th her soul, less than an hour ago under the red haw. No wonder she
was late, no wonder she spilled and smeared; and red of face she
blundered and bungled, for the first time in her life. Then in came
Kate. She must lose no time, the corn must be finished before it
rained. She must hurry--for the first time dinner was late, while
Polly was messing like a perfect little fool.

Kate stepped in and began to right things with practised hand. Disaster
came when she saw Polly, at the well, take an instant from bringing in
the water, to wave in the direction of the Peters farm. As she entered
the door, Kate swept her with a glance.

"Have to upset the bowl, as usual?" she said, scathingly. "Just as I
think you're going to make something of yourself, and be of some use,
you begin mooning in the direction of that big, gangling Hank Peters.
Don't you ever let me see you do it again. You are too young to start
that kind of foolishness. I bet a cow he was hanging around here, and
made you late with dinner."

"He was not! He didn't either!" cried Polly, then stopped in dismay,
her cheeks burning. She gulped and went on bravely: "That is, he
wasn't here, and he didn't make ME late, any more than I kept HIM from
his work. He always watches when there are tramps and peddlers on the
road, because he knows I'm alone. I knew he would be watching two men
who stopped to see you, so I just went as far as the haw tree to tell
him I was all right, and we got to talking--"

If only Kate had been looking at Polly then! But she was putting the
apple butter and cream on the table. As she did so, she thought
possibly it was a good idea to have Henry Peters seeing that tramps did
not frighten Polly, so she missed dawn on the face of her child, and
instead of what might have been, she said: "Well, I must say THAT is
neighbourly of him; but don't you dare let him get any foolish notions
in his head. I think Aunt Nancy Ellen will let you stay at her house
after this, and go to the Hartley High School in winter, so you can
come out of that much better prepared to teach than I ever was. I had
a surprise planned for you to-night, but now I don't know whether you
deserve it or not. I'll have to think."

Kate did not think at all. After the manner of parents, she SAID that,
but her head was full of something she thought vastly more important
just then; of course Polly should have her share in it. Left alone to
wash the dishes and cook