night."

He swung away down the road at a brisk pace, turning once to wave his hat
at the figure on the porch.

"Such a boy!" breathed the mother. "Yet such a man, Miss Sally, though
his mother says it. And he'll go off with all that nonsense on his lips,
and a head full of talk for those men in the church at noon--talk that
will go straight to their hearts--and, better, to their judgments."

"I haven't yet been able to realize that he's a minister," Sally
ventured. "Somehow, seeing him out-doors here--"

Mrs. Ferry nodded. "I know. Nobody takes him for what he is, because he
will not do what he calls 'dress the part every day.' And he is such a
believer in making the physical life offset the mental and spiritual--if
I may put it so--that I tell him he may be in danger of becoming so
athletic--and so agricultural"--she smiled--"that he will crowd out the
spiritual. Yet he knows I don't mean that. He turns up many a rich
nugget of thought, when he is hoeing the ground--and chops down many an
error when he fells a tree, perhaps!"

"I don't doubt it," agreed Sally, regarding the proud little mother with
real envy of her fortunate son. "Please come over early," she begged, as
she took her leave, after lingering a little to tell Mrs. Ferry more
about her plans for the evening.

"Sally Lunn!" Josephine exclaimed, a few hours later. "What have you been
doing to yourself? You never looked so well. Behold her, Jarvis! But
don't dare take off your blue goggles. Her radiance is fairly dazzling,
and is liable to blind you."

"It's partly sunburn," confessed Sally. "I go deliberately out and let
the sun smite me, first on the right cheek and then on the left. For
awhile I burned my nose at the same time, which was not picturesque. But
now I put a thick coating of talcum powder on my nose, and burn myself
only where it is artistic."

"There's an honest confession for you," and Jarvis shook hands so
heartily that Sally's fingers ached for a minute afterward. "I can see
some of the rouge through my glasses."

"I must look purple to you, then. Red and blue make purple, on cheeks as
well as palettes, don't they? Joey, what made you put on a white dress? I
planned to take you all blackberrying over in the pasture."

"Lovely! Lend me an apron, and I'll risk the dress. This is a beautiful
time of day to pick blackberries."

The three set off. As they passed the garden on the farther side of the
hedge they were hailed by Donald