s.
Pluma had studied well the character of the woman before her--who made
no secret of her dislike for the child thrust upon their bounty--and
readily imagined she would willingly aid her in carrying out the
scheme she had planned.

Slowly one by one the stars died out of the sky; the pale moon drifted
silently behind the heavy rolling clouds; the winds tossed the tops of
the tall trees to and fro, and the dense darkness which precedes the
breaking of the gray dawn settled over the earth.

The ponies which the groom had held for long hours pawed the ground
restlessly; the man himself was growing impatient.

"She can be up to no good," he muttered; "all honest people should be
in their beds."

The door of the cottage opened, and Pluma Hurlhurst walked slowly down
the path.

"All is fair in love's warfare," she mutters, triumphantly. "Fool!
with your baby face and golden hair, you shall walk quickly into the
net I have spread for you; he shall despise you. Ay, crush with his
heel into the earth the very flowers that bear the name of _Daisy_."

CHAPTER VI.

Under the magnolia-tree, among the pink clover, Rex Lyon paced
uneasily to and fro, wondering what could have happened to detain
Daisy. He was very nervous, feverish, and impatient, as he watched the
sun rising higher and higher in the blue heavens, and glanced at his
watch for the fifth time in the space of a minute.

"Pshaw!" he muttered, whisking off the tops of the buttercups near him
with his ebony walking-stick. "I am not myself at all. I am growing as
nervous as a woman. I think I'll read little sister Birdie's letter
over again to occupy my mind until my sweet little Daisy comes."

He sighed and smiled in one breath, as he threw himself down at full
length on the green grass under the trees. Taking from his pocket a
little square white envelope, addressed in a childish hand to "Mr.
Rexford Lyon, Allendale, West Virginia, Care of Miss Pluma." Rex
laughed aloud, until the tears started to his eyes, as they fell on
the words "_Care of Miss Pluma_," heavily underlined in the lower
corner.

"That is just like careless little romping Birdie," he mused. "She
supposes, because _she_ knows who _Miss Pluma_ is, every one else must
certainly be aware of the same fact."

He spread out the letter on his knee, trying hard to while away time
in perusing its pages.

Rex looked so fresh and cool and handsome in his white linen suit,
lying there under the