A Daughter of the Land

"Shouldn't you be in here helping Aunt Ollie?" asked George's

voice from the front step where he seated himself with his pipe.

"Yes, in a minute," said Kate, rising. "Did you see who came?"

"No. I was out doing the morning work. Who was it?" he asked.

"Nancy Ellen and Robert," she answered.

He laughed hilariously: "Brought them in a hurry, didn't we? Why

didn't they come in?"

"They came to tell me," said Kate, slowly, "that if I had married

you yesterday, as I did, that they felt so disgraced that I wasn't

to come to their home again."

"'Disgraced?'" he cried, his colour rising. "Well, what's the

matter with me?"

"Not the things they said, I fervently hope."

"Well, they have some assurance to come out here and talk about

me, and you've got as much to listen, and then come and tell me

about it," he cried.

"It was over in a minute," said Kate. "I'd no idea what they were

going to say. They said it, and went. Oh, I can't spare Nancy

Ellen, she's all I had!"

Kate sank down on the step and covered her face. George took one

long look at her, arose, and walked out of hearing. He went into

the garden and watched from behind a honeysuckle bush until he saw

her finally lift her head and wipe her eyes; then he sauntered

back, and sat down on the step beside her.

"That's right," he said. "Cry it out, and get it over. It was

pretty mean of them to come out here and insult you, and tell any

lie they could think up, and then drive away and leave you; but

don't mind, they'll soon get over it. Nobody ever keeps up a fuss

over a wedding long."

"Nancy Ellen never told a lie in her life," said Kate. "She has

too much self-respect. What she said she THOUGHT was true. My

only chance is that somebody has told her a lie. You know best if

they did."

"Of course they did," he broke in, glibly. "Haven't you lived in

the same house with me long enough to know me better than any one

else does?"

"You can live in the same house with people and know less about

them than any one else, for that matter," said Kate, "but that's

neither here nor there. We're in this together, we got to get on

the job and pull, and make a success out of it that will make all

of them proud to be our friends. That's the only thing left for

me. As I know the Bates, once they make up their minds, they

never change. With Nancy Ellen and Father both down on me, I'm a

prodigal for sure."

"What?" he cried, loudly. "What? Is your father in this, too?

Did he send you word you couldn't come home, either? This is a

hell of a mess! Speak up!"