and tell me what you think of it."  Wondering,
+March took it and read:--</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAWKING VALLEY, NORTH CAROLINA,<br />
+April 15, 1897.</p>
+<p class="pnext">MY DEAR MRS. BLOSSOM,--Just a year ago to-day I sent
+my one child to you, trusting the judgment of my dear friend,
+Doctor Heath, in a matter which he felt concerned the future
+welfare of my daughter.  My home has been very lonely
+without her.  You, as a parent, can know something of what this
+separation has entailed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It seemed wise to me, and I know you concurred in my
+opinion, to take her away from the conditions, in which she
+has thriven so wonderfully, while you were burdened, both in
+heart and hands, by such a critical illness as your son's.  The
+result confirms the wisdom of my action, for March's convalescence
+has been slow and long; I am thankful to be assured it
+is sure.  The burden of an extra member in your family at this
+time would, in the long run, prove too heavy for you.</p>
+<p class="pnext">I cannot tell you how I appreciate what you have done for
+Hazel.  I have no words to express it.  She returns to me full
+of life and joy, with no apparent unwillingness to take up her
+life again with me, which must seem dull to her in contrast to
+that which she had with you.  Yet I know in her loyal little
+heart she belongs to you, is a part of your family henceforth--and
+I am glad to know it is so, for she needs, and will need, as
+a young girl, your motherly influence at all times.</p>
+<p class="pnext">I 'm not taking her away from you for good.  Oh, no!  That
+would be her loss as well as mine; but I am testing her a little.
+I have said I had no words with which adequately to express
+my gratitude.  I am your debtor for my child's physical
+well-being--for much else which I do not find it easy to define.
+Will you allow me to make some compensation for your year
+of devotion?  I do not care what form it take, providing you
+will permit me to try to discharge something of the debt--the
+whole can never be repaid.  Will you not let me send that
+splendid son of yours through college? and give him two years
+of Europe afterwards?  That future profession of his has
+always been of great interest to me.  If the boy is too proud,
+as I suspect is the case, to accept the necessary amount other
+than as a loan, make it plain to him that I will even yield a
+point there--a pretty bad state of affairs for me as a debtor
+to find myself in.  If he won't do this for me--won't Rose
+help me out by permitting me to aid her in cultivating that
+voice of hers?  I know your magnanimity, and depend upon
+you to help me in this.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel does not know I am writing to you, or she would send
+loving messages.</p>
+<p class="pnext">My kindest regards to Mr. Blossom, with hearty congratulations
+for March, and all sorts of neighborly remembrances for
+all others of the Lost Nation.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Sincerely your friend,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">JOHN CURTIS CLYDE.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst"><em class="italics">To Mrs. Benjamin Blossom.</em></p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Oh, mother!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A wave of crimson surged into March's pale face,
+and the sensitive nostrils quivered; then two big drops
+plashed down upon the letter which he handed to his
+mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, mother! if only I could--but I can't!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He rolled over on the soft pasture turf, face downwards,
+his head resting on his arms.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, March dear," said his mother, tenderly, "why
+can't you?  I think it 's beautiful, so does father."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A sob shook the long, thin frame.  His mother laid her
+hand on the back of the yellow head.  "What is it, my
+dear boy?  Can't you tell me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The head shook energetically beneath her hand, and
+muffled words issued from the grass.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, March, we thought it would please you to have
+such an opportunity.  You have read what Mr. Clyde
+says--you can look upon it as a loan.  I hope you won't
+have any false pride in this matter--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Tis n't false, mother," came forth from the grass, "and
+I would like to accept his offer, if only it were n't just his."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not his, March?  Surely, Hazel has been like one
+of us--a real little sister--"  Another vigorous wagging
+of the yellow head arrested his mother in the midst of her
+sentence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hazel is n't my sister."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, of course, you can't feel as near to her as to
+Rose, but then, you must see how dear she has become to
+us all--and Mr. Clyde has put it in such a way, that the
+most sensitive person could accept it without injury to
+any feeling of true pride.  Take time and think it over,
+March.  It has come upon you rather suddenly, and I have
+been thinking about it for two weeks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's no use to think it over."  Deep tragedy now made
+itself audible, as March rolled over and sat up, displaying
+eyes bright with excitement, flushed cheeks, and a generally
+determined air of having it out with himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I can't understand you, March."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you could."</p>
+<p class="pnext">His mother smiled in spite of the gravity of the situation.
+"Can't you tell me? or give me some clue to this
+mysterious determination of yours?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">March cast a despairing glance at his mother.  "Mother,
+will you promise never to tell?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not even your father, March?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, father, nor any one--ever, mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well; I promise, March, for I trust you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, mother, have n't you seen?--don't you know,
+that I--that I love Hazel!  And how can I take the
+money from her father, when I 'm going to try to make
+her love me and marry me sometime, when I get through
+studying, and--and--Oh, don't you see?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">And Mrs. Blossom did see--at last.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She spoke very gently, after a minute's silence, in which
+March's ears burned red to their tips, and his fingers were
+busy digging up a tiny strawberry-plant by the roots.
+"My son, I see, and I honor you for feeling as you do;
+but, March, have you thought of the difference between
+you and Hazel?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What difference, mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now Mary Blossom was not a worldly woman, neither
+was she a woman of the world--and she found it difficult
+to answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know how Hazel is placed in life, although you
+do not know with what luxury she is surrounded in her
+home.  She has beauty, a large circle of friends, immense
+wealth.  There will be many who will seek her hand in
+four years' time, for she has a wonderful charm of her own,
+for all who come close to her.--Is it worth while to
+attempt, even, to win this little daughter of the rich?
+You, a poor boy, with his way to make?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, mother,"--there was strong protest in the voice--"she
+did n't have any beauty till she came up here to
+us--and if she <em class="italics">was</em> a rich girl, she was n't a healthy one
+till she lived up here, and I don't see the good of money
+and a lot of things, if you 're sick, and homely, too."  March
+waxed eloquent in his desire to convince his
+mother of the justice of his cause.  "And if she hadn't
+come up here she would n't have got well, and then she
+would n't have grown so beautiful--and she <em class="italics">is</em> beautiful,
+mother."  (Mrs. Blossom nodded assent.)  "And I don't
+see why I have n't just as much right to try to make her
+love me as any other fellow.  You 've told us children,
+dozens of times, it's just character that counts, and not
+money, and if I try as hard as I can to keep straight and
+be a good man like father, I don't see why things would n't
+be all right in the end."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom was silenced,--"hoist with her own
+petard."  "How can I destroy this lovely, young ideal?
+I dare not," was her thought.  But aloud, she said:--"You 're
+right, March.  Nothing but character counts.
+Make yourself worthy of this little love of yours.  We 'll
+keep this in our own hearts, and when you are tempted to
+wrong-doing--and there are fearful temptations for every
+young man to meet, March,--temptations of which you can
+form no conception here in the shelter of your home--just
+remember this little talk of ours, and keep yourself
+unspotted by the world just by the thought of this dear girl
+whom you hope some day to win.  There is nothing,
+March, that will keep a young man in the right way like
+his love for just 'the one girl in the world'--if only she
+be worthy of his love.  And I think Hazel will be--even
+of you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">March flung his arms about her neck and kissed her
+heartily:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dear, little Mother Blossom, I 'll try, and even if I fail,
+just the thought of such a glorious-filorious mother that
+does n't laugh at a fellow--I was afraid you would,
+though,--will keep me straight enough.  Why, Mother Blossom!
+I 'd be ashamed to look you in the eyes, if I did a
+down-right mean thing."</p>
+<p class="pnext">His mother laughed through her tears.  "I wonder if
+many mothers get such a compliment?  Come, dear, the
+dew is beginning to fall--it's been such a heavenly
+day, I had forgotten it is early spring.  Do you feel
+chilly?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not I," laughed March, and proceeded to relieve his
+feelings after his favorite method--by turning a
+double-back somersault down the pasture slope.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Mrs. Blossom leaned over to kiss tired, sleepy Budd
+that night, she thought complacently to herself:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, thank fortune, here 's one who is heart-free," and
+laughed softly to herself.  Chi had not told her of Budd's
+proposal.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Wilkins, tell Miss Hazel to come down into the library
+when she is dressed for dinner."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Marse Clyde."  Wilkins sprang upstairs two
+steps at a time, and, knocking at Hazel's door, delivered
+his message.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tell papa I 'm going to dress early, for I 've some
+things to attend to about the table, Wilkins."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fo' sho', Miss Hazel," said Wilkins, with a broad smile
+of delighted surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And tell Mrs. Scott I 'll choose the service, if she will
+take out the linen, and I have ordered the flowers.  Papa
+said I might."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilkins skipped downstairs, delivered his message to
+the amazed housekeeper, and then flew into the kitchen to
+impart his news to the cook, his confidante and co-worker
+for years in the Clyde household.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Minna-Lu was preparing a confection, and giving her
+whole soul to the making, when Wilkins made his
+appearance.  She looked up grimly, the ebony of her
+countenance shining beneath the immaculate white of her
+turban:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wa' fo' yo' hyar?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilkins slapped both knees with the palms of his hands,
+and bent nearly double with noiseless laughter; then,
+straightening himself, approached Minna-Lu with boldness,
+despite the repelling wave of the cream-whip that she held
+suspended over the bowl, and confided to her the change
+of régime, to her edification and delight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She put down the bowl and whip, stemmed her fists on
+her broad hips, and gurgled long and low.  "'F little
+missus done take rale hol' er de reins, dere ain't no kin' er
+show fo' sech po' trash."  She indicated with an upward
+movement of her thumb the upper regions where the
+housekeeper was supposed to be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When I wan's a missus, I wan's quality folks, an' little
+missus do take de cake.  Nebber see sech er chile.  Dem
+great, shinin' eyes, lookin' at yo' out o' all de do's, an' dat
+laff soun'in' jes' like de ol' mocker dat nebber knowed
+nuffin' 'bout bedtime--yo' recollecks?"  Wilkins nodded
+emphatically, but was unprepared for Minna-Lu's next
+move:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Git out o' hyar, yo' good-fo'-nuffin' niggah.  Huccome
+yo' stan'in' roun' wif yo' legs stiffer 'n de whites er dese
+yer eggs, an' yo' jaw goin' like de egg-beatah, an' de
+comp'ny comin' at rale sharp eight."  Minna-Lu took up her
+bowl, and Wilkins beat a hasty retreat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a warm first of May, and just about the hour
+when March and his mother were leaving the Wishing-Tree,
+that Hazel appeared in the dining-room.  Wilkins
+gazed at her in a species of adoration.  Her orders appeared
+to him revolutionary, but he obeyed them implicitly and
+unhesitatingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Take off the candelabra, Wilkins, it is too warm
+to-night to have them on; besides, people don't have a
+nice time talking when they have to peek around them to
+get a glimpse of the people they 're talking to."  Wilkins
+whisked off the candelabra as if they had been made of
+thistledown.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dat's so, fo' sho', Miss Hazel.  I see de folks doan'
+talk when dey ain' comf'ble; but I nebber tink ob de
+can'les."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When it's dark you can light all the sconces.  I want
+you to use the pale green, Bohemian dinner set to-night;
+and I want just as little silver as possible."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Wilkins looked blank, and Hazel laughed.  "Oh, we 'll
+make it up with some cut glass, I 'll manage it.  I want
+the table to look cool and simple, just to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cool and simple.  Wilkins failed to comprehend it, but
+such was his faith in "little Missy," that he carried out
+her orders to the letter, and the result was, according to
+Mrs. Fenlick, "a dream of beauty."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When she had made her preparations to her entire
+satisfaction, as well as Wilkins's, and the latter had called
+Minna-Lu from her culinary tug-of-war to witness "little
+Missy's" triumph, Hazel ran into the library.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her father looked at her in amazement.  Could this
+radiant, young girl be the same Hazel of a year ago?
+They had gone directly to North Carolina when Hazel had
+left Mount Hunger, and had been at home but two days.
+This little dinner was given to Mr. Clyde's intimate
+friends as an informal celebration and recognition of his
+daughter's return to the New York house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now, as she ran into the room and linked her arm in his,
+her father looked down upon her with such evident pride
+and love, that Hazel laughed joyfully, kid her cheek
+against his coat-sleeve and patted his hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do I look nice, Papa Clyde?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nice! that's no word for it, Birdie."  And thereupon
+he took her in his arms and gave her such a hug and a
+kiss, that the pretty dress must have suffered if it had not
+been made of the softest of white China-silk.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, my flowers! you 'll crush them!" she cried,
+shielding with both hands a bunch of flowers at her belt.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where did you get all this--this style, daughter
+mine?  It's--why, you 're nothing but a little girl, but
+it's 'chic.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel enjoyed her father's admiration to the full.  She
+drew herself up, straight and tall, graceful and slender--her
+head was already above his shoulder--exclaiming:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Little girl!  Well, your little girl designed this gown
+herself.  I would n't have any fuss or frills about it; it's
+just plain and full and soft and clingy, and this sash of
+soft silk--is n't it a pretty, pale green?--feel--"  She
+caught up a handful of the delicate fabric and crushed it
+in her hand, then smoothed it again, and it showed no
+wrinkles.  "I 've put it on to match the dinner.  I 've
+had it all my own way--Wilkins did just as I said--and
+it's all cool and green and springy.  You 'll see."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where did you get these flowers?"  Mr. Clyde touched
+the bunch of arbutus, that showed so delicately pink and
+white against the white of her dress and the green of her
+sash.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A wave of beautiful color shot up to the roots of the
+little crinkles of chestnut hair on her temples; she touched
+the blossoms caressingly.  "I wrote March about this
+dinner-party, and how it was the first at which I had been
+hostess, and he wrote back and wanted to know what I
+was going to wear, and I told him--and this morning
+these lovely things came by mail all done up in cotton
+wool in a tin cracker-box, the kind Chi uses to put his
+worm-bait in, when he goes fishing.  Are n't they lovely?
+And was n't March lovely to think of them, papa?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They are n't half as lovely as you are," said Mr. Clyde,
+earnestly, replying to half of her question only.  "You
+are my unspoiled Hazel-blossom--"  Then a sudden,
+intrusive thought caught and arrested his words.  "Hazel
+Blossom," he repeated to himself, looking at her
+unconscious face as he uttered the last word, "Good heavens!
+Could such a thing be?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"De Cun'le an' Mrs. Fenlick," announced Wilkins.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And when they were all seated at the table--the
+Colonel and Mrs. Fenlick, Doctor and Mrs. Heath, Aunt
+Carrie and Uncle Jo, the Masons and the Pearsells--with
+no candelabra to interfere with the merry speech and
+glances, with the light from the candles in the sconces
+shining softly on the exquisite napery, on the low bed of
+white tulips in the centre and the grace of the pale, green
+porcelain, with the tall Bohemian Romer-glasses before
+the plates--what wonder that Mrs. Fenlick pronounced
+it a "dream of beauty"?</p>
+<p class="pnext">When their guests had gone, Mr. Clyde turned to
+Hazel:--"I shall be glad to open the Newport cottage
+again, Birdie, with such a little hostess to help me entertain."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The Newport house, papa!" Hazel exclaimed, a
+distinct note of disappointment sounding in her voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not, dear?  I thought of getting down there by
+the tenth; in fact, gave my orders to Mrs. Scott to begin
+packing to-morrow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel was evidently struggling with herself.  She
+fingered the arbutus nervously; took them out of her belt;
+inhaled their fragrance.  Then she looked up with a smile,
+although the corners of her mouth drooped and trembled
+a little:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, of course, why not, papa?  It's so much pleasanter
+there in May, than when everybody is down for the summer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her father sat down in an easy-chair, put an arm around
+his daughter, and drew her down to a seat on the arm of
+the chair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, Hazel, I want you to tell me all about it.  Don't
+you want to go?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, if you 're there, papa, but--" she turned
+suddenly and her arm stole around his neck--"don't leave
+me there alone, papa, please don't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Leave you--I?  Why what do you mean, dear?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it is so lonesome when you are away, papa, when
+you go off yachting with the Colonel--and the house is
+so big, and there 's nobody to talk to and say good-night
+to--and--and, oh, dear!"  The tears began to come, but
+she struggled bravely for a few minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, little girl, you have never told me you were
+lonesome without me: indeed, you have never shown
+any sign of it, or of wanting me around much.  I never
+thought--why, Hazel."  Down went the curly head on
+his shoulder, and the sobs grew loud and frequent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There, there, Birdie," he said soothingly, stroking her
+head, "you 're all tired out; this party has been too much
+for you--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">An energetic, protesting head-shake was followed by
+broken sentences--"It was n't that--I 'm not tired--you
+don't know, papa--I didn't know--know I was
+lonesome, and that I was--I think I was homesick--dreadfully--but
+Barbara Frietchie, you know--I had to be
+brave--and, I have tried not to show it to make you feel
+unhappy--and I love you so! but, oh, dear!  I miss them
+so dreadfully, and I hoped--I was a member of the N.B.--B.O.--O.,
+Oh--dear me,--Society, and the by-law
+says--I mean March read it--Oh, papa!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well, there, there, dear," said the somewhat
+mystified father, bending all his efforts to soothe this
+evidently perturbed spirit, "why did n't you tell me before?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Because I was Barbara Frietchie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, Hazel, sit up and look me in the face and tell me
+what you mean.  I supposed I was holding Hazel Clyde in
+my arms and not old Barbara Frietchie.  Please explain."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought I wrote you, papa," Hazel could not help
+smiling through her tears, for it did strike her as rather
+funny about papa's holding the patriotic, old lady in his arms.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you did n't tell me that."  So Hazel explained.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde nodded approval.  "Very good, I approve
+of the N.B.B.O.O. Society, and of the present Barbara
+Frietchie's heroism--but no more of it is called for.  You
+see, I fully intended you should pay your friends--my
+friends--a visit this summer, but I thought it would be
+much better later in the season when Mrs. Blossom would
+be rested from the fatigue of March's illness--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, papa!"  A squeeze effectually impeded further
+utterance.  "I don't care how soon we go to Newport, or
+anywhere--of course, if <em class="italics">you</em> are with me--as long as
+I can go to Mount Hunger sometime this summer.  And,
+besides," she added eagerly, "we planned next winter's
+visit from Rose, didn't we?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should rather think we did.  We shall be very proud
+of our beautiful friend, Rose, and delighted to have our
+friends meet her, shan't we?"  Another squeeze
+precluded, for the moment, articulate speech.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," Hazel cried, enthusiastically, "we 'll take her to
+concerts and operas--just think, papa, with that lovely
+voice she has never heard a concert!--and we 'll take her
+to the theatre and--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And," her father went on, growing enthusiastic himself
+at the prospect, for he was the soul of hospitality,
+"and we 'll give her a dainty dinner or two, and possibly
+a little dance--few and early, you know--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh--ee!" cried Hazel, forgetting her woe, "and Mrs. Heath
+will give a lunch-party for her, and, perhaps, Aunt
+Carrie a tea, and Mrs. Fenlick a reception--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Heavens!" interrupted her father, "you 'll kill her
+with kindness--that fresh, wild rose can't stand all
+that--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, yes, she can, papa; she can stand that just
+as well as I stood going up there where everything was
+so different."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"True," said Mr. Clyde, thoughtfully, "it was different."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it was, papa!  I never had to go to bed alone.
