ent a
letter sayin' she's better; and I'm goin' to set up to-night, so you
can stay here and have a good sleep, and get your things together
comfortably to-morrow."

"I'll pack your trunk for you, Becky dear, and attend to all our room
things," said Emma Jane, who had come towards the group and heard the
sorrowful news from the brick house.

They moved into one of the quiet side pews, where Hannah and her
husband and John joined them. From time to time some straggling
acquaintance or old schoolmate would come up to congratulate Rebecca
and ask why she had hidden herself in a corner. Then some member of the
class would call to her excitedly, reminding her not to be late at the
picnic luncheon, or begging her to be early at the class party in the
evening. All this had an air of unreality to Rebecca. In the midst of
the happy excitement of the last two days, when "blushing honors" had
been falling thick upon her, and behind the delicious exaltation of the
morning, had been the feeling that the condition was a transient one,
and that the burden, the struggle, the anxiety, would soon loom again
on the horizon. She longed to steal away into the woods with dear old
John, grown so manly and handsome, and get some comfort from him.

Meantime Adam Ladd and Mr. Cobb had been having an animated
conversation.

"I s'pose up to Boston, girls like that one are as thick as
blackb'ries?" uncle Jerry said, jerking his head interrogatively in
Rebecca's direction.

"They may be," smiled Adam, taking in the old man's mood; "only I don't
happen to know one."

"My eyesight bein' poor 's the reason she looked han'somest of any girl
on the platform, I s'pose?"

"There's no failure in my eyes," responded Adam, "but that was how the
thing seemed to me!"

"What did you think of her voice? Anything extry about it?"

"Made the others sound poor and thin, I thought."

"Well, I'm glad to hear your opinion, you bein' a traveled man, for
mother says I'm foolish 'bout Rebecky and hev been sence the fust.
Mother scolds me for spoilin' her, but I notice mother ain't fur behind
when it comes to spoilin'. Land! it made me sick, thinkin' o' them
parents travelin' miles to see their young ones graduate, and then when
they got here hevin' to compare 'em with Rebecky. Good-by, Mr. Ladd,
drop in some day when you come to Riverboro."

"I will," said Adam, shaking the old man's hand cordially; "perhaps
to-morrow if I drive Rebecca home, as I shall off