er you?"

"No, he only frowned and grunted."

"Did you walk very fast when you went by?" asked little Letty Osgood,
being very sure that she would not have loitered upon such an occasion.

"No, not so very. I just walked as I always do."

"Then I think you were very brave," continued Letty.

"Pooh!" exclaimed Esther Ann, "that wasn't anything to do. Just wait
till you see what I am going to do."

"What, Esther Ann? What?" clamored the girls.

"Wait till this afternoon and you will see," was all Esther Ann would
say to satisfy their curiosity.

This being Friday and Edna's last day at her grandmother's, her friends
begged that she be allowed to go with them to school that afternoon.
"We don't have real lessons," Reliance told her, "for Miss Fay reads to
us, and we have a sewing lesson."

"I'd love to go," said Edna, "and I could take the work bag I am making
for Celia. I could finish it, I think. May I go?"

"I haven't the slightest objection," Mrs. Conway assured her. So she set
off with Reliance, and felt quite at home since she knew all the girls
of her own age, and older, and, as she said, "the littler ones don't
count."

Everything moved along pleasantly during the school session, and the
girls started along in a bunch toward home. "You just come with me,
Edna," said Esther Ann. "You see you are a member of the club, too, and
this will be your only chance to do a deed. The others can follow along
if they want. I'll tell you what I am going to do and you can take
part, if you like."

The others were both timid and curious, and were quite content to obey
Esther Ann's suggestion to "follow on." Edna, it may be said, was not
inspired with that wholesome dread of old Nathan which possessed the
others, for she had not been brought up under the shadow of his
ogre-like actions, and she felt that this was an opportunity which she
could not neglect. She trotted along valiantly by Esther Ann's side, the
others keeping a safe distance behind.

"Tell me what you are going to do," said Edna to her companion, as they
proceeded on their way.

For answer, Esther Ann dived down into her school-bag and produced first
one then another big, red apple. "I am going to give these to Nathan.
You can give one. I mean just to walk right up to him and say, 'Won't
you have an apple, Mr. Keener?'"

"Suppose he isn't there," returned Edna.

"Oh, he'll be there; he always is when it is a bright day like this. He
sits in an old