+Mrs. Blossom always came to say good-night and to kiss
+me, and to--to--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To what?" asked her father.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You won't mind if I tell you?" Hazel asked, half-shyly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mind!  I should say not; I should mind if you did n't
+tell me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"--to say 'Our Father' with me, papa; you know no
+one ever said it with me before, and it's--it's such a
+comfy time to feel sorry and talk over what you 've done
+wrong; and it's <em class="italics">that</em> I miss so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't blame you, Birdie," said her father, quietly.
+"But now see how late it is!"--he pointed to the
+clock--"Eleven!  This will never do for a <em class="italics">débutante</em>.
+Good-night, darling.  Sweet dreams of Rose and the
+N.B.B.O.O. Society."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Papa Clyde; Doctor Heath says you are
+the most splendid fellow in the world--but I know you
+are the dearest father in the world; good-night, I 've had
+a lovely party."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She ran upstairs, but, in a moment, her father heard her
+tripping down again.  Her head parted the portières.  "I
+just came back to tell you, that this kind of a talk we 've
+had is just as good as the Mount Hunger bedtime-talks.
+I shan't be homesick any more."  And away she ran.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now John Curtis Clyde was a pew-owner--as had been
+his father and grandfather before him--in one of the
+Fifth Avenue churches, and duly made his appearance in
+that pew every Sunday morning.  He entered, too, into
+the service with hearty voice, and made his responses
+without, the while, giving undue thought to the world.
+But when he had said "Our Father" with his little
+daughter by his side, he had supposed his duty performed
+to the extent of his needs--of another's, his child's, he
+gave no thought.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To-night, however, as he sat in the easy-chair where
+Hazel had left him, it began to dawn upon him slowly
+that his little daughter, during her fourteen years, might
+have had other needs, for which he had not provided, nor,
+perhaps, with all his riches was capable of providing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The clock chimed twelve,--one,--two--; John Clyde,
+with a sigh, rose and went up to bed--a wiser and a
+better man.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="rose">XXII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">ROSE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">What a summer that was!  Mr. Clyde sent Hazel up
+to the Blossoms for July and again for September, when
+he, the Colonel and Mrs. Fenlick, the Pearsells and the
+Masons, Aunt Carrie and Uncle Jo took possession of the
+entire inn at Barton's River, and for a month coached and
+rode throughout the "North Country," all in the cool
+September weather.  Jack Sherrill joined them for the
+last three weeks, and, this time, Maude Seaton was not of
+the party.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I just headed her off every time she made a dead set
+at any one of us for an invitation," said Mrs. Fenlick one
+day in confidence to her intimate, Mrs. Pearsell, as they
+sat on the vine-covered veranda of the inn, "but she
+proved a regular octopus.  She got the Colonel in her
+toils one morning at the Casino, and I pretended to be
+faint--yes, I did--just to get his attention for a sufficient
+time to make a fuss, and get him alone in the carriage;
+then, of course, I settled it.  Oh, dear! men are so
+guileless in spots!"--Mrs. Fenlick gave a weary sigh--"What
+I have n't been through with that girl!  Anyway,
+she's been out two winters, now, and she has n't caught
+Jack Sherrill yet.  I don't think there is much chance
+after the first season for a girl to make a really fine match,
+do you?"  Then they fell to discussing the pros, and
+cons, of the question with evergreen interest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack Sherrill, for one, had no thought of Miss Seaton.
+He had sent the valentine-flowers, and the sentiment from
+Barry Cornwall's love-song, with a strange kind of "kill or
+cure" feeling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had communed with himself, at twilight of one
+February day, as he lay at full length on the
+cushioned window-seat of his room from which he looked
+down upon the darkening, snow-covered campus and the
+anatomy of the elms showing black against it.  His pipe
+had gone out, but he derived some satisfaction in pulling
+away at it mechanically, while he thought out the
+situation for himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the use of a man's hanging fire when he
+<em class="italics">knows</em>?" he thought.  "Now, I love her--love her."  (Jack's
+hand stole into the breast of his jacket and crushed
+a bit of paper there; he smiled.)  "Of course she does n't
+know, and won't know for a while, but it shan't be through
+any neglect of mine that she does n't; and when she
+knows--there 's the rub!--will she care for me, Jack
+Sherrill?  I 've never done anything in my life to make a
+girl like that care for me.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But there's one thing I 'd stake my life on--she
+would n't marry a man for his money.  A man 's got to
+be loved for himself--not for what he can give a woman,
+or do for her, but just for himself, if it's going to be the
+real thing, and <em class="italics">last</em>.  And what am I that a girl like that
+should love me--"  Jack was growing very humble.  He
+pulled himself together: "Anyhow, I'll send the flowers
+and the sentiment, <em class="italics">I mean it</em>; I don't care what she
+thinks!"  Jack's courage rose as he began to feel
+something like defiance of Fate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then his chum came in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's no use, Sherrill," he said, flinging himself
+down upon the cushioned seat Jack had just vacated; "we
+can't have the theatricals unless you take the girl's part.
+It won't put you out any--smooth face and no scrub.
+You 've been it once, and it will be a dead failure if you
+aren't in it now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't see how I can," replied Jack, shortly, for this
+intrusion on his mood irritated him.  "I told you, all of
+you, at the Club last year, that I would n't play after I was
+a Junior."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, what if you did?" rejoined his chum, a little
+crossly.  "You 're not so uncompromisingly steadfast in
+other things that you can't afford to change your mind in
+such a trifle as this."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come, don't be touchy," said Jack, good-humoredly.
+"Hit right out from the shoulder, old man, and tell me
+what you mean."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Dawns smiled, clasped his hands under his head, and
+raised his merry blue eyes to Jack, who was lighting up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They say over at the Club that you have thrown
+Maude Seaton over, but Grayson took up the Seaton
+cudgels and made the statement that she had thrown you
+over, and you won't take the girl's part in the play because
+she is coming on for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack hesitated.  He hated to play at any comedy of love
+when his heart was throbbing with the genuine article.
+But, after all, it might be the best way to silence the
+Club's tongues as well as some others in Boston and New
+York.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll help you out this once, Dawns, but I tell you
+plainly I won't have anything more to do with the Club
+theatricals while I 'm in college," he replied, ignoring both
+of Dawns' statements, which omissions his chum noticed,
+and made his own thoughts: "Just like Sherrill.  You
+can't get any hold of him to know what he really feels
+and thinks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack played his part accordingly, repeating the success
+of the year before, and scoring new triumphs.  He was
+glad when it was over, and he could go back to his room
+"dead tired," as he said to himself, but with the conviction
+that he had settled matters to his own satisfaction if not to
+that of one other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The room was in such disorder!  Evidently, Dawns had
+been having a little spree before Jack's late return, and the
+smoke had left the air heavy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack dropped his paraphernalia in the middle of the
+floor--peeling himself as he stood yawning and thanking
+his lucky star that he was not born a woman to be
+handicapped by such things!--<em class="italics">décolleté</em> white satin waist,
+long-trained satin gown, necklace--Jack gave the string a
+twitch, for it had knotted, and the Roman pearls rolled
+into unreachable places all over the floor.  Off flew one
+white satin slipper--number ten, broad at the toes!--with
+a fine "drop kick" hitting the ceiling and landing on
+the book-shelves; the other followed suit.  White fan with
+chain, white elbow gloves, corsage bouquet--all dropped
+in a promiscuous heap.  A general stampede loosened silk
+under-skirt and dainty muslin petticoat, lace-trimmed.  A
+wrench,--corset-cover and corsets were torn from their
+moorings.  Jack groaned--or something worse--at the
+flummery, and, leaving everything as it had dropped,
+rushed off into his bedroom, only to find that he had
+forgotten to take off the blonde wig and wash off the
+rouge.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At last, however, he was asleep, and slept the sleep of
+the justified.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He slept both soundly and late, but when he awoke the
+next morning his first thought was of the flowers for Mount
+Hunger and the appropriate sentiment.  Accordingly, having
+reckoned the arrival of train, departure of stage, etc.,
+to a minute, he selected the flowers, wrote the sentiment,
+not without forebodings of the usual kind, and despatched
+both to Mount Hunger with high hopes, notwithstanding
+prescient feelings.  Then, metaphorically, he sat down to
+await an answer.  He waited just two months, and during
+that time had turned emotionally black and blue more
+than once at the thought of his temerity in sending such
+a message.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel had written him at once from North Carolina to
+tell him of March's illness, and on the same day she sent
+a penitent note to Rose, confessing her shame at her attempt
+at deception, and explaining that it was because she loved
+her cousin so dearly she could not bear to see his gift
+slighted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When March was out of danger, Rose had written to
+Hazel a frank, loving letter, blaming herself for her want
+of self-control, and begging Hazel's forgiveness for her
+harsh words:</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"It's all my old pride, Hazel dear," she wrote, "that I have
+to fight very often.  It was most kind of Mr. Sherrill to
+remember me when he has so many, many other friends whom he has
+known longer, and I shall write and tell him so.  Now that my
+heart is lighter on account of dear March, I can write more
+easily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We miss you so! when are you coming back to us?  Chi
+looks perfectly disconsolate, and we all feel a great deal more
+than we care to say.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you were here to have the fun of the French
+evenings, three times a week.  You speak it so beautifully,
+Mr. Ford says, and I thank you so much for all the help you gave
+me in teaching me.  Mr. Ford speaks it very well, too, so Miss
+Alton says.  We all meet at our house once a week on March's
+account, and then one evening in the week, Miss Alton and I
+(she 's lovely) go over to the Fords' for music.  He has sent
+for some lovely songs for me--old English ones, and we're
+going to have a little celebration for March's birthday in May.
+How I wish you were to be here!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"March is lying on the settle, dreaming over that exquisite
+photograph of Cologne Cathedral you sent him; I've just
+asked him if he had any messages for you, and he smiled--oh,
+it's so good to see his dear smile again!  You can't think
+how tall he's grown since his illness, and he's so thin--and
+said, 'I sent one to her this morning myself; she can't have two
+a day.'  But you know March's ways.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now I must stop; Mr. Ford is coming over on horseback
+and I am riding Bob now.  I wear an old riding-habit
+of Martie's--it fits fine!  I have more to tell you, but
+will finish after I get back from the ride--there comes
+Mr. Ford--"</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">This letter Hazel duly forwarded to her cousin.  "He 'll
+know by what she says in it that she really was pleased,
+for all she acted so queer," she said to herself as she
+enclosed it in one to Jack, in which she took special pains
+to inform him that he had never told her whether he had
+given those verses Rose sang to Miss Seaton.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"I told Rose I was sure they were for Miss Seaton, and
+Rose said she did n't mind copying them herself for you if you
+wished them.  Do tell me if you gave them to her.  I told
+Rose your valentine to her last year was a rose-heart.  I hope
+you don't mind my telling, for, you know, Jack, all our family
+think you are engaged to her--"</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Jack dropped Hazel's letter at this point and gave a
+decided groan.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What luck!" he muttered.  "It's all up with the
+whole thing now.  No girl of any spirit would stand all
+that--and Hazel meddling so! thinking she is doing her
+level best to explain matters;--What an ass I was to
+send that flower-valentine to Maude--and she thinks I
+gave her those verses! and there 's this Ford skulking
+round and having it all his own way; he 's just the kind
+a girl would care for--those musical cranks are no end
+sentimental.  Hang it all!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack thrust his hands deep into his pockets, took several
+decided turns up and down the room, squared his shoulders,
+pursed his lips, cut his two classroom lectures, ordered
+up Little Shaver and rode out to the polo grounds, where,
+finding himself alone, he put the little fellow through his
+best paces, ignoring the fact that snow and ice wore on
+the pony's nerves--and had a game out to himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When just two months had passed, he received a note
+from Rose, his first, and it was accorded the reception due
+to first notes in particular.  After this, Jack developed
+certain wiles of diplomacy, he had thus far, in his various
+experiences, held in abeyance.  He wrote sympathetic
+notes to Mrs. Blossom; commissioned Chi to find him
+another polo pony--Morgan, if possible--among the
+Green Hills; sent March a set of illustrated books on
+architecture, and complained to Doctor Heath of a pain
+that racked his chest; at which the Doctor's eyes twinkled.
+He said he would examine him later, but he was convinced
+it was heart trouble, the symptoms were apt to mislead
+and confuse.  He added gravely: "Too much hard polo
+riding, Jack; get away into the country--mountains if
+you can, and you 'll recuperate fast enough.  I 'll make
+an examination in the fall."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack obeyed to the letter, and what a month of September
+that was!</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were glorious rides with Rose along the beautiful
+river valley and over the mountain roads.  There were
+delightful evenings at the Fords', and silent, beatific walks
+with Rose homewards beneath the harvest moon.  There
+were morning rambles with Rose up over the pastures and
+deep into the woodlands for late ferns and hooded
+gentians.  There were adorable hours of doing nothing but
+adore, while Rose was busy about her work, setting the
+table for tea (Jack paid his board at the inn, but he lived
+at the Blossoms'), or laying the cloth for dinner, or on
+Saturday morning even making rolls for the tea to which
+the whole party at the inn were invited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi was in his glory.  Little Shaver came trotting
+regularly every day up through the woods'-road, and
+whinnied "Good-morning" first to Fleet, then to Chi.
+There were general coaching-parties to Woodstock and
+Brandon, in which Mrs. Blossom was guest, and a grand
+tea at the Fords' for all the guests, with a musicale for a
+finish, and an informal dance in the Blossoms' barn to
+which all the Lost Nation were invited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They accepted, one and all.  Captain Spillkins was in
+his element, so he said.  He and Mrs. Fenlick danced a
+two-step in a manner to win the commendation of the
+entire assembly.  Miss Elvira and Miss Melissa went
+through the square dance escorted by Jack and Uncle
+Jo.  There were round dances and contra dances.  Uncle
+Israel contributed an "1812" jig, and Mr. Clyde passed
+round the hat for his sole benefit.  There were waltzes
+for those who could waltz, and polkas for those who could
+polka, and schottische and minuet.  "There never was
+such a dance since before the Deluge!" declared
+Mrs. Fenlick, when Captain Spillkins escorted her to a seat
+on a sap-bucket; and then they all went at it again in
+a grand finale, the Virginia Reel--Chi and Hazel,
+Mr. Clyde and Aunt Tryphosa for head and foot couple;
+Maria-Ann with Jack; Alan Ford with Mrs. Fenlick; the
+Colonel with Mrs. Blossom whom he admired greatly;
+March and Miss Alton--such a double row of them!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Poor Reub sat in one of the empty stalls and watched
+the fun with slow, half-understanding smile, and Ruth
+Ford reclined in a rocking-chair in the corner, and with
+merry laughter and sparkling wit soothed the dull ache in
+her heart that the knowledge that she was henceforth to
+be a "Shut-out" from all that life had at first given her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The next day after the dance there was a grand dinner
+given at the inn by the Newport party to all the Lost
+Nation; and, later on, private entertainments for Mr. and
+Mrs. Blossom and the Fords.  At last, when the first
+maple leaves crimsoned and the frost silvered the mullein
+leaves in the pasture, Hazel, her father, Jack, and their
+friends bade good-bye to the Mountain and all its joys of
+acquaintance, and in some cases, friendship, and turned
+their faces, not without reluctance on the part of some of
+them, city-wards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, mother! has n't it been too beautiful for anything?"
+exclaimed Rose, turning to her mother, as the last of the
+riding-party waved his cap in farewell to those on the
+porch.  It was Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We have had a happy summer, Rose;--I think they
+have, too," her mother added, shading her eyes from the
+setting sun.  "You 'll be very lonely here at home, dear,
+after all this gayety."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lonely!  Why, Martie Blossom, how can you think
+of such a thing!" said Rose, still scanning the lower road
+for a last glimpse of the riders.  "See, see, they are all
+waving their handkerchiefs!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The whole Blossom family laid hold of what they could--napkins,
+towels, a table-cloth, and Chi seized his shirt,
+which he had hung on the line to dry, and waved frantically
+until the party was no longer to be seen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lonesome! the idea," said Rose, turning to her mother.
