cksmith, and who wielded her heavy hoe as if it were a
toy. She was singing in a thin, nasal, uncultivated voice.

Evidently they were the Briskow "help," therefore Gray made his
presence known and inquired for the master or mistress of the place.

The elder woman turned, exposing a shrewd, benevolent face, and after a
moment of appraisal said, "I'm Miz' Briskow."

"Indeed!" The visitor smiled his best and announced the nature of his
errand.

"Lawsy me!" Mrs. Briskow planted her hoe in the soil and turned her
back upon Gray. "Allie! Yore pa has gone an' done it again. Here's
another of his fool notions."

The women regarded each other silently, their facial expressions hidden
beneath their bonnets; then the mother exposed her countenance a second
time, and said, "Mister, this is Allegheny, our girl."

Miss Allegheny Briskow lifted her head, nodded shortly, and stared over
the hoe handle at Gray. Her gaze was one of frank curiosity, and he
returned it in kind, for he had never beheld a creature like her. Gray
was a tall man, but this girl's eyes met his on a level, and her
figure, if anything, was heavier than his. Nor was its appearance
improved by her shapeless garment of faded wash material. Her feet were
incased in a pair of men's cheap "brogans" that Gray could have worn;
drops of perspiration gleamed upon her face, and her hair, what little
was visible beneath the sunbonnet, was wet and untidy. Altogether she
presented a picture such as some painter of peasant types might have
sketched. Garbed appropriately, in shawl and sabots, she would have
passed for some European plowwoman of Amazonian proportions. Allegheny!
It was a suitable name, indeed, for such a mountainous person. Her size
was truly heroic; she would have been grotesque, ridiculous, except for
a certain youthful plasticity and a suggestion of tremendous vigor and
strength that gave her dignity. Her ample, ill-fitting dress failed to
hide the fact that her robust body was well, even splendidly molded.

Gray's attention, however, was particularly challenged by the girl's
face and eyes. It was a handsome countenance, cut in large, bold
features, but of a stony immobility; the eyes were watchful, brooding,
sullen. They regarded him with mingled defiance and shyness for an
instant, then they avoided his; she averted her gaze; she appeared to
be meditating ignominious flight.

The mother abandoned her labor, wiped her hands upon her skirt, and
said,