An' if y'
ever tell a soul I done it, I'll scrape every inch of skin off'n your
flesh, an' mebbe I'll do something worse, I hate y' that bad."

In less seconds than it takes to tell it, Peg let Jinnie go, and the
girl went out of the door with a smiling sigh.

"Kisses 're sweeter'n roses," she murmured, walking to the track. "I
wish I'd get more of 'em."

She turned back as she heard Peg's voice calling her.

"You might toddle in an' bring home a bit of sausage," said the woman,
indifferently, "an' five cents' worth of chopped steak."

Mrs. Grandoken watched Jinnie until she turned the corner. She felt a
strangling sensation in her throat.

A little later she flung the kitchen utensils from place to place, and
otherwise acted so ugly and out of temper that, had Lafe known the
whole incident, he would have smiled knowingly at the far-off hill and
held his peace.

Late in the afternoon Jinnie counted seventeen pennies, one dime and a
nickel. It was a fortune for any girl to make, and what was better
yet, buckled to her young shoulders in the shortwood strap was almost
her next day's supply. As she replaced the money in her pocket and
walked toward the market, she murmured gravely,

"Mebbe Peg's kisses helped me to get it, but--but I musn't forget
Lafe's prayers."

Her smile was radiant and self-possessed. She was one of the world's
workers and loved Lafe and Peg and the world with her whole honest
young heart.

"Thirty-two cents," she whispered. "That's a pile of money. I wish I
could buy Lafe a posy. He does love 'em so, and he can't get out like
Peg and me to see beautiful things."

She stopped before a window where brilliant blossoms were exhibited.
Ever since she began to work, one of the desires of Jinnie's soul had
been to purchase a flower. As she scrutinized the scarlet and white
carnations, the deep red roses, and the twining green vines, she
murmured.

"Peg loves Lafe even if she does bark at him. She won't mind if I buy
him one. I'll make more money to-morrow."

She opened the door of the shop and drew her unwieldy burden carefully
inside. A girl stood back of the counter.

"How much're your roses?" asked Jinnie, nodding toward the window and
jingling the pennies in her pocket.

"The white ones're five cents a piece," said the clerk, "and the red
ones're ten.... Do y' want one?"

"I'll take a white one," replied the purchaser.

"Shall I wrap it in paper?" asked the other.

"No, I'll car