Pembroke

, and her full, luxuriant young figure looked tropical beside Rose's slender one. Her

gs down to the store and ge

She was full of the thoug

t day, ain't it

y, Rebecca, I'm awful afraid

hat did

ing by. I'd been up to see Charlotte,

ow about it?" Rebec

ouse across lots I saw Barney going, and heard her calling him back. I th

ome round,"

'll be made up?" R

this morning. He wouldn't eat any breakfast. He just went into his room, and put on his other clothes, and then went out in the fiel

him. It's Uncle Cephas; he just picked the quarrel. He hasn't never more'n half liked Bar

such fools as not to for such a silly reason as that, when Barney's got h

rney terr

I guess you'll find

e said, and she walked along silently, h

d reflectively at the white cottage with its steep peak of Gothic roof set upon a plough

house. As they looked, a man came around the corner with a

is now,"

owards them, past a great tree whos

he reason is?" Rebecca

ppose he's got used

ppy," Rebecca said; and she blushed,

o much difference when folk

it don'

t is

go into the

ghed. "W

nly I wish

?" Rose peered around

eyes. "I'd like to know what I'd be af

nt me to go into the

thi

you want me to. I know William won't like it. You run away from him the who

treat h

what you like him, Rebecca Thayer; you

im, and so does William. You haven't any idea how some of the girls act chasing to the store. Mother and I have counted 'em some

er would do-run after a

ldn't

Hannah had rebelled against further toil. Then, too, the railroad had been built through East Pembroke instead of Pembroke, the old stage line had become a thing of the past, and the tavern was scantily pa

, and the year before had had a slight shock of paralysis, which had made him halt and feeble, although his mind was as clear as ever. However, al

ooked in the door. "Father's in there, and Tommy Ray," she whispered. "You need

squinted again at some packages on the counter. He was haggling for garden seeds. William Berry, who was waiting upon him, did not apparently l

hind the counter indeterminately, but the girls did not seem to see him. Rose was talkin

man's narrow bristling face peered, watchful as a c

ntly the old farmer clamped past them out the door, count

es which the customer had rejected on

ome eggs to sell

d the smile was only a deepening of the pleasant intensity of his beardless face, with it

ye do?"

eeply pink in the green tunnel of her sun-bonnet, her black eyes were as so

u got, Rebecca?" Rose inquir

any more to-day," Rebecca re

give for two dozen eggs

hful old man, whose eyes seemed to gleam out of the gloom in the back of

basket of eggs

ll her, William?" called t

is lips. "About two

w m

and a

y dozen

wo

her two pound of suga

of sugar, father," said Willia

u gone

t expect so much. Don't say any more about it, William." Her face was quite steady

ar for the eggs, father, and ca

his body. He entered at the gap in the counter, and pressed close to his son's side. Then he looked sharply across at Rebec

for two dozen," said William; he was quite pale. He be

ou're willing to give,

nts a dozen," said the old man; "you can have a pound and a h

th me," said she; "I didn't fetch my purse. You'll h

urned Silas, gravely; "you had better tell your mothe

ther!" c

den motion. "I'm tending to this, father," he

never my way of doin' business, an' I ain't goin' to have it done in my store. I shouldn't have laid up a cent if I'd managed any such

it, father," said William, f

and plunged in the great scoop with a grating noise. He heap

a pound and a half,"

Rose whisper

weighed out nigh three," he began. Then his son's face sud

n. While his own mind had lost nothing of its vigor, his bodily weakness made him distrustful of it sometimes, when

basket, and put the parcel in their place. Silas began lifting the eg

ed out, as Rebecca and Rose turned away, and Will

dozen," Rebecca responde

, promptly. "You 'ain't counted 'em right,

nty-three. It's bad enough to be payin' twice what the

You keep still, father," said William's voice at his ear, i

even meditated going farther; but now he stood back behind t

d carry her basket, William?" Rose called

rm. "Oh, don't," she g

William?" sh

am reply coldly that he couldn't, he was too busy

father said. You mustn't mind father," Rose said, peering aro

didn't," Rebecca cried out, with sudden passion. Her voice was hoarse

se returned, in a bewildered wa

of sugar in the house, and there wasn't anybody else to send. Ephraim ain't very well, and Doctor Whiting says he ough

