A Daughter of the Land

d to the occupants of the veranda as she w

unless I am forced away on business,"

she bent the length of her body toward Kate and

walk and work for my board. Why, I feel so sure of myself! I've learned so much that I'm like the girl fresh from boarding school: 'The only wonder is that one small head can contain it all.' Thank you over and over and I've got a good school, so I can pay you back the v

Procure yourself some clothes!" S

ght you are! I

has a bank account,"

d not have the same father and mother I had. I'd like to see a g

wouldn't," admi

ainted! All the dinge possible to remove scoured away, inside! She must have worn her fingers almost to the bone! An

and catched a man!" recited Susan from

ed person, of quite superior education in a medical way. I shall call him if I ever have the misfortune to fall ill again. I hope you will tell Nancy Ellen that we shall be ve

a trifle more stuck up than she does now, if th

and standing up for your rights. Also she was bubbling inside while Agatha talked. Kate wondered how Adam survive

. In the future will you not try to remember that you should say, 'have gone,' instead of 'have went?'" As she talked Agatha rumpled Adam's hair, pulled off his string tie, upon which she insisted, even when he was plowing; laid her hard little face against his, and held him tight with her frail arms, so that Adam being part human as well as part Bates, h

hey beat up eggs, added milk, sugar, and corn-starch it was custard. When they used pure cream, sweetened and frozen, it was iced cream. Personally, she preferred the custard, but she did not propose to call it custard cream. It was not correct. Why persist in misstatements and inaccuracies when one knew better? So Agatha

n private and spend her spare time communing with the best writers, she can make an exceedingly fair intellectual showing, while she surely is a handsome woman. With a good home and such a fine young profession

time," said young Ad

, a cloudburst, a great conflagration are awful things. By

blew away your worst en

. Not the trace of a smile

iametrically opposite in meaning. Please do not allow my ears

n Agatha smiled on him approvingly. "When d

eside Lang's line fence. Near the spo

you recog

his picture and telling me about him.

epended upon. They inform me that he can be induced to converse on no oth

ach, but to spend the winter sewing on her clothes and bedding, and Father told her he would give her the necessary money. She said so. And I suspect

innovation

e inside out. If it had been I, Father would have told me to teach my school this winter, buy my own clothes and linen with the money I had ear

forty, you WOULD pay your own way. But if it were you marrying a fine-looking young doctor, who will s

ate. "I can't see th

think sixteen hundred and fifty acres of the cream of this county could be tied in a bandanna and carried on a walking stick, he is so casual about it. And those men fly around like buttons on a barn door to wait on him and it's 'Mister Bates this' and 'Mister

g else from the women of the Bates family, but I didn't even know the men

ad and say right out loud in meeting that since I've turned in the taxes and insurance for all these years

over Jordan, which with his health and strength won't be for twenty-five years yet at least. He's performing a miracle that will make the other girls rave, when he

She is hand in glove with him. She thinks as he

ly. It would be interesting to hear them having a private conversation. They never talk a word before

Ellen becomes interested in dresses and table linen and bedding she will want to sew

rprise. "But I won't be there!

y, didn't they tell you that Father has

aid Kate. "What w

t for another sc

r to sweep and watch fires, only a few blocks to walk, and it pays twenty dollars a month more than the home school where you can w

nd probably will be," said Adam. "And throw the housework Nancy

go to school, I am of age, the debt is my own, and I don't owe it to him. He's had all my work ha

a pretty kettle o

tley? It is only a few days until time to go to my school, it opens sooner than in the country, and closes later. The ter

r reconsider, Katherine? Things are progressing so ni

siness to make plans for me. I had to make my own plans and go in spite of him; he might have known I'd do all in my power to get a school. Besides, I don't want the home school, or the home work piled on me. My hands look like a human being's for the first time in my life; then I

ght, while all of them will be trying to use her to their advantage. Ma has don

anded his father. "The

, you can let me have the buggy to driv

oceed to her destination,'

what I mean," said young A

do nothing to publish the fact. There is no

ine in the morning. If you need me, hang a white ra

anding in the road wait

e not," sa

bly like it to

lowed the footpath beside the highway. She was so busy with her indignant thought that she forgot to protect her skirts from the

lt, any way you go at it. If it isn't one thing, it is another. An hour ago I was the happiest I have ever been in my life; only look at me now! Any one who