+"Think of all the studying March and I have to do, and
+the French evenings, and the Fords, and Thanksgiving
+coming, and then Christmas, and then--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then," said Mrs. Blossom, interrupting her, "my Rose
+takes a little plunge into that whirlpool of gay life and
+fashion in New York."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Rose, with a happy smile that spoke volumes
+to her mother, "I do look forward to it, Martie dear; but
+the whirlpool shan't suck me under; I shall come home
+just your old-fashioned Rose-pose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope so, dear," said her mother, a little wistfully, and
+called the children in to supper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Indeed, they found little opportunity to miss their friends
+in the ensuing months; for there came kindly letters, and
+friendly letters, and something very nearly resembling
+love-letters.  The mail brought papers, books, and
+magazines.  The express brought to Barton's River many a
+box of lovely flowers.  At Christmas came more than
+one remembrance for them all, including Aunt Tryphosa
+and Maria-Ann, and four special invitations for Rose to
+visit in New York directly after the holidays.  One was
+from Mr. Clyde--with an urgent request from Hazel to
+say "yes" by telegram and "relieve her misery," so she
+put it--; one from Mrs. Heath; one from Aunt Carrie,
+and a gushingly cordial one from Mrs. Fenlick!  Each
+claimed her for a month.  But Mrs. Blossom shook her
+head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, no, dear, you would wear your welcome out.  I
+shall need you at home by the last of February.  I think
+you can accept only Mr. Clyde's and Mrs. Heath's.  You
+can accept social courtesies from the other four of course."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, mother," Rose's face was the image of despair,
+"what shall I wear?  Just hear what Hazel has planned--'lunches,
+dinners, theatre, concerts'--why!  I can never
+go to all those things."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 've thought of that, too, Rose; but the little colt
+shan't go bare this time--it will take some courage, dear,
+to wear the same things over and over again, not to
+mention the puzzle of planning for it all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm not 'Molly Stark' for nothing," laughed Rose,
+and the two women began to plan for what Chi called
+"Rose's campaign."  The pretty white serge was lengthened
+and made over to appear more grown up, as Cherry
+put it; the dark blue wash silk--Hazel's gift that had
+never been made up--was fashioned into a "swell affair"--so
+March pronounced it; the old-fashioned blue lawn
+was cut over into a dainty full waist, and then
+Mrs. Blossom added her surprise--a delicate blue taffeta skirt
+to match the waist.  Rose went into raptures over it, and
+sought the best bedroom regularly three times a day to
+feast her girl's eyes on the silken loveliness as it lay in
+state on the best bed.  A new dark blue serge was to do
+duty for a street suit, with a plain felt hat.  For best,
+there was a turban made of dark blue velvet to match the
+wash silk.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And four pairs of gloves!  Martie Blossom, you are
+an angel, to give me these that Hazel gave you a year ago
+last Christmas.  Have you been keeping them for me all
+this time?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom smiled assent, and was rewarded by a
+squeeze that interfered decidedly with her breathing
+apparatus.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The night before she left, Rose "costumed" for the
+benefit of the entire family, who were assembled in the
+long-room, together with Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann,
+to see Rose in her finery.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll make it a climax," said Rose, laughing
+half-shamefacedly, as she slipped upstairs to change her street
+suit, which had brought forth admiring "Ohs" and "Ahs"
+from the children, and favorable criticism from their elders.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Down she came in her white serge; there were nods
+and smiles of approval.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her reappearance in the wash silk and velvet turban was
+the signal, on March's part, for a burst of applause, and
+cries of admiration from Budd and Cherry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Grand transformation scene!" cried March, as Rose
+tripped down in the blue taffeta, looking like a very rose
+herself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Beats all!" murmured Chi, who had become nearly
+speechless with admiration, "what clothes 'll do for a
+good-lookin' woman; but for a ravin', tearin' beauty like
+our Rose--George Washin'ton!  She 'll open those
+high-flyers' eyes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Cinderella--fifth act!" shouted March as, after a
+prolonged wait, he heard Rose on the stairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But was it Rose?</p>
+<p class="pnext">The beautiful India mull of her mother's had been
+transformed into a ball-dress.  She had drawn on her
+long white gloves and tucked into the simple, ribbon belt
+three of Jack's Christmas roses.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann gasped, and that broke the, to Rose,
+somewhat embarrassing silence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Marshalled by March, the whole family formed a
+procession, and Rose was reviewed:--back breadths, front
+breadths, flounces, waist, gloves; all were thoroughly
+inspected.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi touched the lower flounce of the half-train gingerly
+with one work-roughened forefinger, then, straightening
+himself suddenly, sighed heavily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the matter, Chi?" Rose laughed at the dubious
+expression on his face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You ain't Rose Blossom nor Molly Stark any longer.
+You 're just a regular Empress of Rooshy, 'n' you don't
+look like that girl I took along to sell berries down to
+Barton's last summer, 'n' I wish you--" he hesitated.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What, Chi?" said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you was back again, old sunbonnet, old calico
+gown, patched shoes 'n' all--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi, no, you don't," said Rose, laughing merrily;
+"you forget, I shall probably see Miss Seaton down there
+in New York, and you wouldn't want me to appear a
+second time before her in that old rig."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 're right, Rose-pose," replied Chi, his expression
+brightening visibly.  He drew close to her and whispered
+audibly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just sail right in, Molly Stark, 'n' cut that sassy girl
+out right 'n' left.  She never could hold a candle to
+you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sh-sh, Chi!" said Mrs. Blossom, meaningly, but with
+a twinkle in her eye.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I mean just what I say, Mis' Blossom.  Folks can't
+come up here on this Mountain to sass us to our faces, 'n'
+she <em class="italics">did</em>;--I've stayed riled ever since, 'n' I hope she'll
+get sassed back in a way that 'll make her hair stand just
+a little more on end than it did, when she gave that mean,
+snickerin' giggle--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi, Chi," Mrs. Blossom interrupted him in an appeasing tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You need n't Chi me, Mis' Blossom.  These children
+are just as near to me as if they was my own, 'n' when
+they 're sassed, I 'm sassed too; 'n' my great-grandfather
+fought over at Ticonderogy, 'n' I ain't bound to take any
+more sass than he took--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">By this time the whole family were in fits of laughter
+over Chi's persistent use of so much "sass," and, at last,
+Chi himself joined in the laugh at his excessive heat:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Over nothin' but a wind-bag, after all," he concluded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the following morning, Mr. Blossom, Chi, March
+and Budd drove down to Barton's to see Rose off.  The
+old apple-green pung had been fitted with two broad
+boards for seats, and covered with buffalo robes and horse
+blankets.  There was just room in the tail for Rose's
+old-fashioned trunk and a small strapped box, which held two
+dozen of new-laid eggs, six small, round cheeses, and a
+wreath of ground hemlock and bitter-sweet--a neighborly
+gift from Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann to Hazel and
+Mr. Clyde.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the train moved away from the station, Chi watched
+it with brimming eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She'll never come back the same Rose-pose, livin'
+among all those high-flyers--never," he muttered to
+himself; but aloud he remarked, with forced cheerfulness,
+turning to Mr. Blossom while he dashed the blinding
+drops from his eyes with the back of his hand:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Looks mighty like a thaw, Ben; kind of wets down,
+don't it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Chi," said Mr. Blossom, busy with conquering his
+own heartache, "we 'd better be getting on home;" and the
+masculine contingent of the Blossom household climbed
+into the pung and took their way homeward in silence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But what a reception that was for the transplanted Rose!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde met her at the Grand Central Station, and
+Rose felt how welcome she was just by the hand-clasp,
+and his first words:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We have you at last, Rose; I would n't let Hazel
+come because I thought the train might be late, and there's
+a cold rain falling.  Martin, take this box--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, no; I must carry that myself," laughed Rose,
+looking up at the liveried footman with something like
+awe.  "I promised Aunt Tryphosa and Maria-Ann I
+would n't let any one take them till they were safe in the
+house; thank you," she bowed courteously to Martin, who
+confided to the coachman so soon as they were on the box:
+"Hi 'ave n't seen nothink so 'ansome since Hi 've bean in
+the States."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the brougham whirled into the Avenue, and the
+electric lights shone full into the carriage, Rose could see
+the luxuriously upholstered interior, and a sudden thought
+of the old apple-green pung and the buffalo robes dimmed
+her eyes.  But it was only for a moment; Mr. Clyde was
+telling her of Hazel's impatience, and how the coachman
+had had special orders from her to hurry up so soon as he
+should be on the Avenue, and he had hardly finished
+before the coachman drew rein, slackening his rapid pace
+as he turned a corner, Martin was opening the door, and
+Hazel's voice was calling from a wide house entrance
+flooded with soft light:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Rose, my Rose!  Is it really you, at last?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And this, I am sure, is Wilkins," said Rose, when
+finally Hazel set her arms free.  "We 've heard so much
+of you, that I feel as if I had known you a long time."
+Rose held out her hand with such sincere cordiality that
+Wilkins' speech was suddenly reduced to pantomime, and
+he could only extend his other hand rather helplessly
+towards the box that Rose still carried.  But Rose refused
+to yield it up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here, Hazel, I promised Maria-Ann and Aunt Tryphosa
+I would n't give it into any hands but yours.  Oh! be
+careful--they 're eggs!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Eggs!" repeated Hazel, laughing.  "Here, Wilkins,
+unstrap it for me, quick--Oh, papa, look!"  She held out
+the box to Mr. Clyde, and, somehow, John Curtis Clyde
+for a moment thought with Chi, that there was going to
+be a "thaw."  Each egg was rolled in white cotton
+batting and wrapped in pink tissue paper.  The six little
+cheeses were enclosed in tin-foil, and cheeses and eggs
+were embedded in the Christmas wreath.  On a piece of
+pasteboard was written in unsteady characters:</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">To Mr. John Curtis Clyde of New York City, with the
+season's compliments.</p>
+<p class="pnext">MOUNT HUNGER, VERMONT, January 6th, 1898.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"And you 've had such lovely flowers come for you,
+five boxes of them, Rose, and piles of invitations.  I 'm
+sure you 're engaged up to Ash Wednesday."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come, Chatterbox," said her father, smiling at her
+volubility, "Rose has just time to dress for dinner; you
+know Aunt Carrie and Uncle Jo are coming to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I forgot all about them; you 'll have to hurry,
+Rose.  Wilkins, bring up the flowers.  Come on,"
+Hazel ran up the broad flight of stairs, carpeted with
+velvety crimson, to the first landing, from which, through
+a lofty arch in the hall, Rose caught a glimpse of softly
+lighted rooms, the walls enriched with engravings and
+etchings, with here and there a landscape or marine
+in watercolors.  Rose drew a long breath.  This, then,
+was what Chi meant when he said "Hazel was rich as
+Croesus."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But, Hazel, my trunk has n't come," said Rose, as she
+followed her hostess into the spacious bedroom, which was
+separated from Hazel's only by a dressing-room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It 'll be here in a few minutes; papa has a special
+man, who always delivers them almost as soon as we get
+here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sure enough, the trunk came in time; and Rose, as she
+unpacked, finding evidences of the loving mother-care in
+every fold, cried within her heart, looking about at the
+exquisite appointments of her room and dressing-room:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Martie, Martie, what would all this be without you!--Oh,
+I know now, what dear old Chi meant when he said
+Hazel was poor where we are rich--only a housekeeper
+to see to all Hazel's things--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rose, what flowers are you going to wear?" called
+Hazel from her room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have n't had time to look," Rose called back,
+surveying her white serge with great satisfaction in the
+pier-glass.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do look, then, and see who they 're from."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Hazel, do come and see.  How kind everybody
+has been!  Here are cards from Mrs. Heath and Doctor
+Heath, and your Aunt Carrie, and Mr. Sherrill, and
+Mrs. Fenlick, and even that Mr. Grayson who was up at our
+house to tea a year ago!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They are lovely.  Whose are you going to wear?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll make up a bunch of one or two from each, that
+will show my appreciation of all their favors."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel looked slightly crestfallen.  "I hoped you 'd wear
+Jack's--they 're the loveliest with white--" she lifted
+the white lilacs--"and they 're so rare just now.  I heard
+Aunt Carrie say that one of the girls had put off her
+wedding for six weeks, just because she couldn't have white
+lilacs for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 'll last with care three days surely, and I can
+wear them to-morrow evening," replied Rose, bending to
+inhale their delicate fragrance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So you can, for papa is going to give a dinner for you
+to-morrow night, and afterwards, he has promised to take
+you to a dance at Mrs. Pearsell's.  I can't go, you know,
+for I 'm not grown up; but you can tell me all about it.
+We 're going to have lots of fun this week, for school does
+not begin for several days.  Come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Together they went down to the drawing-room, and
+Wilkins announced that dinner was served.</p>
+<p class="pnext">After it was over he sought Minna-Lu in her own
+domains, and gave vent to his long pent emotions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Minna-Lu," he whispered, mysteriously, "dere 's an
+out an' out angel ben hubberin' 'bout de table--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fo' de Lawd!"  Minna-Lu turned upon him fiercely,
+for she was superstitious to the very marrow.  "Wa' fo'
+yo' come hyar, skeerin' de bref out a mah bones wif yo'
+sp'r'ts!  Yo' go long home wha' yo' b'long."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Wilkins was not to be repulsed in this manner.
+"Nebber see sech ha'r, an' jes' lillum-white--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, go 'long!  Lillum-white ha'r," interrupted Minna-Lu,
+with scathing sarcasm.  "Huccome yo' know de angels
+hab lillum-white ha'r?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Huccome I know?--'Case I see de shine, jes' lake
+yo' see in de dror'n-room."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"De shine ob lillum-white ha'r in de dror'n-room!
+'Pears lake yo' head struck ile--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yo' hol' yo' tongue, Minna-Lu," retorted Wilkins,
+irritated at the continued evidence of disbelief on the part
+of his coadjutor.  "Jes' yo' hide back ob de dumb-waitah
+to-morrah ebenin' when de dessert comes on, an' see fo'
+yo'se'f!"  He departed in high dudgeon, and Minna-Lu
+gurgled long and low to herself, but, in her turn, was
+interrupted by the sound of tripping steps on the
+basement flight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Minna-Lu hastily put her fat hands up to her turban to
+see if it were on straight, and smoothed her apron, muttering:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Clar to goodness, ef it ain't jes' mah luck to hab little
+Missus come into dis yere hen-roost?" she rapidly surveyed
+her immaculate kitchen with anxious eye.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Minna-Lu, this is my friend, Miss Rose; the one who
+did up those lovely preserves, and here are some new-laid
+eggs and some cheeses that Miss Maria-Ann
+Simmons--you know I told you all about her and the hens--has
+sent papa."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Minna-Lu gazed at Rose in open admiration.  The faithful
+colored retainer had her thorny side and her blossom
+one.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose put out her hand, and Minna-Lu took it in both
+hers.  "I 'se mighty glad yo' come, Miss Rose, dere ain't
+no strawberry-blossom nor no rose-blossom can hol' a can'le
+to yo' own honey se'f.  Dese yere cheeses is prime."  She
+examined one with the nose of a connoisseur.  "Jes' fill
+de bill wif de salad-chips to-morrah."  She stemmed her
+fists on her hips, and her mellow, contented gurgle caused
+Rose and Hazel to laugh, too.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it, Minna-Lu?" said Hazel, reading the signs
+of the times.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dat Wilkins done tol' me to git back ob de dumb-waitah,
+to-morrah ebenin' to see Missy Rose, but I 'se
+gwine to ask rale straight to jes' see her 'fo' de comp'ny
+come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course you may.  Come up to my room about seven,
+and we 'll be ready."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fo' sho'," said Minna-Lu, with beaming face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night," said Rose, beaming, too, for she found the
+black faces and ways irresistibly amusing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"De Lawd bress yo' lily face, Missy Rose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the two girls were alone, at last, in Hazel's room,
+there was no thought of bed for an hour.  There were
+numberless questions on Hazel's part concerning all the
+dear Mount Hunger people, and speechless astonishment
+on Rose's at the number of invitations that were waiting
+for her.  They chatted all the time they were undressing,
+calling back and forth to each other as one thing or another
+suggested itself.  Finally, Hazel made her appearance in
+Rose's room.  She went up to her, put her arms about
+her neck, and, looking up with eyes full of loving trust,
+said:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rose-pose, won't you come into my room and say 'Our
+Father' with me as Mother Blossom used to do on Mount
+Hunger?  You can't think how I miss it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Hazel darling, of course I will--then I shan't
+feel homesick missing that precious Martie."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She followed Hazel into her room, and after she was in
+bed, Rose knelt by her side, and together they said, "Our
+Father."  Then Rose bent over to receive Hazel's loving
+kiss and whispered, "Oh, Rose, I 'm so happy to have you
+here," and whispered back, "And I 'm so happy to be with
+you, Hazel--good-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose went back to her room.  At last she was alone.
+She drew one of the easy-chairs up before the wood-fire
+that was dying down, put her bare feet on the warm fender,
+and, for a while, dreamed waking dreams.  It was all so
+strange.  The cathedral clock on the mantel chimed twelve.
+They were all asleep in the farmhouse on the Mountain--it
+was time for her to be.  She rose, tiptoed softly into the
+dressing-room, took from the bowl the spray of white lilacs
+she had worn with the other flowers that evening, shook
+off the water, and drew the stem through a buttonhole in
+the yoke of her simple night-dress.  She tiptoed back again
+into her room, looked up at the dainty, canopied bed, then
+laid herself down within it, and, almost immediately, fell
+asleep--with her hand resting on the white fragrance that
+lay upon her heart.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="behold-how-great-a-matter-a-little-fire-kindles">XXIII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">BEHOLD HOW GREAT A MATTER A LITTLE FIRE KINDLETH</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">It was so delightful!  The weeks were passing all too
+quickly, and the letters to Mount Hunger waxed eloquent
+in praise of everybody's kindness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack had come on to lead a cotillion with Rose at Aunt
+Carrie's.  It was a weighty affair--the selecting of the
+flowers for her.  White violets they must be, and white
+violets were about as rare as white raspberries.  Jack gave
+the florist his own address.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll see them, myself, before I send them up; for I
+won't trust anyone's eyes but my own," he said to himself
+as he hurried home to dress for dinner with a friend.  "I
+wish I had n't promised Grayson to meet him at the Club
+before seven.  I 'm afraid they won't come in time."  He
+looked at his watch.  "I 'm going to make them a test--and
+see what she 'll do.  She 's so friendly and frank and
+all that, I can't find out even whether she 's beginning to
+care."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack's absorption in the theme was such that he put his
+latch-key in wrong-side up, and, in consequence, wrestled
+with the lock till he had worked himself into a fever of
+impatience; finally he touched the button before he
+discovered the trouble.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Any packages come for me, Jason?" he inquired of
+the butler, whose dignified manner of locomotion had been
+rudely shaken by Jack's unceasing pressure on the
+electric-bell.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Mr. John.  Just taken a box up to the rooms."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack looked relieved, and sprang upstairs two steps at
+a time.  He opened the box.  There they were in all their
+exquisite freshness.  "Like her," he thought, touching his
+lips to them; then, suddenly straightening himself, he felt
+the blood surge into his face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I like Dord's way of putting up his flowers, no
+tags, nor fol-de-rols.  Jason," he said, as he ran down
+stairs again, "I shall be back in an hour; tell Thomas
+to have everything laid out--I 'm in a hurry.  And
+have a messenger-boy here when I come back, and
+don't forget to order the carriage for quarter of eight,
+sharp."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Mr. John."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Messenger-boy come?" he inquired as Jason opened
+the door on his return.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir, waiting in the hall."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack raced up stairs.  There was the precious box on
+his dressing-table.  He hastily took a visiting card, and,
+writing on it the sentiment that was uppermost in his
+heart, slipped it into the envelope, gave it, together with
+the box, to the waiting boy, and bade him hand it to the
+man, Wilkins, with the request that it be sent up at once
+to the lady to whom it was addressed.  Then he made
+ready for dinner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">An hour later, Rose was dressing for the dance, and
+Hazel was watching her, chatting volubly all the while.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's the loveliest dress, Rose, I heard Aunt Carrie
+say, you couldn't buy such, nowadays."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was Martie's wedding-dress.  An uncle of her
+mother's, who was a sea-captain, brought it from India.