you did. I don't know w

ng me home in broad daylight, when I've been to the store to tra

s just about as easy upset as you are. I didn't mean any harm. Say, Rebecca, come into the house a little while, can't you? I don't believe your mother i

tood looking after her. "Folks will begin to think you did come to see William

te of her maiden shrinking on the threshold of the store, she had come to see William Berry. She had been glad, although she had turned a hypocritical face towards her own consciousness, that Ephraim was not well enough and she was obliged to go. Her heart had leaped with joy when Rose h

turned away from her mother. "Here's the sugar," she said,

de the window beating eggs. Over in the field she could catch a glimpse

two p

doin' pr

ng. She turned to

"Take off your bonnet. I want you to beat up the b

fight like enemies, and vanquished them, not with trumpet and spear, but with daily duties. It was a village story how Deborah Thayer cleaned all the windows in the house one afternoon when her first chi

box from the pantry, and emptied the sugar into in, still keepin

er three pounds than anything else. I guess you wer

, he

ed," Deborah repeated, and a ha

rong white wrist. Ephraim watched her sharply; he sat by a window stoning raisins. His mother had forbidden him to eat any, as she thought them injurious to him

t heaved shortly and heavily. The village doctor had told is mother that he had heart-disease, which might

Ephraim's black eyes; his mouth was demure with mischief, his gawky figure perpetually uneasy and twisting, as if to find entrance into small forbidden places. There was something in Ephraim's face, when she looked suddenly at him, which continua

as quite to his taste. He dearly loved plums, although they were especially prohibited. He rolled one quietly under his

s been cryin'!" Ephrai

ing lower over the wooden bowl; her black lashes

at Rebecca's grief might be due to the worry over Barney; but she did not for a minute. She directly

d Rebecca, wit

about something, too. I

ish you would

lliam Berry ove

you I di

te my head off. Did h

thing: I'll never set my foot inside

w what you mean,

folks think I'm runni

after the way her daughter has chased over here. Mebbe it's all you Rose Ber

anything. I ha

was it

how William had been urged to walk home with her and how coldly he had refused, and finally Deborah, in

you kno

hope yo

't stand being

wn good," said Deborah, with fierce persistency. "I ain't goin' to ha

ou know you sent me down to the store yourself;

m makin' cake without William Berry thinkin' you're runnin' after him, or Hannah Berry thinkin' so either. But the

m to see William Berry. You haven't any

tty pass if I can't speak when I see you doin' out of the way. I know one thing, you won't go

Rebecca. She had stopped crying, but her face was burning;

y. That's done eno

Ephraim had stoned she cast a sharp glance at him, but he was ready for it with be

relish. Ephraim's stomach oppressed him, his breath came harder, but he had a sense of triumph in his soul. This depriving him of the little creature comforts which he loved, and of the na

w stove was set up in her back kitchen, she often alluded to Hannah Berry's conservative principles with scorn. Hannah's sister, Mrs. Barnard, had told her how a stove could be set up in the tavern any minut

their own ideas over them," declared Deborah. Often when she cooke

loaf of cake, she can," said she, as she put the pan of cake in the oven. "Now, you watch t

going, mother?"

' to step out

t I g

fit to walk this mornin'. You

rebellion in him made illness and even his final demise flash before his e

gainst her ears across the fields to the one where her son was ploughing. The grass was not wet, but she held her dress up high, s

said, authoritatively.

horse. "Well, what is it?" he said, g

use again. You leave the horse here-I'll watch him-and

d the horse pulled the pl

know jest how set you can be in your own ways, and how you can hang on to your temper. I've known you ever since you was a baby; you can't teach me anything new about yourself. I don't know what you did to make Cephas mad, but I know what you've got to do now. You go and set the men to work on that house again, and then you go over to Cephas Barnard

ace set past his mother, as irr

ou go

a range with his, and the two faces confronted each other in silen

t it," she said; "but there's one thing-you needn't come home to dinner. You sha'n

ough. His mother stepped homeward over the plough-ridges with ste

drove in on a rattling farm cart. She becko

me home to dinner," she said

red expression. "Well, I s'pose you

ight he's got to suffer

se, and Caleb drove c

kitchen windows lest his wife should see him, and pleaded with Barnabas, but all i

ut it, Barney. You'd better go

aid, in reply; and Caleb at length

oing to feed the hens, found him sitting under the wild-

stood looking at him wi

said, finally. "Barney'll ge

e old man-"no, he won't. H