The Poetry Of Robert Browning

iny Bl

d wholly frightened. Ruth came forward with a confident, buoyant step that reassured her

d palm a little lump of adobe clay that looked considerably like a rough pebble.

" faltered Maudie

prompted Eliza

," breathed the Babe, hiding a too sympath

ingers. Something glittered on one side of it; the clay part

d ring!" s

nkled and skipped on the porch floor. This done she sat d

e diamond. I wanted that hundred dollars to go to Chicago and

oned, and her father seconded th

they did so the Pratts managed to get Maudie straightened up with the assurance that she should be permitted somehow to go to Chicago; and by the time the two gr

Pratt house, the matter was again brought up by the Spooners. The sky was all a delightful lavender, with the big, white stars of the

s," said Mrs. Spooner fondly. "But it hurts me to think you could keep a secret from mothe

inute that Maudie Pratt would tell a story about the value of her ring, and that twenty-five dollars was the real price of it, I should have let Ruth tell you;

's an achievement any three young persons of your age may well

is almost more fun than spending it. Ruth can always earn with her cooki

. Spooner. "But there's one thing you can excel at, and that nobody else around

h though

go to some big town and

Spooner, smilingly. "And you were just admiring the fact that it was h

eel to her pony and riding ahead, blowing back a kis

a boy who worked his way through college almost entirely b

oyally. "She helped me--you all did. I did

was an insuperable obstacle. If she went into the simplest kind of p

he hundred dollars, I intend to put it in the bank as a reserve fund to draw on in case of

irs. "I can do it easily; just board up an end of the back porch, fix a red lantern in it for a light, with some shelves and a

t, all of them to be paid for out of the hundred dollars in the bank. Roy fixed up the darkroom with all the needed apparatus, and, thus equipped, Elizabet

phs made

tures and vie

cia

knowing that they were always kept on hand. Some of these customers patronized Elizabeth's "studio," as she named the little boarded-up corner of the porch, and had their pictures taken. More often

tudied hard her manual of photography, and finally after considerable debate, took a correspondence course in the art. Still

or maybe I'll put up my prices," she said. But she resisted all suggestions that a finer camera be pur

udgery of the work weighed on her. Nothing worth having is got without effort. Whatever this girl's ancestry,

y to make myself the very best photographer I can,--and then may

nt occurred that made Mrs. Spooner decide that the time had come for her reading to be a little more varied. It happened one

u noticed anything pertickler wrong

hat has she been doing?" asked Mrs. Spooner in alarm. She aros

ed cayuse o' her'n, and I'm blest if she didn't have a broom-handle over her shoulder, and a old fire-shovel helt out right straight in front! She looked out'n her eyes like--well, like she was seein' things. I calls to her: 'Babe, whar ye g

ack in her rocking-chair and began to laug

llin' nobody, let alone me what's raised her. My opinion is the child's comin' down

sun. She reads too much, and is too much alone, I'm afraid. She was only playing she was a knig

y, "a-misscallin' me a villian don't seem natchul. I'll go send her in to y

too much in a world of dreams. "I'll speak to Elizabeth," the mother mused, thankful that she had Elizabeth's wise young head and Ruth's will

Chicago, studying music, and Mr. Pratt up in Wyoming with a herd of fattening cattle--was very lonely,

uch needed plain speech, declaring that she was thoroughly ashamed of the way Maudie had treated her cousin, and i

depositing it in the bank with his papers, and declaring that it shoul

d of gratifying Maudie's wish to study music. Grandma Pratt added to this fund till at last there was

getting the early supper ready. Soon they came hurrying in at the back door, their arms laden with bundles, followed by the Babe, now wide-eyed and alert; knights and paynims had faded away before the pr

mmy!" scolded Ruth, "didn't you know your big daughters

e best--father and Mary." Elizabeth fished the letters from the mail-pouch at her side. "And we've got a heap of mail-magazines, and a letter from home for Roy, that

" added the Babe, generously, as she held out the particular dainty her heart loved

nd wants letters more than anything in the world, he says he hopes we'll all remember. But Mary--the letter's from John--is not so well--." Mrs. Spoon

Mother, you must go; we'll get on somehow. If Mr. Bellamy sent a

"she needs us, really--she hasn't got a cook, and there

Spooner. "You and Elizabeth could help, but she would only be in the way. Jonah was just telling me about seeing her out on the ra

. Just take enough money from that reserve fund in the bank to pay her fare, and both of you

t off for Oklahoma, while Elizabeth and Ruth, much to Cousin Hannah's delight, went in to stay with her. Jonah and

studies, though in the beginning the boarders had found the repeated and detailed information about the matter rather wearisome. E

usin Hannah crying in the parlor just now; she said it was toothache--when I know she has a full set of

t the Pratts three days, "do you remember that a

e a big dinner, didn't she? I know what the trouble is--it's Maudie. She can't bear to h

I just chanced to find that out. Let's make Cousin Hannah get up a big dinner, and telegraph an invitation to Maudie. The

sterday. Say, Elizabeth, I believe we could get one for her, too. The Reving

you talking about?"

un down town to Meeker's store and see if Roy's in from the ranch, I want to

h's, a stenographer who had recently come to Emerald. They went on, cheered by this interview, and consulted the station agent, who

that's what her ma wants--though I'm not so certain that it'll make her or any of the rest of us any happier. If

he called "subscriptions" with pencil and paper. As the thr

ys goes with a celebration of any kind, and to my notion it's the best part of

, and Elizabeth added: "If you'll all tell us what particular dishes you li

's favorite dish. It was a funny bill-of-fare that she made out: Chicken-pie and turnip-greens, potato-pone and apple-dumplings, cold-slaw and Waldorf salad, and other equally incong

bright and early on the morning of the birthday, bringing

rls had any reply to their telegram they were equally reticent. The difference was that Mrs. Pratt, in spite of the birthday preparations became

ully, the table set, ready to dish up the dinner when the time came, then they both disappea

alling Elizabeth and Ruth repeatedly and finding that they were both out, Cousin Hannah decided that

ap with a hammer to start it a-goin' again. Well, I just got to ha

utiously up the creaking ladder, and soon had the water flowing again, as

and looked wonderingly over the v

ve in the foothills," she exclaimed. "I feel like I was standin' on to

she recognized as Jonah Bean, and containing something long, and black and shiny--a box-like object that made her heart grow cold to look upon. She got a

for her own household--Elizabeth and Ruth, and some of the younger of her boarders, with Roy and one or two other boys from the neighborhood. The

rom her high perch. "I ain't heard one blessed word from her in a month! A

foot, and she barely saved herself from a dangerous fall by cl

wing her breath in heavy, muffled sobs, praying for strength to bear the blow that was comin

and Elizabeth came creeping softly round to the k

get it in without her knowing--it might frighten

ome and help me down--I know what you're bringing--I saw it

ed below and stared up. "That's too bad. We're so sorry, Cousin H

abeth thought she must have sprained her foot, and the pain made her

sheepishly, and Mrs. Pratt glar

stified young people, as they helped her down

or the parlor, where a crow

. But instead of the serious mien proper