f
the three Byrd girls, who had been her playmates, and of Jim. It was
just beside that holly that Nina Byrd, an enterprising child, had
fallen over the fence into a mud puddle, while in pursuit of a little
striped ground squirrel, and soiled her hands and dress, and afterward
shook her and Susie because they laughed at her. Nina was always
passionate. And over in that meadow, she had once been forced to take
refuge in a tree from the hostile demonstrations of an unruly heifer
whose calf she had annoyed with overtures of friendship. She had sat
among the branches, forlorn and frightened, for more than an hour,
feeling that each moment was a month, and that such a thing as
forgetfulness was impossible to the bovine mind, when Jim, cantering
home from school over in the village, had spied her out and rescued her.

Passing from retrospect to anticipation, the girl's mind wandered to
the new arrivals, and idle speculations about them filled it.
Naturally, her thoughts were colored by her wishes, and she pleased
herself with fancying them agreeable people, refined and cultured, with
whom association would be pleasant. Her fancy was untrammeled, for her
facts were few, and the name afforded no clew whatever. People named
"Smith" might be any thing--or nothing, regarded socially. The name
was non-committal, but it suggested possibilities, and its range was
infinite. Wits, felons, clergymen, adventurers, millionaires and
spendthrifts, all had answered to the unobtrusive cognomen. It was
plain and commonplace, but as baffling as a disguise. With Talbot,
Meredith, or Percival, the case is different, such nomenclature
presupposes gentility. As the name "Percival" crossed the girl's mind
in her whimsical musings, her thoughts seized upon it and fitted it
instantly to the name which had preceded it, Percival--and Smith!
Percival Smith! That was the name signed to the letter they had
re-discovered after its sleep of years--the letter telling them of
Temple. This newcomer was, or had been, an army officer--a general.
Suppose it should be the same person? Nay; it must be--it _was_! Her
mind leaped to the delightful conclusion impetuously, and before she
had proceeded ten yards further, Pocahontas was fully convinced of the
correctness of her conclusion, and busy with plans for returning the
kindness they had received.

Filled with pleasure in her thought, her steps quickened, as though her
feet were trying to keep pace