ps and stoutly insisted that it was
the Princess' secret.

To keep me from that danger sleep on the road, she shook me up and
asked about the spelling bee. I thought it was the grandest thing I
had ever seen in my life, and I told her so. She gathered me close and
whispered: "Tell me something, Little Sister, please."

The minx! She knew I thought that a far finer title than hers.

"Would Laddie care?" I questioned.

"Not in the least!"

"Well then, I will."

"Can Laddie spell 'Terra del Fuego?'" she whispered.

I nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"I have heard him do it over and over for father."

The Princess forgot I was so sick, forgot her horse, forgot everything.
She threw her head back and her hands up, until her horse stopped in
answer to the loosened line, and she laughed and laughed. She laughed
until peal on peal re-echoed from our Big Woods clear across the west
eighty. She laughed until her ringing notes set my slow pulses on
fire, and started my numbed brain in one last effort. I stood up and
took her lovely face between my palms, turning it until I could see
whether the thought that had come to me showed in her eyes, and it did.

"Oh you darling, splendid Princess!" I cried. "You missed it on
purpose to let Laddie beat! You can spell it too!"

CHAPTER XII

The Horn of the Hunter

"The dusky night rides down the sky,
And ushers in the morn:
The hounds all join in glorious cry,
The huntsman winds his horn."

Leon said our house reminded him of the mourners' bench before any one
had "come through." He said it was so deadly with Sally and Shelley
away, that he had a big notion to marry Susie Fall and bring her over
to liven things up a little. Mother said she thought that would be a
good idea, and Leon started in the direction of Falls', but he only
went as far as Deams'. When he came back he had a great story to tell
about dogs chasing their sheep, and foxes taking their geese. Father
said sheep were only safe behind securely closed doors, especially in
winter, and geese also. Leon said every one hadn't as big a barn as
ours, and father said there was nothing to prevent any man from
building the sized barn he needed to shelter his creatures in safety
and comfort, if he wanted to dig in and earn the money to put it up.
There was no answer to that, and Mr. Leon didn't try to make any.
Mostly, he said something to keep on talking, but sometimes he saw when
he had