+But if I wear it many more times, it will be known
+throughout the length of New York.  This is my sixth time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should n't care if it were the hundredth; it's just
+lovely.  Besides, Jack has n't seen it, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose laughed.  "Oh, yes, he has--on Martie; that
+night of the tea on the porch."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, that's different.  What flowers are you
+going to wear?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought I wouldn't wear any, just for a change."  Rose's
+face was veiled by the shining hair, which she was
+brushing, preparatory to coiling it high on her head;
+otherwise, Hazel would have seen the clear flush that warmed
+even the roots of the soft waves at the nape of her neck.
+Just then there was a knock.  The maid opened the door,
+and Wilkins' voice was distinctly audible:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jes' come fo' Miss Rose; dey wuz to come up right
+smart, so de boy say."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, more flowers.  Who from?" cried Hazel, eagerly,
+while Wilkins strained his ears to catch the reply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"From Mr. Sherrill," said Rose, opening the little
+envelope.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What she read on the card caused the blood to mount
+higher and higher, till temples and forehead flushed pink,
+then as suddenly to recede.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"May I open them, Rose, and won't you wear some if
+they 're from Jack?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Rose, simply.  The two girls leaned over
+the box as Hazel took off the wrapper--then the
+cover--then the inner tissue papers--then--</p>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 60%" id="figure-42">
+<span id="the-two-girls-leaned-over-the-box-as-hazel-took-off-the-wrapper"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-288.jpg" />
+<div class="caption figure">
+"The two girls leaned over the box as Hazel took off the wrapper"</div>
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Suddenly a shriek of laughter, followed by another,
+penetrated to Wilkins, who was lingering on the stairs; he
+came softly back again.  Peal after peal of wild merriment
+issued from Rose's room.  Within, Rose in her petticoat
+and bodice had flung herself on the bed in an ecstasy
+of mirth, and Hazel was rolling over on the rug as was
+the wont of Budd and Cherry in the old days on Mount
+Hunger.  The maid looked from one to the other, and, no
+longer able to keep from joining in the merriment, although
+she did not know the cause, left the room, only to find
+Wilkins with perturbed face just outside the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Pears lake dere wor sumfin' queah 'bout dat ye re
+box--" he began; but the maid only shook with laughter
+and laid her finger on her lips, motioning him into the
+back hall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you ever?" cried Hazel, when she recovered her
+breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I never," said Rose, wiping away the tears, for she
+had laughed till she cried.  "Let's take another look."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They bent over the box, and took out its contents; then
+went off again into fits of seemingly inextinguishable
+laughter; for, neatly folded beneath the tissue paper, lay
+four sets of Jack's new light-weight, white silk pajamas,
+which he had purchased that afternoon, in order to take
+back to Cambridge with him.  On the card, which Rose still
+held in her hand, was written, "Wear these for my sake."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What will you say to him, Rose?" said Hazel, sitting
+up on the rug with her hands clasped about her knees.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know," said Rose, proceeding to dress.  "I
+can't <em class="italics">wear</em> them, that's certain."  And again the absurdity
+of the situation presented itself to her.  "And I can't
+apologize for not wearing them.  Neither can I take it for
+granted that he was going to send me flowers, and explain
+that he sent me these instead."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How awfully careless," said Hazel, interrupting her;
+"he must have had something on his mind not to take the
+pains to look, even."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose flushed.  "It will be best to let the matter drop,
+and say nothing about it," she replied in a cool, toploftical
+tone that amazed, as well as mystified, her little hostess.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Rose, I think Jack ought to know about it.
+I 'll tell him, if you don't want to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Hazel, but I don't need your good offices
+in this matter."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel rose from the rug, and going over to Rose, laid
+both hands on her shoulders and looked straight up into
+her eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now, Rose Blossom, please don't speak to me in that
+way.  You 're so queer!  First you 're nice about Jack,
+and then you 're horrid; and when you 're that way, you
+are n't nice to <em class="italics">me</em> a bit--and I don't like it, and I don't
+blame Jack for not liking it either," she added
+emphatically.  "I remember papa said a year ago that Jack was
+'all heart' for a good many girls, old and young--but I
+can tell you what, he won't have any for you, if you whiff
+round so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel in her earnestness gave Rose a little shake.  Rose
+smiled, and, bending her head, kissed her, saying, "F. and
+F. and you know, Hazel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I know all about 'forgiving and forgetting,' but
+I don't like it just the same.  He's my cousin and the
+dearest fellow in the world, and I don't like to have him
+treated so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How about his treating me?" said Rose, pointing to
+the innocent box of underwear, "forgetting even to look;
+or not caring enough, to see if I had the right package?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's different--perhaps the florist made a
+mistake."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The florist!"  Rose laughed merrily.  "I never knew
+that gentlemen's underwear and roses grew on the same
+bush.--There 's Wilkins, and I 'm not ready."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"De coachman say it's a pow'f ul col' night, an' Miss
+Rose bettah take some mo' wraps."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Wilkins," Hazel flew into the dressing-room
+for a long fur cloak of her mother's which she had
+used to wear to the dancing-classes.  She wrapped it
+about Rose, who stooped suddenly and kissed her again,
+whispering, "Hazel, you 've all spoiled me, that's what's
+the matter,--but I 'll be good to Jack, for your sake as
+well as for my own."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now you 're what Doctor Heath calls papa, the most
+splendid fellow in the world.  There now--I won't crush
+your gown--"  A kiss--"Good-night.  You look like
+an angel!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Clyde thought so, too, as he watched her coming
+downstairs.  She slipped off the cloak as she stood beneath
+the soft, but brilliant hall lights.  "Do I look all right?"
+she asked earnestly, for she had fallen into the habit, before
+going anywhere with him or Hazel, of asking for their
+criticism.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should say so--but where are the flowers?  I miss them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought I wouldn't wear any to-night, just for a change."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A woman's whim, Rose.  But I can't say that you
+need them--Now, what's to pay?" he said to himself,
+as he helped her into the carriage.  "I saw Jack at Dord's
+this afternoon, and, evidently, something was in the wind.
+I hope it has n't been taken out of his sails."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sumfin' mighty queah 'bout dat yere box," murmured
+Wilkins to himself, as he closed the door, "but Miss Rose
+doan' need no flow's.  Nebber see sech h--Fo' de good
+Lawd!  Wha' fo' yo' hyar?  Yo' Minna-Lu,--skeerin'
+mah day-lights out o' mah, shoolin' 'roun' b'hin' dat por'
+chair,--jes' lake bug'lahs."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Minna-Lu gurgled.  "Yo' jes' straight, Wilkins; nebber
+see sech ha'r.  Huccome I 'se hyar?  Jes' to see dat
+lillum-white angel--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yo' go 'long, wha' yo' b'long," growled Wilkins, not
+yet having recovered from his fright.  And Minna-Lu
+went, with the radiant vision still before her round, black
+eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack felt a queer tightening about his lower jaw, and
+one heart-throb, apparently in his throat, as he entered
+Aunt Carrie's reception-room.  Then, as with one glance
+he swept Rose from the crown of her head to the hem of
+her dress, a hot, rushing wave of indignant feeling
+mastered him--he knew he had staked his all (so a man at
+twenty-two is apt to think) and lost.  He braced himself,
+mentally and physically.  He was n't going to show the
+white-feather--not he.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Rose--Rose was mystifying, captivating, cordial,
+merry, and altogether charming.  She knocked out all
+Jack's calculations as to life, love, women, girls in general,
+and one girl in particular, at one fell swoop.  He was
+brought, necessarily, into unstable equilibrium, so far as
+his feelings were concerned--his head he was obliged
+to keep level on account of the various figures.  Several
+other heads were variously askew, and would have been
+turned, likewise, for good and all, had the wearer of her
+mother's India-mull wedding-dress been possessed of a
+fortune.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose developed social powers that evening that furnished
+food for conversation for Aunt Carrie and Mr. Clyde, who
+watched her with pride and pleasure.  She was evidently
+enjoying herself thoroughly, and her enjoyment proved
+contagious.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"After all," said Jack as, between figures, he found
+opportunity for a whispered word or two; "this is n't
+half so fine a dance as the one in the barn, last September."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that's just what I was thinking, myself, that
+very minute!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You were?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The brown eyes and the blue ones met with such
+evidence of a perfect understanding, that Jack failed to see
+Maude Seaton, who had approached him for the purpose
+of taking him out in the four-in-hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I beg your pardon," said Jack, starting to his feet,
+"it's the 'four-in-hand.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and I think you 'll have to be put into the traces
+again," she said, with a meaning smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not I," retorted Jack, merrily, "I kicked over them
+nearly a year ago."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So I heard," replied Miss Seaton, sweetly; and Jack
+wondered what she meant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Jack found himself again beside Rose, he decided
+that, flowers or no flowers, he would ask for an
+explanation.  But his first attempt was met with such a
+bewilderingly merry smile, and such confident assurance that
+explanations were not in order, that it proved a successful
+failure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When, at last, in the early morning hours he was seated
+before the open fire in his bedroom, pulling away reflectively
+at his pipe, he had time to think it over.  He came
+to the conclusion that it was trivial in him to have staked
+his all on her wearing those flowers, for she
+certainly--certainly had led him to think that she was anything but
+indifferent to him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That look now," mused Jack.  "I don't believe that
+a girl like Rose Blossom would look that way if she
+didn't mean it--if she did n't care.  No other girl could
+look that way."  He reached for his watch on the dressing-case.
+"I shall get good two hours' sleep before that early
+train.--What's that?"  He noticed for the first time,
+that on the bed lay a familiar-looking box in a brown
+paper wrapper.  In a trice he had broken the string,
+whisked off the cover, scattered the tissue paper right and
+left.--There lay the violets, white, and sweet, and almost
+as fresh as when he gave them his virgin kiss nearly twelve
+hours before.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack sat down stupefied on the bed.  <em class="italics">What had he
+given her, anyway</em>?  He thought intensely for a full
+minute.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Great Scott! the pajamas!"  And then Jack Sherrill
+rolled over on the bed, ignoring the damage to dress suit
+and violets, and, burying his face in the pillow, gave vent
+to a smothered yell.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a merry exchange of notes between
+Cambridge and New York during the next two weeks, and
+Rose had promised to wear any flowers--and only
+his--he might send her for the ball at Mrs. Fenlick's the middle
+of February, and for which Jack was coming on.  It would
+occur during the last week of Rose's visit, and Jack
+thought that possibly--possibly,--well, he could n't
+define just what "possibly;" but it proved to be an infinitely
+absorbing one, and Jack felt it was "now or never" with him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Heath had claimed Rose as her guest for the last
+three weeks, and the days were filled with pleasures.  On
+the Saturday before the ball, and a week before Rose was
+to return to Mount Hunger, two seats in a box at the
+opera had been sent in to Mrs. Heath from a friend.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look at these, Rose!" Mrs. Heath exclaimed, showing
+her the note.  "Just exactly what you were wishing to
+hear, and we thought we could not arrange it for next
+week.  That opera has been changed for to-day's matinée,
+and now you can hear both Lohengrin and Siegfried."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose clapped her hands.  "I 've just longed to hear
+Lohengrin; Mrs. Ford and her son have played so much
+of it to me.  I think it's perfectly beautiful."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm so sorry I can't go, dear; but I made a positive
+engagement for this afternoon and it must not be broken.
+But I 'll send round for Cousin Anna May.  She does n't
+care much for the opera, but she will chaperone you.
+She 's not much of a talker either, so you can enjoy the
+music in peace.  People chatter so abominably there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">From the moment the orchestra sounded the first notes
+of that pathetic and thrillingly appealing fore-word of the
+overture, Rose was lost to the world about her.  She was
+glad of the darkness, glad no one could see or notice her
+intense absorption in the opening scene.  Even when the
+lights were turned on between the acts, and the subdued
+murmur in the house rose to a confusing babble, she was
+living in the story of Elsa and her lover Knight.  Elderly
+Cousin Anna May, seeing this, let her alone, thinking to
+herself:--"One has to be young to be so enthusiastic
+over this wornout theme."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The curtain fell; the house was brilliant with lights;
+confusion of talk, confusion of merry chat and laughter
+were all about Rose; but she sat unheeding, wondering
+if the element of evil would be turned into a factor of
+good.  Her heart was aching with the intensity of feeling
+for the two lovers.  Suddenly, a few words behind her
+arrested her attention.  She sat with her back to the
+speakers--two girls in the next box, who had annoyed
+her more than once by their ceaseless, whispering gabble.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I told Maude I did n't believe it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did she say?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She said it was gospel truth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do tell me what it was, I won't tell."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not a soul."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Promise?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, of course.  They say he 's got oceans of money."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Piles--.  He 's got his mother's fortune and will have
+his father's.  Besides, his Uncle Gray is a bachelor, and
+so Jack will have that, too.  Maude says he 's the best
+catch in New York."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I heard Sam say he was in an awfully fast set in college;
+but Sam likes him awfully well.  Have you seen him?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, yes, lots.  Maude let me see him one night
+before dinner at Newport.  I used to see him playing
+polo at the grounds.  I think he 's fascinating--just like
+Lohengrin."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But what was it?  Hurry up, do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You 'll never tell?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The voice was slightly lowered--confused with the
+munching of Huyler's; and Rose, with hypersensitive
+hearing, could distinguish only a word or two, or a
+detached sentence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't think that's so awful.  Sam does that, too,
+and he 's just as nice a brother as I want."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I don't know anything about that; but I know
+it's true, for Maude said so."  In the increasing confusion
+of talk in the house, the voices were suddenly raised, and
+Rose caught every word.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll ask Sam--" began the other, dropping her opera
+glass and stooping to pick it up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If you do, Minna Grayson, I 'll never speak to you again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I forgot--" laughed the other.  "Tell us some
+more, it's awfully exciting."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I won't either," said the other, in a huffy tone.
+Evidently, they were school-girls in for the matinée.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, <em class="italics">do</em>; what <em class="italics">did</em> Maude say?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She said, 'No,'" chuckled the other triumphantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But think of his money!'</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She said she did n't mind; she 's got money enough of
+her own, anyway, if she does skimp me on allowance ever
+since grandmamma died."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I heard Sara say last Christmas when I was home for
+vacation, that he was perfectly devoted to that new girl the
+Clydes have taken up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes.  Maude says it's one of his fads.  She gives him
+six months more to get over it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Everybody says she is a perfect beauty.  Sam says
+that Mrs. Fenlick says she is the most beautiful creature
+off of a canvas she has ever seen."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Maude says Mrs. Fenlick raves over everything
+new.  She, the girl, I mean, made a dead set at him a year
+ago when he happened to meet her up in the mountains.
+You know they had a riding-party last August.  But now
+they say she seems to be setting her cap for Hazel's
+father--he has a million or two more than Jack, and she 's as
+poor as a church-mouse."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I did n't know that,--poor?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, awfully.  Why, Maude says she's seen her selling
+berries for a living somewhere up in the mountains--oh,
+way back in them.  People call them the Lost Nation,
+they 're so far back; and Maude says she wore patched
+shoes and an old calico dress--Sh!--Now we 're going to
+have that bridal march, is n't it dandy?  It ought to be a
+part of the marriage ceremony, Maude says.  I 'm so glad
+it's coming;--Tum, tum, ty tum--tum, tum, ty
+tum--here 's just one more candied violet--tum, tum, ty tum,
+tum, ty tum, ty ty tum, ty tum--Oh, look!  Is n't Elsa
+just lovely--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A burst of applause greeted the beautiful prima donna.
+Upon Rose's ears it fell like the thunder of a cataract, like
+the crash and roll of an avalanche.  She stared at the
+exquisite scene before her with strained eyes.  The music
+went on with all the troublous-sweet under-tones of love,
+and longing, and forever-parting.  Not once did Rose
+stir until the curtain fell, then she turned to her
+companion:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can we get out soon, Mrs. May?  The air is a little
+close here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Certainly, my dear;" but to herself she said, "How
+intense she is.  I 'm thankful I never was so strung up
+over music."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="old-put">XXIV</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">"OLD PUT"</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"Where 's Rose?" said the Doctor as he came in that
+Saturday evening, and heard no welcoming voice from the
+library or the stairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She came home from the opera with a frightful
+headache and has gone to bed.  She said she did n't want any
+dinner, but I have insisted upon her having some toast
+and tea," replied his wife.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Humph!" growled the Doctor; "Our wild rose can't
+stand such hot-house atmosphere.  When does the
+Fenlicks' ball come off?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Next Wednesday; it will be a superb affair.  Rose
+showed me her card the other day, and if you will believe
+me, it's full, although Jack Sherrill gets the lion's
+share."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you think things are coming on there, wifie?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, he's devoted to her whenever he can be; you
+know what Mrs. Pearsell told us about last summer,
+but--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But what?" said the Doctor, a little impatiently.
