with one arm broken off, and the
cracked, dingy wall-paper oppressed her strangely.

"What a horrid place!" she exclaimed in an awe-struck whisper to Don, as
a flash of lightning shone through the blinds. "Let us go!"

"Don't mind it, Dot," he answered. "We'll start as soon as the shower is
over. Wait here awhile, and I'll run and see what we're to do about the
pony. Would you like to have a cup of hot tea?" he added, looking back
as he left the room.

"Mercy, no!" said Dorry, "not here!"

They both laughed. "It's fun, after all," thought the young girl as he
went out. "I don't mind anything as long as Don's around, the dear old
fellow!"

Vanbogen's seemed deserted. She had noticed a solitary hen stepping
daintily across the long wet stoop as she entered, and a woman, going up
stairs, had turned to stare at her. A sound of men's voices, too, had
reached her from a closed room opposite the parlor, yet she felt
strangely alone. For company's sake she examined some faded ambrotypes,
that stood upright in their half-opened cases on a table between the
windows. The ghastly things made her only more lonely.

At that moment, hearing a clicking sound, she raised her head, and saw a
man's face outside looking at her through the blinds. The slats closed
sharply, when she moved back.

"How nervous I am!" she thought, with a slight shiver. "A pretty
traveller I'd make!"

Donald soon came in.

"Here's a fine piece of business!" he said. "Dood has really injured his
foot in some way--sprained, I suppose. It is swollen, and evidently
pains him very much. I've sent for a man who claims to be a veterinary
surgeon. No, indeed, no use in your going out there, Dot; the men appear
to be doing all they can for him. It's out of the question for us to
travel with that pony to-night; the last train that stops at this
one-horse station has gone by, and I can't get a carriage anywhere."

"Can't you hire a horse, then, for yourself? Put my saddle on Yankee; I
can ride him."

"Can't get a horse, either. They've only one, and he's out for the whole
afternoon."

"Let's walk then. The shower is nearly over. It's only five miles."

"Good!" said Don. "But no--Yankee can carry you, and I'll trot
alongside on foot;" and he hastened out to have the side-saddle put on
Yankee.

To Dorry's amazement, Donald came back in a few minutes, looking flushed
and excited. "I've taken a room for you, Dot; come up stairs--quick."

"But I don't want