u. Somebody'll be sure to carry cake, and
pies, and cold ham and cheese, and bread and butter, and cold chicken.
All that's sure."

"Exactly. I could have told you as much myself, Diana. What I want to
know is, somethin' nobody'll take."

"Green corn to boil, mother?"

"Well!" said Mrs. Starling, musing, "that _is_ an idea. How'd you boil
it?"

"Must take a pot--or borrow one."

"Borrow! Not I, from any o' the Bear Hill folks. I couldn't eat corn
out o' _their_ kettles. It's a sight o' trouble anyhow, Diana."

"Then, mother, suppose I make a chicken pie?"

"Do what you've a mind to, child. And there must be a lot o' coffee
roasted. I declare, if I wasn't clean out o' blackberry wine, I'd cut
the whole concern. There'll be churning just ready Thursday; and Josiah
had ought to be sent off to mill, we're 'most out o' flour, and he
can't go to-morrow, for he's got to see to the fence round the fresh
pasture lot. And I want to clean the kitchen this week. There's no
sittin' still in this world, I do declare! I haven't set a stitch in
those gowns o' mine since last Friday, neither; and Society comes here
next week. And if I don't catch Josiah before he goes out to work in
the morning and get the stove cleaned out--the flues are all choked
up--it'll drive me out o' the house or out o' my mind, with the smoke;
and Bear Hill won't come off then."

Bear Hill did "come off," however. Early on the morning of Thursday,
Josiah might be seen loading up the little green waggon with tin
kettles and baskets, both empty and full. Ears of corn went in too, for
the "idee" had struck Mrs. Starling favourably, and an iron pot found
its way into one corner. Breakfast was despatched in haste; the house
locked up and the key put under the door-stone for Josiah to find at
noon; and the two ladies mounted and drove away while the morning light
was yet fresh and cool, and the shadows of the trees lay long in the
meadow. August mornings and evenings were seldom hotter than was
agreeable in Pleasant Valley.

For some miles the road lay through the region so denominated. Then it
entered the hills, and soon the way led over them, up and down steep
ascents and pitches, with a green woodland on each side, and often a
look-out over some little meadow valley of level fields and cultivation
bordered and encircled by more hills. The drive was a silent one; Mrs.
Starling held the reins, and perhaps they gave her thoughts employment
enough; Diana w