As she passed the vegetable garden-there was no time or room for flowers in a Bates garden-Kate, looking ahead, could see Nancy Ellen and Robert Gray beneath the cherry trees. She hoped Nancy Ellen would see that she was tired and dusty, and should have time to brush and make herself more presentable to meet a stranger, and so Nancy Ellen did; for which reason she immed

Robert, and saw the loo

And if she has, it's something new, for I ne

questioned i

The Bates family

d," said the ma

n resented

ike us bette

what I have heard and seen, it naturally makes me wo

at all secretive," said Nancy Elle

de door, finding her father and mother in the dining room rea

s telescope back with you f

ght as well get it over. Possibly it would be easie

represents my first purcha

in on second-hand stuff. Nancy

Kate. "But this

r and asked harshly: "What

he handle and

hen I go to my school ne

ted. "What?" cr

"Surely you knew I went to Normal to prepare mysel

eeth. Nancy Ellen is not going to teach this winter. I have taken the home school for yo

o have signed a contract that must be fulfilled. I am of age,

ght kill him. He opened his mouth, but no distinct words came. Her face paled with fright, but she

? Why didn't you wait until

uilding, has a janitor, I can board reasonably, near my work, and I get twenty

" said her mother. "Our home school has got to be taught as

al Ability, ever had as good a school or as high wages to start on. If I do well

" cried Mrs. Bates, shrilly. "You sto

he glared at Kate as he arose, stretching himself to full h

e," sa

you got home and talked it

u would not even allow me to speak. How was I to know that you wo

gn this contract

rnoon, in Hartl

from my pocket. When did you

ter. I could see my name on the envelope

a school where half the scholars are the children of your brothers and sisters

afternoon?"

nute!" h

surprised at how quick

, bearing the inscription in gold, "For a Good Girl" on a banner in its beak. Kate smiled at it grimly as she took the telescope and ran upstairs. It was the work of only a few minutes to gather her books and clothing and pack the b

" said Kate. "I am forbidden the house

e telescope on the grass under a b

d," she said. "Will you

rt and sat beside Kate. Robert

d is the matter?"

a finger to help me get away to Normal, how was I to know that you would take any interest in finding me a school while I was gone? I thought it was all up to me, so I applied for the school in Walden, got it, and signe

a joke," said Nancy El

she did say while her betrothed looked at her with indignant eyes was p

lans were, of course I should gladly have helped

rprise you," sa

n't see how you figured. You knew how late it was. You

, so we fixed up the scheme to let you have my school, and let me sew

my own canoe, so I made my own plans. Now I must live up to them, because my contract is legal, while Father's is not. I would have taught the school for you, in the circumstances, but since I ca

you do?" cri

hem exactly wh

when you could see the address on it, and it wa

dull eyes

much grace, at a

d Nancy Ellen. "In the same pl

uch like the gentleman himself. You would have asked him in

these words of praise before he

hing with him now," she

uch Bates as he is. I won't be taunted afterward that he

me to come, that I came of my o

t believe yo

t for me to go?"

! I can look o

do?" asked Nancy

morning. Adam, 3d, is to be over then, prepared to take me anywhere I want to go. What I have to face now

making suggestions, but Kate pre

ing to be rain to-night; and then I will go down to Hiram's and stay all night and watch fo

ll be a pleasant evening walk, and we can keep you c

id she was tired and she believed she would stay until morning, which was agreeable to Hiram and his wife, a girlhood f

am afraid I shall lose you if I have to put off our wedding to teach the school, and things like that," Nancy Ellen turned a flushed sparkling face to Robert, smiling quizzically, "and to-morrow I shall go early to see Serena Woodruff, who is a fine scholar and a good teacher, but missed her school in the spring by being so sick she was afraid to contract for it. She is all right now, and she will be delight

aw clearly that he was going to be a managed man. Nancy Ellen told him of course he was, all men were, the thing was not to let them know it. Then the