+"Generally, wifie, you can see prospective wedding-cake
+if two young people so much as look twice at each other."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Heath laughed and nodded.  "Yes, I know; but
+in just this case, I don't know.  You can't tell anything
+by her--and I fear, hubbie, that Jack Sherrill is n't quite
+good enough for her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not quite good enough for her!"  The Doctor almost
+shouted in his earnestness.  "Jack Sherrill not quite good
+enough for--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sh--sh, dear!"  His wife held up her hand in warning.
+"Someone might hear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Let 'em hear, then," growled the Doctor.  "I say Rose
+is n't a bit too good for him.--Look here, wifie,--" he drew
+her towards him and down upon the arm of his easy-chair,
+"Jack's all right every time--do you understand?  <em class="italics">All
+right!</em>"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ye-es," admitted his wife rather reluctantly.  "I know
+he 's a great favorite of yours.  But Mrs. Grayson says
+he 's in a very fast set at Harvard--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now look here, wifie, don't you let those women with
+their eternal hunger for gossip say anything to you about
+Jack.  I tell you there is n't another fellow I know, who,
+placed as he is, can set up so many white stones to mark
+his short life's pathway as John Sherrill's only son.  For
+heaven's sake, give him the credit for them.  I know what
+I saw on Mount Hunger a year ago, and I know and believe
+what I see."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I only hope he won't flirt with her--" began
+Mrs. Heath.  Her husband interrupted her:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Flirt with her!"  The Doctor chuckled.  "I'll
+warrant Jack won't do any flirting with her--it 'll be the
+other way round sooner than that!  Just say good-night
+to Rose for me when you go up stairs, and tell her if she
+is n't down bright and early Sunday morning, I 'll prescribe
+for her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But there was no need for the Doctor's prescription; for
+Rose was down for breakfast, and although white cheeks
+and heavy eyes caused the Doctor to draw his eyebrows
+together in a straight line over the bridge of his nose,
+nothing was said of there being any need for a prescription.
+But after breakfast he drew her into the library and
+placed her in an easy-chair before the blazing fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There now," he said in his own kindliest tones, "sit
+there and dream while wifie makes ready for church, and
+after that you shall go with me for an official drive.  The
+air will do you good.  I can't send such white roses"--he
+patted her cheek--"back to Mount Hunger; what
+would mother say?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">To his amazement Rose buried her face in both hands;
+a half-suppressed sob startled him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Rose-pose!  What's the matter, little girl?
+Headachey--nerves unstrung--too much opera?  Here,
+come into the office where we shan't be disturbed, and
+tell me all about it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Rose shook her head, lifted it from her hands, and
+smiled through the welling tears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm a perfect goose, but--but--I believe I 'm getting
+just a little bit homesick for Mount Hunger, and I 'm not
+going to stay for Mrs. Fenlick's ball.  I know mother
+needs me at home--I can just feel it in her letters, and
+I know I want--I want her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't blame you a bit, Rose,--but is n't this rather
+sudden?  Any previous attacks?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--and I know it seems dreadfully ungrateful to
+you and dear Mrs. Heath to say so, and it is n't that--I 'd
+love to be with just you two; but it's this dreadful
+feeling comes over me, and I know I ought to go."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And go you shall, Rose," said the Doctor, emphatically,
+but oh! so kindly and understandingly.  "Go back to
+all the dear ones there--and when you come again, don't
+give us the tail-end of your visit, will you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Indeed, I won't," answered Rose, earnestly, "and if it
+were only you and Mrs. Heath, I 'd love to stay,
+but--but--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No need to say anything more, Rose, wifie and I
+understand it perfectly--" ("I wish the dickens I did!"
+was his thought)--"Tell wifie when she comes down,
+and meanwhile I 'll send round for the brougham and
+we 'll take a little drive in the Park before office hours."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose patted his hand, and her silence spoke for her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here 's a pretty kettle of fish!" said the Doctor to
+himself as he went to the telephone.  "I wish I could
+get to the bottom of it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">And thus it came about that a cool, dignified note, not
+expressive of any particular regret, was mailed to
+Cambridge on Sunday afternoon, and a long letter to Mount
+Hunger telling them to be sure to meet her on Tuesday
+at Barton's, and filled with wildly enthusiastic expressions
+of delight in anticipation of the home-coming.  And on
+Tuesday afternoon, as the train sped onwards, following
+the curves of the frozen Connecticut, and the snow-covered
+mountains on the Vermont side began to crowd its
+banks, Rose felt a lightening of the heart and an uplifting
+of spirits.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The bitterness and shame and shock she had experienced,
+in consequence of that one little bite of the fruit of the
+Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, seemed to
+diminish with every mile that increased the distance between
+her and the frothing whirlpool of the great city's gayeties.
+All the way up, until the mountains loomed in sight, there
+had been hot, indignant protest in her thoughts.  At first,
+indeed, it had been hatred.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hate it all--hate it, <em class="italics">hate</em> it!" she found herself
+saying over and over again after the good-byes had been said
+at the station, and Hazel and Mr. Clyde and Doctor Heath
+had supplied her with flowers and magazines for the long
+day's journey.  It was all she could think or feel at the
+time; but soon the little pronoun changed, and the thought
+grew more bitter:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hate him!  How could he--how dared he do as he
+did!  Because I am poor, I suppose.  Oh!  I wish I could
+make him pay for it.  I wish I could make him love me
+really and truly, and then just <em class="italics">scorn</em> him!  But what a fool
+I am--as if he <em class="italics">could</em> love after what I heard--oh, why
+did I hear it!  I wish I may never see his face again,
+and I wish I 'd stayed at home where I belong--I hate
+him!"--And so on "da capo" hour after hour, and the
+incessant chugetty-chug-chug of the express furnished the
+rhythmic, basal tone for the bitter motive.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was long after lunch time, and the train of thought
+had not changed, when Rose's eye fell upon the dainty
+basket Martin had placed in the rack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This is a pretty state of mind to go home to Martie
+in!" she said to herself, rising and taking down the basket.
+"I have n't eaten a good meal since last Saturday at lunch,
+and I 'm--why, I believe I 'm hungry!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She opened the basket, and loving evidence of Minna-Lu's
+admiration tempted her to pick a little here and there--a
+stuffed olive or two, a roast quail, a delicate celery
+sandwich, a quince tart, a bunch of Hamburg grapes.
+Soon Rose was feasting on all the good things, and her
+harsh thoughts began to soften.  How kind they all were!
+And <em class="italics">they</em> truly loved her--and what had they not done
+for her comfort and pleasure!  Rose, setting her pretty
+teeth deep into a third quince tart, looked out of the
+window and almost exclaimed aloud at the sight.  The
+vanguard of the Green Mountains closed in the upper end of
+the river-valley along which they were speeding.  It was
+home that was behind all that!  The thought still further
+softened her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">What?  Carry her bitterness and disappointed pride
+back into that dear, peaceful home?  Not she!  "They
+shall never know--never!" she said to herself--"I 'm
+not Molly Stark for nothing, and there are others in the
+world beside Jack Sherrill."  And so she continued to
+speak cold comfort to herself for the next four hours
+until the brakeman called "Barton's River!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There beyond the platform was the old apple-green
+pung!--and yes! father and March and Budd and dear
+old Chi anxiously scanning the coaches.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Home at last! and such a home-coming!  How busy
+the tongues were for a week afterwards!  How wildly gay
+was Rose, who kept them laughing over the many queer
+doings of the metropolis, over Wilkins and Minna-Lu and
+Martin and Mrs. Scott!  And how lovingly she spoke of
+Hazel's charming hospitality and of Mr. Clyde's thoughtfulness
+for her pleasure, although, as she mentioned his
+name, a wave of color mounted to the roots of her hair at
+the ugly thought that would intrude.  Chi listened with
+all his ears, enjoying it with the rest; but once upstairs
+in his room over the shed, he would sit down on the side
+of his bed to ponder a little the gay doings of his
+Rose-pose among the "high-flyers," and then turn in with a
+sigh and a muttered:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T ain't Rose-pose.  I knew how 't would be.--There 's
+a screw loose somewhere; but she's handsome!--handsome
+as a picture, 'n' I 'd give a dollar to know if she 's
+cut that other one out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Valentines seem kind of scarce this year," he remarked
+rather grimly, a few days after her arrival, as late in the
+afternoon, he returned from Barton's with little mail and
+no boxes of flowers.  "It's the sixteenth day of February,
+but it might be Fast Day for all that handful of mail would
+show for it!"  He placed the package on Mrs. Blossom's
+work-table at which Rose was sitting busy with some
+sewing.  They were alone in the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose laughed merrily.  "Goodness, Chi! you want us
+to have more than our share.  We had a perfect deluge
+last year when Hazel was here; you know it makes a
+difference without her.  You said yourself that there was
+a good deal of bulk, but it was pretty light weight--don't
+you remember?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi elevated one bushy eyebrow.  "I ain't forgot; but I
+don't know about it's bein' any <em class="italics">Deluge</em>--it appeared to
+me it was a Shadrach, Meshach, 'n' Abednego kind of a
+business--"  He gave the back log a kick that sent the
+sparks up the chimney in a grand pyrotechnic show.
+"Seems as if I could see those posies, now, a-shrivellin'
+in the fireplace.  Never thought you treated those innocent
+things quite on the square, Rose-pose!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose's head was bent low over her work.  Chi went on,
+bracing himself to the self-imposed task of enlightening
+her:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to meddle, Rose, in anybody's business,
+but it ain't set well with me ever since--the way you
+treated those roses; 'n', after all, we 're both members of
+the Nobody's Business But Our Own Society, 'n' if
+anybody 's goin' to meddle, perhaps I 'm the one.  I 've thought
+a good many times you would n't have been quite so harsh
+with 'em, if you had n't overlooked this in your
+flare-up--"  He drew out of his breast pocket a card--Jack 's--with
+the verse on the back.  "Read that, 'n' see if you
+ain't dropped a stitch somewhere that you can pick up in
+time."  He handed her the card.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose looked up surprised, but with burning cheeks.
+She took the card, read the verse, turned it over on the
+name side, and rose from her chair.  Every particle of color
+had left her face.  She went over to the fireplace, and,
+bending, dropped the little piece of pasteboard upon the
+glowing back-log.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The sentiment belongs with the roses, Chi; don't let's
+have any more Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego business--I 'm
+tired of it."  She spoke indifferently; then,
+resuming her seat, called out in a cheery voice:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Martie, won't you come here a minute, and see if I have
+put on this gore right?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll come, dear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi, nonplussed, irritated, repulsed, set his teeth hard
+and abruptly left the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Outside in the shed he clenched his fist and shook it
+vigorously at the closed door of the long-room: "--By
+George Washin'ton!" he muttered, "I 'll make you pay
+up for that, Rose Blossom.  You can't come any of your
+high-flyers' games on me--  Just you put that in your
+pipe and smoke it!  Thunderation! what gets into women
+and girls, sometimes?"  He seized the milk-pails from the
+shelf and hurried to the barn nearly running down Cherry
+in his wrathful excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look out there, Cherry!  You 're always getting round
+under foot!" he said, harshly, and stumbled on, regaining
+his balance, only to be met by Budd in the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just clear out now, Budd!  I ain't goin' to stand your
+foolin'.  Let alone of that stanchion," he roared.
+"Always worryin' the cow if she looks once at you sideways.
+Get <em class="italics">up</em>, there--"  His right boot helped the amazed cow
+forwards into the stall, and the milk drummed into the pail
+as if the poor creature were being milked by a dummy-engine
+with more pressure of steam on than it could well stand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd flew into the woodshed and found Cherry still
+standing, in a half-dazed condition, where Chi had left her.
+They compared notes immediately to the detriment and
+defamation of Chi's character.  Then they carried their
+budget of woe to their mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi is worried, children; you must n't mind if he is a
+little cross now and then.  He feels dreadfully about the
+prospect of this war, as we all do, and that's his way of
+showing it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, if he's going to be so cross at us, I wish he 'd
+clear out an' go to war!" retorted Budd, smarting under
+the unjust treatment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm only afraid he will if we have one," said
+Mrs. Blossom, sadly.  "But, oh, I hope and pray we may be
+spared that!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Budd continued to grumble, and Cherry to be suspiciously
+sniffy, until their father's return; and then at the
+supper table they listened greedily to all the talk of their
+elders, that had for its absorbing theme the prospective
+war.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the spring days lengthened, and the sun drew
+northward, the tiny cloud on the country's peaceful horizon grew
+larger and darker, until it cast its shadow throughout the
+length and breadth of the land, and men's faces grew stern
+and troubled and women prayed for peace.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With the lengthening days Chi showed signs of increasing
+restlessness.  "It ain't any use, Ben," he said, one
+soft evening in early May, as the family, with the
+exception of the younger children, sat on the porch discussing
+the latest news, "I 've got to go."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi!" broke from Mrs. Blossom and Rose.  They
+cried out as if hurt.  Mr. Blossom grasped Chi's right
+hand, and March wrung the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't stand it," he went on; "we 've been sassed
+enough as a nation, 'n' some of us have got to teach those
+foreigners we ain't goin' to turn the other cheek just coz
+we're slapped on one.  When I wasn't higher than Budd,
+my great-grandfather--you remember him, Ben, lived the
+other side of the Mountain--put his father's old Revolution'ry
+musket (the one, you know, Rose-pose, as I 've used
+in the N.B.B.O.O.) into my hands, 'n' says: 'Don't
+you stand no sass, Malachi Graham, from no
+foreigners.--Just shoot away, 'n' holler, "Hands off" every
+time, 'n' they 'll learn their lesson easy and early, 'n'
+respect you in the end.'  And I ain't forgot it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi," Mrs. Blossom's voice was tremulous, "you won't
+go till you 're asked, or needed, will you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I ain't goin' to wait to be asked, Mis' Blossom; I 'd
+rather be on hand to be refused.  That's my way.  So I
+thought I 'd be gettin' down along this week--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This week!"  Rose interrupted him with a cry and a
+half-sob.  "Oh, Chi! dear old Chi! <em class="italics">must</em> you go?  What
+if--what if--"  Rose's voice broke, and Chi gulped down
+a big lump, but answered, cheerily:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Rose-pose, <em class="italics">what if</em>?  Ain't I Old Put? 'n' ain't
+you Molly Stark? 'n' ain't Lady-bird Barbara
+Frietchie?--There, just read that--" he handed a letter to March,
+who gave it back to him, saying, in a husky voice, that it
+was too dark to read.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then we 'll adjourn into the house, 'n' light
+up.--There now," he said, as he lighted the lamp and set it
+on the table beside March, "here's your letter, Markis,
+read ahead."</p>
+<p class="pnext">March read with broken voice:</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="left pfirst white-space-pre-line">4 EAST --TH STREET, NEW YORK,<br />
+May 5, 1898.</p>
+<p class="pnext">DEAR FRIEND CHI,--I never thought when I joined the
+N.B.B.O.O. Society, that I 'd have to be really brave about
+real war;--and now dear old Jack is going off to Cuba with
+Little Shaver and all those cow-boys,--and it's dreadful!
+Uncle John is about sick over it, for, you know, Jack is all he
+has.  Papa is going to keep the house open all summer; he
+says there is no telling what may happen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">We have made no plans for the summer, for our hearts are
+so heavy on Jack's account--his last year in Harvard, too!
+He told me to tell you he would find out if there is a chance for
+you in the new cavalry regiment he has joined.  He looked so
+pleased when I told him; he read your letter, and I told him
+how you wanted to go with him, and he said: "Dear old Chi,
+I'd like to have him for my bunkie"--and told me what it
+meant.  He told me to tell you to be prepared for a telegram
+at any moment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">I must stop now; papa wants me to go out with him.  Give
+my love to <em class="italics">all</em>, and tell Mother Blossom and Rose I will write
+them more particulars in a few days.</p>
+<p class="pnext">If you come to New York, you know a room will be ready
+for you in the home of your</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Loving friend,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">HAZEL CLYDE.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">There was silence for a while in the room; then
+Mr. Blossom spoke:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How are you going, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm goin' to jog along down with Fleet, 'n' take it
+kind of easy--thought I 'd cross the Mountain, 'n' strike
+in on the old post-road; 'n' follow on down by old
+Ticonderogy,--I 've always wanted to see that,--then across to
+Saratogy 'n' Albany, 'n' foller the river.  You can't go
+amiss of New York if you stick to that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again there was a prolonged silence.  Chi hemmed, and
+moved uneasily on his chair, while he fumbled about in his
+trousers' pocket.  He pulled out a piece of crumpled,
+yellow paper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"S'pose I might just as well make a clean breast of
+it."  He tried to laugh, but it was a failure.  "Jack's
+telegram came along last night, 'n' I thought, maybe I 'd
+better be gettin' my duds together to-night, Mis' Blossom,
+as 't will be a mighty early start--before any of you are
+up," he added, hastily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The two women broke down then, and Mr. Blossom and
+March followed Chi out to the barn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The household, save for the younger children, was early
+astir--before sunrise.  Mrs. Blossom had prepared a hearty
+breakfast, and Rose was rolling up a few pairs of her
+father's stockings to put in the netted saddle-bag which
+Chi was wont to use in hunting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Tell March to call Chi, Rose," said her mother.  "His
+breakfast is ready, I hear him in the barn."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Rose ran out in the dawning light to find her father
+and March just coming towards the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, where 's Chi?" she cried.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For answer, her father pointed to the woodlands.  She
+looked just in time to see in the soft gray of the early
+morn the horse and rider rise to the three-railed fence that
+separated the pasture from the woodlands.  He was
+following the trail he had indicated to Jack--"through the
+woods 'n' acre or two of brush, 'n' then some pretty steep
+sliding down the other side, 'n' a dozen rods or so of
+swimmin', 'n' a tough old clamber up the bank--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some ten days afterward, late on a warm afternoon in
+May, there rode into New York City by the way of the
+Bronx and Harlem, a middle-aged man on a bright bay
+horse.  The animal's gait was a noticeable one, a long,
+loping gallop, that covered the ground in a manner that
+roused the admiration of the drivers on the speedway.
