Beneath the Limberlost Canopy

lish patronymic that any girl might bear proudly to Cornstock. Elnora sat speechless. When and how did it happen? She could feel the wave of smot

demonstrated, Miss Cornstalk,” he said.

friends and make life a greater misery than it ever before had been for her, but not one of them should

n't explain is how I happened to be so stupid as to make a mistake in wr

t plainly. “My name is Comstock,” she said distinctly. She returned to her seat, a

u can write as beautiful a demonstration, and explain it as clearly as ever has been done in any of my classes and

nyone else should have d

e strangers to me. I should dislike to begin the year with you feeling there was

r the next recitation, she went also. At least they could put her out if she did not belong there. Noon came at last, and she kept with the others until they dispersed on the sidewalk. She was so abnormally self-conscious that she fancied all the hund

but it was so very light that she was prepared for the fact that it was empty before opening it. There was one thing for which to be thankful. The boy or tramp who had seen her hide it had left the nap

at last. “I will go back. What would

where she had been in the morning. Twice that afternoon, with aching head and empty stomach, she faced strange professors in d

r course and secured your bo

” replied Elnora, “I do not k

rofessor was

ooks were furnished

order from the township tru

support, for she knew that was not true. Four books, ranging perhaps at a dollar

ne to think she could come to the city to school. Her mother had been right. The girl decided that if only she lived to reach home, she would stay there and lead any sort of life to avoid more of this torture. Bad as what she wished to escape ha

twenty dollars a year. That really was the end. Previously, Elnora had canvassed a dozen methods for securing the money for books, ranging all the way from offering to wash the supe

the fence and field, along the old trail once trodden by a boy's bitter agony, now stumbled a white-faced girl, sick at heart. She sa

erhaps it was because she had read that they were in several states. But why did she not know? Why did not her mother go with her? Other moth

remembered how her clothing would look before she wore it in public places. Now she knew, and her dreams were over. She must go home

smearing tears all over her face in an effort to dry them. “Was it as bad as that, now? Maggie has been just wild over you all day. She's got nervous every minute. She

sobbed the girl, “wh

till you got started, and then she began to see a hundred things we should have done. I reckon you hadn't reached that building before she remembered that your

esley, you should have seen me among them! I was in a picture! They'll never

them laugh you out. You've helped Margaret and me for years at harvest and busy times. What

don't care now how I look. If I don't go back all of them

Sinton meditatively. “There are three hundred acre

pay the tax, and mother would

r,” suggested Sinton. “Anyway, stop tearing yourself t

uition. Over twen

to be stumped by twenty dollars, El

nswered Elnora. “This is different from anything that e

ng, and I'll draw it from the bank

y could earn it. For anything that's past, I owe you and Aunt Margaret for all the h

you can earn it. You can be proud of all the rest of the wo

rs and heartache. All of us know that story. Freckles stuck to what he undertook and won out. I stick, too. When Duncan moved away, he gave me all Freckles left in the swamp, and as I have inherited his property, maybe his luck will come with it. I won't touch your money, but I'll win some