propitiation. "It's one by the clock now. Given an
hour to go, another to return, and a half hour for the buying, you should
be back by four at the latest."

Priscilla looked laughingly up at her mother, "Funny, little mother," she
said; "he's made you afraid of me. Hadn't you better tie a string to my
foot?" But all the time the girl was thinking. "An hour for both going
and coming will be enough, and that will leave an hour for the
schoolmaster."

Aloud she said: "I was fiercely angry last night, mother, for he read me
wrong and would not believe me, but it made me feel the _lure_; it really
did."

"You must never speak so again, child," Theodora replied, thinking she
was impressing the girl; "and, Priscilla, what did you mean by saying you
wanted to be--be doshed? That was the most unsanctified word I ever
heard. What does it mean? Where did you learn it?"

At this Priscilla doubled over with laughter but managed to say:

"Why, it means just--doshed! Haven't you ever wanted to be doshed,
mother, when you were young, and before father took the dosh out of
you?"

Theodora was again overcome by former fears, and to confirm her terror
Priscilla sprang toward her with outstretched, gripping fingers and wide,
eager eyes.

"It means," she breathed, advancing upon her mother's retreating form,
"it means skib, skib, skibble--de--de--dosh!"

At this she had her mother by the shoulders and was seeking to kiss the
affrighted and appalled face.

Theodora escaped her, and realized that a changeling had indeed entered
her home. An unknown element was here. It was as if, having been
discovered, Priscilla felt she no longer needed to hide her inner self,
but was giving it full sway.

If they could only have known that the spring of imagination and joy
had been touched in the girl and merely the madness of youth and the
legitimate yearning for expression moved her! But Theodora did not
understand and she tried to be stern.

"You are to be back in this house at four!" she cried; "at quarter after
at the latest."

So Priscilla started forth. The mother watched her from the doorway.
Suspicion was in her heart; she feared the girl would turn toward the
woods; she was prepared for that, but instead, the flying figure made for
the grassy road leading to Kenmore and was soon lost to sight.

Three miles of level road, much of it smooth, moss-covered rock, was
easy travelling for nimble feet and a glad heart. And Priscilla was