+The tall, loose-jointed body of the rider apparently loped
+along with the horse--their movements were identical.
+The saddle was an old-fashioned cavalry one of the early
+sixties.  A netted saddle-bag and a rolled rubber coat
+were fastened to the crupper.  A light-weight hunting
+rifle was slung on a strap over the man's shoulder.  At
+the northern entrance to the Park he drew rein beside a
+mounted policeman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can you tell me if I 'm on the right track to this
+house?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He took a card from the pocket of his dusty blue
+flannel shirt and handed it to the policeman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The city guardian nodded assent.  "But you can't take
+that gun along with you; you 're inside city limits and
+liable to arrest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Gainst the law, hey?  Well, I 've come from a pretty
+law-abiding state, 'n' ain't goin' to get into rows with you
+fellers--"  He laid a brown, knotty, work-roughened
+finger on the policeman's immaculate blue coat--"I 'd
+trust that color as far as I could see.  Where shall I leave
+the rifle?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The city guard unbent as the kindly voice yielded such
+undefiant obedience to his demand.  "You can leave it
+with me now,--I 'm off my beat by seven, and live over
+east of this--" he handed back the card--"and I 'll leave
+it at the house if you 're going to be there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, that 'll suit me.  Yes, I 'm goin' to put up
+there for a day or two, maybe."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Off on a hunting trip?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet--goin' on a big, old, U.S.A. hunt for a lot
+of darned foreigners in Cuby."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The policeman held out his hand and grasped the
+stranger's.  "You're one of them?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I come down to join a cavalry regiment.  Jack
+Sherrill, he belongs, too.  Great rider--can't be beat.
+Ever seen him round here on Little Shaver?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The policeman smiled.  "No, but I 'd like to see you
+again--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Maybe you will; but I 'd better be getting along
+before sundown,--'gainst the law to ride this horse a piece
+through those woods?"  He pointed into the Park.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, no, that's all right.  Keep along till you come to
+Seventieth Street, and inquire; and then turn into Fifth
+Avenue--east--and you're there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Much obliged.  Like to show you a trail or two up
+in Vermont when you come that way.  Get, Fleet."  The
+animal set forward into a long, loping gallop.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The brilliant, light green of the May foliage was
+enhanced by the level rays of the setting sun, as the man
+turned his horse into Fifth Avenue and drew rein to a
+rapid walk.  Many a one paused to look at him as he
+paced over the asphalt.  He was looking up at the
+mansions of the Upper East Side.  Soon he halted at the
+corner of a side street and gazed up at the first house, the
+end of which, with the conservatory, was on the Avenue,
+but the entrance on the side street.  "That's the place,"
+he spoke to himself,--"don't see a hitchin'-post handy, so
+I 'll just have to tie up to this electric light stand.  Iron,
+by thunder!--Well, there ain't any risk so long as 't isn't
+lit, 'n' there ain't a tempest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Leaving his horse firmly tied to the standard he
+stepped up on the low, broad stoop of "Number 4," and
+looked for the bell.  Not finding any he knocked forcibly
+on the carved iron grill that protected the plate-glass
+doors.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The great doors flew open, and a face--"blacker 'n
+thunder"--as the man said to himself, scowled on the
+interloper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wha' fo' yo' come hyar, yo'--"  He got no further.
+A horny hand was extended, and a cheery voice, that
+broke into a laugh, spoke the assuaging words:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess you 're Wilkins, ain't you?  I 've heard Lady-bird
+tell 'bout you till I feel as if we 'd been pretty well
+acquainted goin' on nigh two year now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">By this time Wilkins' face was one broad beam.  He
+slapped his free hand on his knee:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yo 's Mister Chi, for sho'--dere ain't no need yo'
+tellin'.  Yo' jes' come straight in, Mister Chi; Marse John
+an' little Missy jes' gone fo' ah drive in de Park.  Dey 'll
+be in any minute.  Yo' room 's all ready, an' little Missy
+put de flow'rs in fresh dis yere mornin'--''Case,' she
+say, 'Wilkins, dere ain't no tellin' when Chi's comin'.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sho'," Chi interrupted him, brushing the back of his
+hand hastily across his eyes.  "I can't come in now,
+Wilkins, coz I 've got to stay here 'n' watch my horse--I 'll
+sit here on the steps a spell 'n' cool off till Mr. Clyde gets
+home, 'n' he 'll help me see to puttin' up Fleet for the
+night.  His legs are a little mite swollen near the hocks,
+'n' I 'm goin' to rub him down myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"De coachman jes' tend to yo' hoss like 's ef 't wor
+yo'se'f, Mister Chi.  I 'll jes' call up de stable bo', 'n' he 'll
+rub him down wif sp'r'ts, an' shine him up till he look
+jes' lake new mahog'ny.  Jes' yo' come--dere dey come now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi was at the curbstone to welcome them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi!  O Chi!"  Hazel rose up in the trap at sight of
+the well-known figure, and Chi, laying his hand firmly on
+Martin's shoulder, put him aside as he sprang to open the
+door and let down the steps, reached up both arms, and took
+Hazel out as tenderly as on the night of her first arrival
+at the farmhouse on the Mountain.  And then and there
+Hazel gave him a kiss, and Mr. Clyde grasped his hands
+in both his, and the wide hall doors that Wilkins had
+thrown open to their fullest extent closed upon the
+reunited friends.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'E 's a 'ansome 'oss," Martin remarked to the coachman,
+as he mounted Fleet to take him to the stable; "Hi
+'ave n't seen a 'ansomer since Hi 've bean in the States."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A few days after the hall doors were again flung wide,
+but not to their fullest extent, and Wilkins' face grew
+strangely tremulous when he heard Hazel and Mr. Clyde,
+Jack and Chi coming down the broad hall stairs.  Martin
+was proudly leading Fleet and Little Shaver up and down
+in front of the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jack!  O Jack!  I can't bear to have you go--but I
+<em class="italics">will</em> be brave."  Hazel smiled through the raining tears.
+She clung to him and kissed him.  He put her aside, ran
+out to Little Shaver, and flung himself on before Chi had
+said good-bye.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Take care of Jack, Chi," she whispered, patting his hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I will, Barbara Frietchie."  He pointed to the flag that,
+in the east wind blowing in from the Sound, was waving
+over the entrance, gripped Mr. Clyde's hand, then Wilkins',
+and, apparently, stepped into the saddle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Quick, quick, Wilkins! lower the flag, and let me have
+it."  Wilkins sprang to obey.  Hazel seized it, and rushed
+up stairs to the drawing-room, the windows of which
+overlooked the Avenue.  One of them was open; she leaned
+out; and as Fleet and Little Shaver turned the corner,
+their riders, looking up, saw the young girl's figure in the
+opening.  She was waving the symbol of their Country's
+life and their manhood's loyalty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They halted, baring their heads for a moment--then
+without once looking back, galloped down the Avenue.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="san-juan">XXV</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">SAN JUAN</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Notwithstanding it was a hot day in the first week
+of July, Mrs. Spillkins had decided to have a
+"quilting-bee."  Having made up her mind, after consulting with
+Miss Melissa and Miss Elvira, she lost no time in
+summoning Uncle Israel from the barn, and making known
+her plans.  Uncle Israel mildly objected.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kinder hot fer er quiltin'-bee, ain't it, Hannah?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Tis pretty hot," Mrs. Spillkins admitted, wiping the
+perspiration from her face with her apron, "but we 'll have
+it to-morrow 'long 'bout four.  You get the frames and
+rollers out, Israel, from the back garret, an' then I want
+you to go up to Mis' Blossom's an' ask 'em to come, an' get
+word to the other folks on the Mountain."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll go, Hannah, but I dunno 'bout Mis' Blossom 'n'
+Rose comin' ter er quiltin'-bee jest 'bout this time.
+They 're feelin' pretty low 'bout Chi off thar in Cuby;
+news hez come thet ther 's ben fightin'--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that, Israel; I 've thought of that, too; but,
+mebbe, it 'll do 'em good, just to change the scene a little.
+Anyway, you ask 'em."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jest ez ye say, Hannah."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The sun was setting when Uncle Israel made his
+appearance on the porch where the whole family was assembled
+with Alan Ford.  They had but one topic for conversation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Uncle Israel gave his invitation, and added: "Hannah
+thought ye 'd better come 'n' change the scene a
+leetle--she knowed ye 'd be kinder low-spereted 'bout now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom held out her hand.  "Thank you, Uncle
+Israel.  Tell Mrs. Spillkins we will both come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hannah wants your folks ter come, tew, Alan."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Much obliged, Uncle Israel.  I 'll tell mother and
+Ruth; I 'm sure they will enjoy it.  Ruth said the other
+day she wished she might have a chance to see a quilting-bee
+while we are here.  Shall I take your message over to
+Aunt Tryphosa?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Much obleeged, Alan.  Thank ye, Rose,"--as Rose
+brought out the large arm-chair and placed it for him;
+"I 'll set a spell 'n' rest me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a typical northern midsummer night.  Across
+the valley the mountains loomed, softly luminous, against
+the pale green translucent stretch of open sky in the west.
+There were no clouds; but high above and around there
+swept a long trail of motionless mist, flame-colored over the
+mountain tops, but darkening, with the coming of the night,
+into gray towards the east.  The stars were not yet out.
+The veeries were choiring antiphonally in the woodlands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">An hour afterwards Alan Ford rose to go, and Uncle
+Israel soon followed his example.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll go down the woods'-road a piece with you, Uncle
+Israel," said Rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As she came back up the Mountain a cool breath drew
+through the pines, and the spruces gave forth their
+resinous fragrance upon the dewless night.  The stars were
+brilliant in the dark blue deeps.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A midsummer night among the mountains of New
+England!  And far away in the sickening heat and wet,
+the fever-laden exhalations of the tropics rose into the
+nostrils of a man, who sat motionless in the rude
+field-hospital, hastily improvised on the slope of San Juan,
+watching, with his knees drawn up to his chin and his
+hands clasping them, for some faint tremor in the still
+face on the army blanket spread upon the ground.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lantern cast its light full upon that still face.
+Suddenly the watcher bent forward; his keen eyes had
+detected a twitch of an eyelid--a flutter in the muscles of
+the throat.  "Don't move him," the surgeon had said;
+"the least movement will cause the final hemorrhage."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a catch of the breath--the eyes opened,
+partly filmed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jack!"  The watcher spoke, bending lower; his ear
+over the other's lips.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi--" it was a mere breath, but the man
+heard--"I'm--done for."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The watcher's hand, muscular, toil-hardened, sought the
+nerveless one that was lying on the other's breast, and
+closed upon it with a brooding pressure.  There was
+silence for a few minutes.  Then the horny hand felt a
+feeble stirring of the fingers beneath the hardened
+palm--they were fumbling weakly at a button.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The strong hand undid the button, gently--very gently,
+without apparent movement.  There was a motion of the
+nerveless fingers towards the place.  Another breath:--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Give--love--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A long silence fell.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Spillkins heaved a sigh of satisfaction: "We 've
+done an awful sight of work," she said, surveying the five
+quilts "run" and "tacked" and "knotted" in even rows
+and mathematically true squares; "but it seems as if
+they did n't eat a mite of supper, an' that strawberry
+shortcake was enough to melt in your mouth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What'd I tell ye, Hannah?  They're worretin' 'bout
+Chi," said Uncle Israel.  "They've fit agin; Ben told
+me while he wuz waitin' with the team fer the womin-folks.
+He hed the mail, 'n' er telegram thet thet young
+feller, we see ridin' 'roun' here las' summer, wuz mortal
+wounded.  He did n't want the womin-folks ter know it
+till he got 'em hum.  They sot er sight by him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Spillkins threw up her hands: "Dear suz'y me!"
+she exclaimed in a distressed voice.  "What 'll they do!
+I hope an' pray Malachi Graham ain't hurt none.  I feel
+as if I ought to go right up there, an' see if there 's
+anything I can do."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Better wait till the Cap'n comes hum, Hannah; he 'll
+hev the papers."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I guess 't would be better," and Mrs. Spillkins
+proceeded to fold up her quilts and "clear up" the best
+room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The hot July days warmed the breast of the Mountain.
+Over in the corn-patch the stalks had spindled and the
+swelling ears were ready to tassel.  By word or look
+Rose had given no sign--and her mother wondered.  The
+days wore on; the routine of daily work and life went on;
+but the younger children's voices were subdued when they
+spoke lovingly and longingly of Chi, and Rose sang no
+longer when she kneaded bread.  They were days of
+suspense and heart misery for them all.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Two weeks had passed since that evening when
+Mr. Blossom had read to them the fatal despatch.  No word
+had come from anyone save Hazel, who wrote that her
+father and Uncle John had started at once for Cuba, and
+that she hoped to be with the Blossoms the third week in
+July, for by that time they would know the whole truth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had been making ready Hazel's little bedroom,
+for she was expected in a few days.  Rose was tacking up
+a white muslin curtain at the small window, when she
+heard her father call:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rose, come here a minute."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, father."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She went out on the porch with the hammer in her
+hand.  "What is it, Popsey dear?--Why, father, what--oh
+what--!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">With shaking hand her father held out a letter to her.
+Rose looked once--it was from Chi!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish mother were here, daughter--but she'll be
+back soon.  Let me know how it is with them
+all--."  Mr. Blossom could say no more, for Malachi Graham was
+as near to him as a brother, and he was agonizing for his
+child.  He went off to the barn, leaving Rose standing on
+the porch, staring as if fascinated at the superscription of
+the letter:</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">To Miss Rose Blossom,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><dl class="docutils first last white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Mill Settlement,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><dl class="docutils first last white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Barton's River,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">Vermont.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p class="pfirst">N.B.B.O.O.--To be opened by nobody but her.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Rose laid down the hammer mechanically, opened the
+envelope, and unfolded the piece of brown paper from out
+of which fluttered to the floor another and thicker slip,
+stained almost beyond recognition.  With staring eyes and
+face as white as driven snow she read the few words
+scrawled in pencil on the brown slip:--</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">DEAR ROSE-POSE,--I ain't no wish to meddle with anybody's
+business--but I 'm just obeying orders.  The last words
+I heard Jack Sherrill speak, was "Give--love," and he fumbled
+at his breast to get out this enclosed.  I ain't read it--but it's
+his heart's blood that's on it.  Give my love to all.</p>
+<dl class="docutils left white-space-pre-line">
+<dt class="white-space-pre-line">Yours forever,</dt>
+<dd class="white-space-pre-line"><p class="first last pfirst white-space-pre-line">CHI.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"His heart's blood!"  For a moment the words conveyed
+no meaning.  She picked up the iron-rusty brown
+slip from the floor; unfolded it; read--Barry Cornwall's
+love-song in her own handwriting!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"His heart's blood!"  She pressed one hand hard upon
+her own heart, crushing with the other the dark-stained
+slip.  Then, with one wild look around her as if searching
+for help, she ran down the steps, across the mowing, over
+into the pasture and up into the woodlands.  Deep, deep
+into the heart of them she made her way, as her mother,
+Mary Blossom, had done before her; but now there was
+no kneeling, no prayer, no petition to take from her the
+intolerable pain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was young, and she loved as the young love.  It
+was not God whom she wanted; it was "Jack!  Jack!
+Jack!"  She cast herself face down upon the ground, and
+moaned in her agony: "His heart's blood--his heart's
+blood."  She pressed the stained paper to her lips, over
+and over again.  Then she opened her blouse and baring
+her bosom, laid the love-song against it--"His heart's
+blood--his heart's blood!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">So her mother found her.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="maria-ann-s-crusade">XXVI</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext">MARIA-ANN'S CRUSADE</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">Of late Aunt Tryphosa had been growing suspicious of
+Maria-Ann, and the latter felt she was being watched; to
+use her own words, "it nettled her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">One afternoon, late in August, her grandmother, coming
+upon her rather suddenly in the pasture as she sat under
+the shade of a patriarchal butternut, ostensibly watching
+Dorcas, asked her sharply:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What you doin', Maria-Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Tendin' to my own business," retorted Maria-Ann,
+with an unwonted snap in her voice, and hurriedly folded
+something out of sight beneath the Hearthstone Journal
+which lay upon her lap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was the signal of open revolt on the part of her
+granddaughter, and the like had occurred but once before
+in all the time of her up-bringing with Aunt Tryphosa.
+The old dame's lips drew to a thinner line than usual, as
+she fired the second shot into the hostile camp:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You been cryin', Maria-Ann."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What if I be?" demanded her granddaughter, with a
+flash of indignation from beneath her reddened eyelids.
+"S'pose I have a right to have feelin's same as other
+folks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly Aunt Tryphosa swooped like a hen-hawk
+upon a small piece of bright scarlet flannel, that the
+breeze had caught away from the protecting folds of
+the Hearthstone Journal, and landed in the covert of
+sweet fern just at her feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that?"  She held up the glowing bit of color,
+dangling it before Maria-Ann's eyes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Upon poor Maria-Ann's inflamed sense of injustice, it
+had much the same effect as a red rag waved before the
+eyes of an infuriated bull.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She sprang to her feet, snatched the bit of cloth from
+between her grandmother's thumb and fore-finger, and
+thrust it into her dress waist, crying out shrilly in her
+unwonted excitement:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You let that be, Grandmarm Little!  It's my cross
+and I 'm going on a crusade--so now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Aunt Tryphosa sat down rather suddenly in the middle
+of the sweet-fern patch.  Was Maria-Ann going crazy?
