Suddenly Kate shook herself savagely and
sat straight. "Why, you big fool!" she said. "Nancy Ellen went to the
berry patch in a pink dress, wearing a sunbonnet to match, and carrying
a blue bowl. Think of the picture she made! But if I had gone, I'd
have been in a ragged old dirt-coloured gingham, Father's boots, and
his old straw hat jammed down to my ears; I'd have been hot and in a
surly temper, rebelling because I had the berries to pick. He would
have taken one look at me, jumped the fence, and run to Lang's for dear
life. Better cut that idea right out!"

So Kate "cut that idea out" at once, but the operation was painful,
because when one turns mental surgeon and operates on the ugly spots in
one's disposition, there is no anaesthetic, nor is the work done with
skilful hands, so the wounds are numerous and leave ugly scars; but
Kate was ruthless. She resolved never to think of that brook scene
again. In life, as she had lived it, she would not have profited by
having been first at the berry patch. Yet she had a right to think of
Robert Gray's face, grave in concern for her, his offers to help, the
influence he would have in her favour with Nancy Ellen. Of course if
he was forced to postpone his wedding he would not be pleased; but it
was impossible that the fears which were tormenting Nancy Ellen would
materialize into action on his part. No sane man loved a woman as
beautiful as her sister and cast her aside because of a few months'
enforced waiting, the cause of which he so very well knew; but it would
make both of them unhappy and change their beautiful plans, after he
even had found and purchased the house. Still Nancy Ellen said that
her father was making it a point of honour that a Bates should teach
the school, because he had signed the contract for Kate to take the
place Nancy Ellen had intended to fill, and then changed her plans. He
had sworn that a Bates should teach the school. Well, Hiram had taken
the county examination, as all pupils of the past ten years had when
they finished the country schools. It was a test required to prove
whether they had done their work well. Hiram held a certificate for a
year, given him by the County Superintendent, when he passed the
examinations. He had never used it. He could teach; he was Nancy
Ellen's twin. School did not begin until the first of November. He
could hire help with his corn if he could not finish alone. He could
arise earlier than