+Her breath came short and sharp; she drew her thin lips
+still more tightly, and, although really alarmed, braced
+herself for the combat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What 'd you say you was goin' on, Maria-Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I never knew you was growin' deef before, grandmarm;
+I said a crusade."  She had raised her voice to a still
+higher pitch, as she stooped to gather up the Hearthstone
+Journal, the bits of red cloth, her scissors, and
+thimble which had fallen from her lap as she sprang to
+her feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that the thing you read me about last winter in the
+Journal, with the soldiers with crosses on their backs on
+hosses startin' out for Jerusalem?" demanded the old
+dame, but in a strangely agitated voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," responded Maria-Ann, promptly, but with less
+acerbity of manner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And is that red rag you hid away a <em class="italics">cross</em>, Maria-Ann
+Simmons?"  No words can do justice to the old dame's tone
+and its implied impiety of her granddaughter's conduct.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann was silent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Be you a Christian girl, or an idolater, Maria-Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her grandmother's voice shook pitiably.  Maria-Ann's
+conscience gave a twinge, when she heard it; but she felt
+the time was ripe, and she must put in the sickle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope I 'm a Christian, grandmarm, but I 'm an
+idolater, too,--"  Aunt Tryphosa drew in her breath, as if
+hurt.  "But, anyway, I guess I was an American 'fore I
+was a Christian, an' I jest <em class="italics">idolize</em> my Country--"  Maria-Ann's
+eyes filled with tears--"an' I can't do anything
+for her, nor make sacrifices same as other women do who
+can send their husbands--," a sob, "an' lovers--," another
+sob, "an' nuss 'em, an' help on their Country's cause livin'
+'way up here in an old back paster with an old cow--an'
+an old wo--Oh, grandmarm!"  Maria-Ann broke
+down utterly, laid her head upon her knees, and sobbed
+unrestrainedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was an unusual sight, and Aunt Tryphosa was
+troubled.  She felt it necessary to beat a retreat in the
+face of such genuine grief, but she was determined that it
+should be a dignified one.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I ain't never seen you give way so, Maria-Ann, and
+you 're thirty-one year old come next January.  I 've done
+my best to bring you up right, an' now you 're old enough
+to know your own mind, <em class="italics">I hope</em>; so, if you want to leave
+me, you can go jest as soon as you can get ready.  I come
+up for Dorcas, an' now I 'm goin' home."  In spite of her
+effort her old voice trembled, but her pride sustained her
+nobly, and Maria-Ann was all unaware that the tears were
+rolling down the wrinkled furrows in the old cheeks as
+her grandmother drove Dorcas before her down the
+fern-scented pasture slope.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her granddaughter followed her half an hour later, and
+after a silent supper, except for Aunt Tryphosa's
+murmured "grace," and a faint "amen" from the other side
+of the table, Maria-Ann lighted a lamp and shut herself
+into her small bedroom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She placed a chair against the door, lest she might be
+suddenly raided, and drew the other splint-bottomed one
+up to the head of the bed.  Lifting the feather-bed she
+thrust her hand far under and drew out a square, white
+pasteboard box.  It was tied with a narrow, white ribbon.
+She undid it carefully, and took out a layer of tissue paper.
+The lamp-light shone upon a large, gilt heart, some ten by
+eight inches, with a thickness of two inches.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann turned the box this way and that, watching
+the play of light on it, for the heart was skewered with a
+large, silver-gilt arrow, and the shaft, where it penetrated,
+held a small, white card with simulated blood-drops in
+carmine splashed on in one corner, and the sentiment,
+written in the same, straggling diagonally across the other
+corner:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"In thy sight</div>
+<div class="line">Is my delight."</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Maria-Ann shut her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
+"Don't seems as if he 'd sent me that if he had n't meant
+somethin'," she murmured, and dreamed for a little while.
+Then she opened her eyes, prepared for new delights.  Raising
+the gilt top with tender care, she took out a faded rose:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't seem as if he 'd come back that nex' mornin'
+after Chris'mus an' give me that, 'thout he 'd had some
+notion."  She laid the rose carefully upon the tissue paper,
+and began to lift the leaves of the heart-shaped book, until
+she had lifted every one of the three hundred and sixty-five!
+She smiled to herself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'T ain't likely he 'd 'a' sent me jest such a cook-book,
+'thout he 'd been tryin' to give me a hint."  She began to
+read the recipes--it was absorbing: puddings, cakes,
+preserves.  She was lost to time as she read; "An' he took
+that pair of socks I knit him last Chris'mus 'long with
+him, Rose said--"  There was a fumbling at her door.
+Maria-Arm blew out the light.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That you, grandmarm?" she called pleasantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was no answer, and Maria-Ann laughed softly
+to herself as she undressed in the dark, and lay down to
+sweet dreams.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'm goin' over to Mis' Blossom's, grandmarm," she
+announced the next afternoon, "to see if they 've had any
+news.  I ain't heard for two days."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her grandmother made no reply, but when her grand-daughter
+was well on her way to the Blossoms', Mrs. Tryphosa
+Little's conscience deemed it prudent to issue a
+private search-warrant and investigate Maria-Ann's
+premises--even to the under side of the feather-bed.  The
+results perfectly justified the search, and upon Maria-Ann's
+return just before tea, she was amazed to have her
+grandmother offer her a wrinkled cheek to kiss.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, grandmarm!" exclaimed Maria-Ann, in joyful
+surprise, "I 'm so glad you ain't laid it up against me--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can see through a barn-door when 't is wide open,
+even at my time of life, Maria-Ann Simmons," said the
+old dame, interrupting her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What did you hear over to Ben's?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hazel's just had a letter from her father, and he says
+they 've got Mr. Sherrill home to New York, an' if nothin'
+new sets in, he 'll get over it, but his lungs 'll be weak,
+mebbe, for two years.  He was shot clean through the
+lungs."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What do they hear from Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann's face grew suddenly radiant.  "Oh, he 's
+been awful sick with the fever, an' ain't left Cuby yet, but
+he'll come North jest as soon as he can be transported.
+I 've been talking over my plans with Mis' Blossom an'
+Rose an' Hazel, an' they 're goin' to do everything they can
+for me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So you 're a-goin' to Cuby, Maria-Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, grandmarm, I 've got a call to go an' nuss our
+sick an' wounded; I 've been readin' a lot 'bout the Red
+Cross misses in the Hearthstone Journal, an' I 'm goin' to
+wear a cross, an' Hazel's goin' to pay my fare, an' I 'm
+goin' to stop to Mr. Clyde's when I get to New York,
+an' he 'll start me all right for Cuby--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Them beets are burnin' on, Maria-Ann; guess you 'd
+better stop for jest one more meal on the Mountin, had n't
+you?" said her grandmother, dryly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann laughed merrily.  "I know, grandmarm, it
+seems kinder queer and foolish to you, but I feel as if I
+could go now with nothin' on my mind, for you know
+Mandy's girl is comin' to stay all September an' October,
+an' she 's grand help.  You won't begin to miss me 'fore
+I 'll be back--an' I 'll own up, grandmarm, ever since Rose
+Blossom went to New York last winter, I 've hankered
+after seein' more of the world 'sides Mount Hunger."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When you goin' to start?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I calc'late 'bout the last of next week, that 'll be into
+September--here, let me pare them beets, grandmarm;"
+and forthwith she seized the pan, and began peeling the
+steaming, deep-red balls, singing heartily the while:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'Must I be carried to the skies</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">On flowery beds of ease,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">While others fought to win the prize,</div>
+<div class="inner line-block">
+<div class="line">And sailed through bloody seas?'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">"Now be careful, and change at White River Junction,"
+were Mr. Blossom's parting words at the station.  "After
+that you go right through to New York."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll take good care, don't you any of you worry 'bout
+me!"  She waved her handkerchief from the back platform
+of the car to the little group she was leaving,--Mr. and
+Mrs. Blossom, Rose, March and Hazel, Captain Spillkins
+and Susan Wood, with Elvira and Melissa.  She was
+inflated with heroic resolve, and felt ennobled to be going
+forth to do battle, as she termed it to herself, for her
+Country's cause.  Moreover she was seeing the world, and even
+at the start she found it most interesting, for she had been
+but ten miles at most by train, and here she was speeding
+towards White River Junction, distant forty miles from
+Barton's River.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She longed to communicate her enthusiasm to the occupants
+of the car, but found only one opportunity.  She
+offered to hold a baby, one of a family of five, while the
+mother fed and watered the other four.  She continued to
+dandle it recklessly till the woman protested:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess you ain't had a fam'ly," she remarked sternly,
+rescuing her child; "a woman of your age ought to know
+better 'n to shake a baby up so when he 's teethin'--'t ain't
+good for their brains--like enough bring on chol'ry morbis."  She
+pulled down the small clothes, turned the atom over on
+its stomach, and patted its back with a broad hand and a
+dove-like settling motion that bespoke the mater-familias.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann looked out of the window.  True, she had n't
+any family--only Grandmarm Little and Aunt Mandy's
+one daughter who had just come to visit them.  What was
+Aunt Tryphosa doing now?  She was dreaming again, and
+before she could realize it, the brakeman called, "White
+River Junction!  Change cars for all points south via
+Windsor, Springfield, New York."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hearing that, Maria-Ann felt as if she had already
+travelled a thousand miles, so far away seemed Mount Hunger
+and its uneventful life.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She found herself on the platform.  She had been so
+confident of taking care of herself--and now!  She looked
+helplessly about.  Trains to the right of her, trains to the
+left of her, trains in front of her and behind her switched,
+and shifted, and thundered.  Engine-bells, dinner-bells,
+train-bells; stentorian voices of baggage-men, brakemen,
+call-men; frantic women, screaming babies, hurrying
+porters, indifferent travellers, fashionable women and city
+men; farmers, children, baskets, shawl-straps, dress-suit
+cases, golf bags, boys; dogs, yelping and crying, in arms
+or in leash; canaries in their wooden cages shrilling over
+all; and hither and thither and yon a bustling, and
+rustling, and rattling, and roaring, and clanking, and hissing,
+and shrieking, and hurrying, and scurrying, and pushing,
+and hauling, and prodding, and rushing!  For a minute
+Maria-Ann was dazed and almost stunned.  Then her
+courage rose to the occasion.  <em class="italics">This</em> was the famous
+Junction of which she had heard so much.  <em class="italics">This</em> was the great
+world.  <em class="italics">This</em> was Life!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll stand stock-still an' wait till it clears up a little.
+I 've got an hour here, an' mebbe I 'll see somebody from
+Barton's," she said to herself, and had just put down her
+valise when a hoarse voice cried in her ear,--"Hi, there! get
+out of the way!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">She dodged a baggage truck piled high with toppling
+trunks, only to be caught in the surging, living stream,
+and carried with it up a step into the restaurant of the
+station.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To Maria-Ann it was a marvellous sight.  She set down
+her valise by a window and, standing guard in front
+of it, gazed about her with intense satisfaction.  In truth
+this was seeing the great world, of which she had read so
+much in the Journal and for which she had longed, at first
+hand.  Around the counter--a long oval--were perched
+on the high, wooden, spring stools "all sorts and conditions
+of men," with a sprinkling of women and children.
+There was perpetual motion of knives, forks, teaspoons,
+arms, hands, mouths,--and a noisy conglomerate beyond
+description, accented by the shriek and toot of the
+switch-engines.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly the clangor of a gong-like bell and a stentorian
+voice rose above the chaos of sound;--there was a momentary
+lull in the confusion of masticating utensils, followed
+by a general slipping, sliding, and jumping off the round
+wooden perches,--and to Maria-Ann's amazement, the
+room was nearly vacant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Now 's</em> my time," said Maria-Ann, with considerable
+complacency, and forthwith proceeded to hoist herself, by
+means of the foot-rail, upon one of the seats, at the same
+time placing her valise on another at her right.  She looked
+at the varied assortment of delectables--an embarrassment
+of riches: jelly-roll cakes, pickles, squash pie, baked beans,
+frosted tea-cakes, sage cheese, ham sandwiches, lemon pie,
+cold, spice-speckled custards, doughnuts, great as to their
+circumference, startling as to their cubical contents.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 've heard tell of them," said Maria-Ann to herself, as
+her eye, ranging the oval marble slab, encountered a
+pyramidal pile of New England's doughty cruller.  "I 'll have
+two of them, I guess," she said to the indifferent attendant,
+"an' a cup of coffee; that 'll last me for a spell, and I can
+keep my lunch for supper."  She expected some response
+to her explanation, but there was none forthcoming, save
+that a cup of coffee, half-pint size, was shoved over the
+counter towards her, and the huge glass dome that
+protected the doughnuts was removed with a jerk, and the
+towering pile set down in front of her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann helped herself.  It seemed rather tame,
+after so much excitement, to be eating a doughnut the
+size of a small feather-bed, without company.  She looked
+around.  There were but three or four at the entire counter.
+Farther down to the left, his tall, gaunt figure silhouetted
+against the blank of the large window, a man was seated,
+bestriding the perch as if it were a horse.  He wore the
+undress uniform of the volunteer cavalry.  When
+Maria-Ann discovered this, she felt for a moment, to use her
+own expression, "flustered."  The mere presence of the
+uniform brought to her a realizing sense of the importance
+of her mission; it seemed to bring her at once into touch
+with far-away Cuba, and the feminine knights of the Red
+Cross; with--her heart gave a joyful thump--with Chi!
+She felt in a way ennobled to be eating her doughnut
+within speaking distance of a hero (they were all that in
+Maria-Ann's idealizing imagination).</p>
+<p class="pnext">She had bitten only halfway into the periphery of the
+doughnut, when the man stepped from his seat.  She
+watched him as he moved slowly towards the door; his
+back was turned to her.  How feebly he moved!  Almost
+seeming to drag one foot after the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A great flood of patriotic pity engulfed Maria-Ann's
+whole being.  She forgot the doughnuts; she left the
+coffee; she forgot even her valise; her one thought was
+as she slid from the stool: "I ain't no call to wait till I
+get to Cuby; I 'm just as much a Red Cross nuss right
+here in White River Junction, Vermont, as if I was a
+thousand miles away."  The girl at the counter looked
+after her in amazement--she hadn't even paid!  But
+there was her valise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She saw Maria-Ann whisk something out of her dress-waist
+and stop halfway down the room to pin it on her
+sleeve, and lo and behold!--it was a cross of bright red
+flannel.  She saw her hurry after the man, who had
+dragged himself to the doorway, and stood there leaning
+heavily against the jamb.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If you 're goin' to take a train, just you let me help
+you aboard," she said, speaking just at his elbow.  The
+man's head half turned with a jerk.  "You ain't fit to
+stan' more 'n an eight months baby, an' I 'm a Red Cross
+nuss on my way to Cuby--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A gaunt, yellow face with haggard eyes was turned
+slowly full upon her, and a hand, shaking, as that of a
+man in drink, was laid on her arm:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't you know me, Marier-Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann sat down suddenly on the doorstep at the
+man's feet.  There was no strength left in her.  Then she
+put her head into her hands, and began to cry softly;
+there were few to see her, and had the whole world been
+there, she would not have cared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just help me into the waitin'-room, Marier-Ann, where
+we can talk."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She bounced to her feet, with streaming, tear-blinded
+eyes, and Chi, linking his arm in hers, led her into the
+"Ladies' Room."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A porter followed them in; he addressed Chi.  "She
+ain't paid for what she ordered, and she ain't eat it neither,
+and she 's left her valise."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi pulled out a ten-cent piece and put it into his hand.
+"Bring 'em all in," he said, "grub 'n' all, 'n' I 'll pay for
+'em.  We 'll sit here a spell till train time."  Maria-Ann
+sobbed afresh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The porter brought in the plate with the doughnuts, the
+cup of coffee, and the valise, and set them down on the
+wooden settee.  He pointed to the ten-cent piece that
+lay within the inner ring of a doughnut:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't take nothin' of that kind from you fellers."  He
+touched the bit of braid on the cuff of Chi's coat; Chi
+smiled, and pocketed the money.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Guess you was n't expectin' to meet an old friend so
+soon, was you?" said Chi, gently, setting the plate in her
+lap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann shook her head vigorously, but she could
+not control the sobs.  Chi crossed one leg over the other,
+and waited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The flies buzzed on the smoke-thickened panes, and an
+empty truck rattled down the platform.  There were no
+other sounds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When does your train go, Marier-Ann?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was another sob, but no answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did n't I hear you say you was on your way to Cuby?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann nodded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bad place for women--'n' men, too.  What you goin' for?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann's answer was only half audible: "To nuss."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To nuss?  Ain't there enough nussin' you can do
+nearer home?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Maria-Ann looked up with tear-reddened eyes.  "I
+did n't think so--" a sob--"till I saw you, Chi.  I did n't
+know you--I thought I 'd begin right now, before I got
+there--" her hands covered her eyes again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi's trembling ones, weak from the fever, drew her
+cold ones down from her face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You did just right, Marier-Ann, to want to begin right
+now.--The Barton's River train is due to start from here
+in fifteen minutes;--s'posin' you give up Cuby, 'n' come
+along home, 'n' try nussin' me.  I need it bad enough."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Chi, do you mean it?" Maria-Ann caught her breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet I do," said Chi, emphatically, "only"--he
+paused and took up the plate from her lap, spilling the
+coffee, for the trembling of his hand had increased--"if
+you 're goin' to undertake it with me, it's got to be a life
+job, Marier-Ann."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The flies continued to buzz on the smoke-thickened
+panes.  The train for Barton's River steamed in from the
+siding.  The couple in the waiting-room boarded it.  The
+porter watched them with a queer smile.  Then he took
+up the plate of uneaten doughnuts and the cup of cooled
+coffee, and handed them to the girl behind the counter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She ain't eat 'em, after all," she said.  "She acted
+kinder queer for a Red Cross nurse."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's the chap I give the telegram to when he got
+here on the up-train last night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What was it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Twenty-five cent one from Barton's River--'M.A. starts
+for Cuba Thursday stop her at Junction.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The girl laughed, and the restaurant filled again.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst" id="the-stars-above-shine-ever-on-love">XXVII</p>
+<p class="center medium pnext white-space-pre-line">"--The stars above<br />
+Shine ever on Love--"</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">"I 'm goin' up into the clearin', Mis' Blossom, to see if
+there ain't some late blackberries," said Chi, a few days
+after his triumphal return with Maria-Ann.  "Seems as if
+the smell of the sun on that spruce-bush up yonder would
+put new life into me--I feel so kind of shif'less."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I would, Chi," said Mrs. Blossom; "you have n't
+begun to get your strength back yet, and the more you 're
+out in this air, without overworking, the better it will be
+for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll go with you, Chi," said Rose, looking up from her
+work, as she sat sewing on the lower step of the porch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's right, Rose-pose; it 'll seem like old times."  Chi
+followed her with wistful eyes as she turned to go
+up stairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 'll be down in a few minutes, Chi; we 'd better take
+the two-quart pails, had n't we?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Maybe we 'll find enough for one or two messes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He turned to Mrs. Blossom when Rose had left the
+room.  "Can't there nothin' be done 'bout it, Mis'
+Blossom?"  He spoke almost wistfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Blossom's eyes filled with tears.  She hesitated a
+moment before she spoke: "I know Rose so well, Chi,
+that I dare <em class="italics">not</em> interfere.  I doubt if she would accept
+anything, even from me, her mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It beats me," Chi sighed heavily.  "He 's just a-pinin'
+for a word or sign, 'n' there ain't no use talkin'--<em class="italics">she 's</em>
+got to give it; I 'd back him up every time, he 's done
+enough--"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sh--!"  Mrs. Blossom held up her finger; she heard
+Rose on the stairs.  Chi looked up--his old Rose-pose
+stood before him: old, faded, green and white calico dress,
+old sunbonnet, patched shoes!  Chi turned away abruptly
+to get his pails; and her mother wondered, but said nothing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They found more than one "patch," where the berries
+hung in luscious clusters of shining jet.  Chi pummelled
+his chest, and drew deep, deep breaths of the balsamic
+mountain air.  "This sets a man up, Rose-pose; there
+ain't nothin' like the air on this Mountain for an all-round
+tonic.  Let's sit here a spell, right by this sweet fern."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She pushed back the sunbonnet as she sat down beside
+him.  "Tired, Chi?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--rests me clear through just to sit 'n' look off
+onto those slopes, just about as green as in June."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They sat awhile in silence; then Chi turned and picked
+up the sunbonnet that had fallen from her head.  He
+touched it gently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Remember the first time you sold berries in that rig,
+Rose-pose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The blood surged into Rose's face, and receded, leaving
+it strangely white.  Chi felt his heart contract at the
+change, but he went on:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"First time Jack ever saw you was in that rig.--You
+ain't changed so much but he 'd know you again if he saw
+you in Chiny."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Still there was silence.  Chi moistened his lips.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can't say as much for him; never saw such a change;
+he 's all fallen away to nothin' but skin and bones.  Doctor
+Heath told me just before I left--'n' he put me aboard
+the train--that nothin' could set him up again but this
+Mountain air, 'n' good food, 'n'--"  Chi paused; his mouth
+was uncomfortably dry.  Rose's face was turned from him,
+but he saw a contraction of her delicate throat, as if a dry
+sob were suddenly suppressed.  Then she spoke in a
+monotone:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why does n't he come, then?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Why!</em>--"  Chi fairly startled himself with his
+thundering "why," and Rose half started from the ground.
+The blood leaped to her very temples; seeing which, Chi
+took heart--"Coz he 's every inch a man, Rose Blossom;
+'n' he's got too much grit of the right sort to ask a girl
+twice, he 's about given his heart's blood for.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He ain't a-goin' to come crawlin' up here to ask no
+favors of you after he knows that you <em class="italics">know</em>--'n' I glory
+in his spunk.  But I can tell you, if you don't look out,
+you 'll come nearer to bein' a real Molly Stark than you
+ever thought you could be when you joined the N.B.B.O.O.,
+'n' by George Washin'ton! it goes against me to see you
+breakin' the by-laws you pledged yourself to stand by,
+every minute of your life that you keep so dumb towards
+Jack Sherrill;--for you 're provin' yourself a coward in
+your love, 'n' you 'll have a widowed heart to pay for it
+mighty soon, if you keep on, that'll be worse than Molly
+Stark's any day--"  A whisper stopped him:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Chi, Chi, tell him to come--I want him so; oh, Chi!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi's hand was laid on the bowed head with its crown of
+shining, golden-brown braids: "Rose Blossom, may God
+Almighty bless you for proving yourself a true woman,
+'n' worthy of the mother that bore you.  I can't say any
+more."</p>
+<p class="pnext">An hour later March Blossom, with a telegram in his
+hand, was speeding on Fleet to Barton's River; and two
+days afterwards Mr. Blossom and Alan Ford in the double
+wagon, and Chi alone in the buggy, drove down to Barton's
+to meet the up-train.  Mrs. Blossom and Rose stood on
+the porch straining their eyes in the quickly-falling
+September twilight to see any movement on the lower road.
+The children had been sent over to Hunger-ford till after
+tea, for Jack was not strong enough to bear a too joyful
+home-coming.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're coming, Rose," said Mrs. Blossom, in a low
+tone; then she turned abruptly, and went into the house,
+leaving Rose alone on the step.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here we are, safe 'n' sound," said Chi, in an affectedly
+cheery voice, as he drove out of the woods'-road.  "Just
+wait a minute, Jack, 'n' I 'll give you an arm gettin' out."  He
+laid the reins on the dasher.  Then he assisted the tall,
+gaunt figure of the man beside him to alight.  Jack half
+stumbled, for his eyes were seeking Rose--and Rose?</p>
+<p class="pnext">All her womanhood, all the sacred privileges of wifehood,
+came to her aid at that moment.  She sprang to the
+carriage, and, with one hand, put Chi aside; with the other,
+she lifted Jack's half-nerveless arm and laid it over her
+shoulders; then, encircling him with her own slender one,
+she said gently, guiding him to the porch step:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Lean on me, dearest.</em>"</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">On the first of November, one of the short-lived Indian
+Summer days, the farmhouse on Mount Hunger literally
+blossomed like a rose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A week beforehand there had been an animated discussion
+as to what should be the wedding decorations of the
+"long-room."  Hazel, who had been with them a week
+already, settled it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As if there could be any choice!" she exclaimed.
+"It's been great fun to hear you all suggesting this, that,
+and the other, from ground hemlock and bitter-sweet, to
+everlasting!  But Jack and I settled it three weeks
+ago--how could there be anything for Rose, but roses?
+Anyway, that's what Jack wrote, and our florist looked fairly
+dazed when I gave him the order--just bushels of them,
+Rose-pose, lovely La France ones, like those you threw
+into the--No, I won't tease you, Cousin mine," she said,
+with a merry laugh, as Rose looked at her appealingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">And now, on the wedding morning of the first of November,
+the great box that Chi had brought up from Barton's
+the night before was opened, and in Hazel's skilful fingers
+the exquisite pink blooms lent to the "long-room" a
+wonderful grace and beauty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was flitting about in her pale pink cashmere dress--"Made
+specially to match the roses," she said to March,
+as she dropped him a curtsy preparatory to pinning a rose
+into his buttonhole.  "We must all wear Rose-pose's badge
+to-day.  Where are you, Budd?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here," said her knight, promptly appearing with Cherry
+from the pantry, where they had been counting the
+frosting-roses on the wedding-cake.  He looked down at the
+slender fingers as they pulled the stem of the pink bud
+through the buttonhole of his jacket, and thought--of the
+ring!  Then he looked up at the tall, beautiful girl bending
+over him, and, somehow, the day of his proposal seemed
+very far away in the Past.  Hazel was so grown up!--as
+tall as Rose.  Still, he was n't going to be afraid, if she
+was grown up.  Now was his time;--and "Ethan Allan"
+always made the most of his opportunities.  Budd was in
+United States History, this term, and he knew this for a
+fact.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He drew forth from his breeches' pocket a something
+that might once have been white, but, at present, looked
+more like a shoe-rag, it was so dingy and soiled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I 've kept it, you see, Hazel," he said, his small mouth
+puckering, his round, light-blue eyes growing rounder, as
+he looked up at Hazel, with twelve-year-old earnestness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Kept what?" said Hazel, mystified, and holding up
+the offering gingerly between thumb and forefinger to
+examine it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, don't you know?--the glove you gave me when
+you said you 'd be my Lady-love? don't you remember,--in
+the barn?" answered Budd, slightly crestfallen.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Hazel laughed merrily.  "Oh, you funny boy!" she
+said, "to keep an old glove of mine for nearly a year and
+a half!  Why, it's nearly black and blue.  Have you kept
+it in your best Sunday-go-to-meeting trousers' pocket all
+this time?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Budd nodded, but soberly.  Seeing which, Hazel gave
+him a pat on the top of his head, and assured him she
+would give him one of her cleaned party gloves once a
+year till he was twenty-one, if only he would promise not
+to keep it in his pocket with spruce-gum, chalk, chestnuts,
+lead-pencil sharpenings, top-twine, jack-knives, and ginger
+cookie crumbs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How 'd you know I had all those things in my
+pocket?" demanded Budd, in his amazement forgetting
+his sentiment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, a little bird told me," replied Hazel.  "Run and
+ask Chi to come in, will you?  I have his rose ready for
+him, and it's most time for them all to come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a quiet wedding.  Only those nearest and dearest
+were about them; Mr. Sherrill, Aunt Carrie and Uncle
+Jo, Mr. Clyde and Hazel, Doctor and Mrs. Heath, the
+Blossoms and Chi.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Afterwards all the Lost Nation came in to give their
+heart-felt blessings and good wishes.  They were all
+there--from Maria-Ann, radiant in the realization of her own
+romance, to Miss Alton and the Fords, who were to leave
+on the night train to remain six weeks in New York, and
+had placed Hunger-ford at the disposal of Rose and Jack
+during the first weeks of their marriage.  They remained
+but a little while, for the excitement was almost more than
+Jack was able to bear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The moon rose between six and seven, largely luminous
+and slightly reddened through the soft, warm haze of the
+Indian Summer night.  Rose had insisted, that, if the
+night were mild, Jack should ride over to Hunger-ford
+at a snail's pace on Little Shaver, and that she should lead
+him.  At first Jack protested, but in the end Rose had
+her way.  Chi, on Fleet, was to ride on a little ahead to be
+within call, if anything should be needed.  "Kind of
+scoutin' to remind us of Cuby, Jack," he said, laughing,
+as he helped him into the saddle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were all on the porch to see the little cavalcade
+set forth, the pony whinnying his delight to find his master
+on his back.  Rose took the bridle.  Suddenly she dropped
+it, turned, and came back to the steps where Hazel stood
+between Mrs. Blossom and March.  She put up her arms,
+and clasping the young girl about the waist, drew her
+down to kiss her, and whisper:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Hazel!  What if you had n't come to us!--All
+this happiness is through you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">And Hazel, but dimly perceiving Rose's meaning,
+whispered back as she kissed her:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And if I had n't come, Rose-pose, <em class="italics">I</em> should never have
+been rich as I am now; Chi can't call me 'poor' any
+longer--for you 're all mine, now that you are Jack's;
+aren't you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">March, hearing those whispered words, found his mother's
+hand, somehow,--and Mrs. Blossom understood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Martie dear," cried Rose, love and tears
+and laughter struggling in her voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Rose dear."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Rose--Good-night, Jack!" cried the twins.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A white slipper filled with rice flew after Little Shaver,
+and hit him on the left hock.  But he was a well-bred polo
+pony, and a white satin slipper with a little rice was as
+nothing to a swift, long-distance polo ball; so he gave no
+sign.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chi stopped at the little house "over eastwards."  Maria-Ann
+was on the lookout.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They 're comin' along just by the turn of the road,"
+he spoke low, "can you see 'em?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The road lay white in the moonlight.  "Yes, yes," cried
+Maria-Ann excitedly, "Oh, Chi, ain't it beautiful!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sh--sh!" said Chi, "they 'll hear you.  Hark!  By
+George Washin'ton! she 's singin'--Get, Fleet."  The
+horse loped along over the moonlit road, and Maria-Ann
+went in and shut the door--all but a crack.  To that she
+put her ear, to hear what the clear, sweet voice was
+singing:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div>
+<div class="line-block outermost">
+<div class="line">"'I told thee when love was hopeless;</div>
+<div class="line">But now he is wild and sings--</div>
+<div class="line">That the stars above</div>
+<div class="line">Shine ever on Love,</div>
+<div class="line">Though they frown on the fate of kings.'"</div>
+<div class="line"> </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="pfirst">Mount Hunger stood bathed in white radiance.  The
+stars came out, but faintly;--still, they were shining.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<!-- clearpage -->
+<p class="center pfirst x-large">New Illustrated Editions of
+Miss Alcott's Famous Stories</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">LITTLE MEN: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys</p>
+<p class="pnext">By LOUISA M. ALCOTT.  With fifteen full-page illustrations by Reginald
+B. Birch.  Crown 8vo.  Decorated cloth.  $2.00.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Little Men" has never been given to an
+admiring public in any form so charming as
+this one.  All that was needed to make the tale quite
+irresistible was such illustrations as
+are here supplied, fifteen full-page ones instinct with life
+and movement and charm.--<em class="italics">Boston Budget</em>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">LITTLE WOMEN: or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy</p>
+<p class="pnext">By LOUISA M. ALCOTT.  With 15 full-page Illustrations by Alice Barber
+Stephens.  Crown 8vo.  Decorated cloth.  $2.00.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Books may come and books may go,
+but 'Little Women' still remains the ideal book
+for young girls, the best representation of bright,
+lovable girlhood," say the <em class="italics">Brooklyn
+Eagle</em>; and the <em class="italics">Philadelphia Telegraph</em> speaks
+of the pictures as follows: "In drawing
+women of the Civil War period, Alice Barber Stephens
+is in her element, and her
+illustrations are all that can be desired."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL</p>
+<p class="pnext">By LOUISA M. ALCOTT.  With 12 full-page pictures by Jessie Willcox
+Smith.  Crown 8vo.  Decorated cloth.  $2.00.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of the third book in illustrated edition
+of the "Little Women" Series, the <em class="italics">Saturday
+Evening Gazette</em>, Boston, says:
+"No better portraits of Polly and Tom could be imagined
+than those which appear in these pages....
+No book of its lamented author has more
+endearing qualities."</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">JO'S BOYS, and How They Turned Out</p>
+<p class="pnext">A Sequel to "Little Men."  By LOUISA M. ALCOTT.  With 10 full-page
+plates by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens.  Crown 8vo.  Decorated cloth.  $2.00.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Those who were fascinated by the story
+of the Marsh family in "Little Men" will take a
+keen interest in the experiences of Mrs. Jo's boys.
+"The boys are as entertaining as
+their elders were in their time," says the <em class="italics">Worcester Spy</em>,
+"and the story has plenty of life
+and incident, fun and pathos; its atmosphere
+is fresh, pure, and wholesome."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The young folks who have been charmed
+with Miss Alcott's previous stories," says the
+<em class="italics">San Francisco Chronicle</em>, "will read 'Jo's Boys'
+with avidity."  The illustrations by
+Charlotte Harding are in keeping with the spirit of the author.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center medium pfirst">THE FOUR VOLUMES PUT UP IN BOX, $8.00</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst white-space-pre-line">LITTLE, BROWN, &amp; COMPANY<br />
+<em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Publishers</em>, 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="center large pfirst">Anna Chapin Ray's "Teddy" Stories</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">TEDDY: HER BOOK.  A Story of Sweet Sixteen</p>
+<p class="pnext">Illustrated by Vesper L. George.  12mo.  $1.50.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison
+with the best of Miss Alcott's: first,
+because she has the same genuine sympathy
+with boy and girl life; secondly,
+because she creates real characters,
+individual and natural, like the young people
+one knows, actually working out the same kind of problems;
+and, finally, because
+her style of writing is equally unaffected and
+straightforward.--<em class="italics">Christian Register</em>, Boston.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">PHEBE: HER PROFESSION</p>
+<p class="pnext">A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill.  12mo.  $1.50.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This is one of the few books written for young people
+in which there is to be
+found the same vigor and grace that one demands
+in a good story for older people.--<em class="italics">Worcester Spy</em>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER</p>
+<p class="pnext">A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Illustrated by J. B. Graff.  12mo.  $1.20 net.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Introduces a new generation of girls and boys,
+all well bred and gifted with good
+manners, takes them through much fun and such
+adventures as one may find on a
+small sandy island, and gives the girl a page
+or two of saving common sense about
+her duties to boys and her obligation to be true
+and womanly.--<em class="italics">New York Times Saturday Review</em>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">NATHALIE'S CHUM</p>
+<p class="pnext">Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson.  12mo.  $1.20 net.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A charming story of a courageous fifteen-year-old
+girl's effort to help her
+older brother support an orphaned family of five.
+"Nathalie is the sort
+of a young girl whom other girls like to read about,"
+says the <em class="italics">Hartford Courant</em>.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst">URSULA'S FRESHMAN.  A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards.  12mo.  $1.20 net.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A hot-tempered, domineering girl,
+yet full of common sense and capable
+of loyal love, and Jack, her cousin,
+who stoically accepts the loss of his
+father's fortune, and begins to earn
+his own way through Yale, are the
+two principal characters in Miss Ray's new book.</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em">
+</div>
+<p class="center pfirst white-space-pre-line">LITTLE, BROWN, &amp; COMPANY, <em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Publishers</em><br />
+254 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS</p>
+<div class="vspace" style="height: 6em">
+</div>
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="backmatter">
+</div>
+<p class="pfirst" id="pg-end-line">*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span>A DAUGHTER OF THE RICH</span> ***</p>
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author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-03-03 06:37:08 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-03-03 06:37:08 -0800
commit	45b87d23f99f3c3752f80253eb226cdbbdbc3bf9 (patch)
tree	a6bf344b9bd5f87ab2c1a1081c3e6e71a0fb14e1 /40661-h
parent	ad45ee6b2039510fd89910fdccbc9ee08ae43b27 (diff)