A Daughter of the Land

"You may go," said his father, promptly.

"You shall proceed according to your Aunt Katherine's

instructions," said his mother, at the same time.

"Katie, get your carpet-sack! When do we start?" demanded young

Adam.

"Morning will be all right with me, you blessed youngun," said

Kate, "but I don't own a telescope or anything to put what little

I have in, and Nancy Ellen never would spare hers; she will want

to go to County Institute before I get back."

"You may have mine," said Agatha. "You are perfectly welcome to

take it wherever your peregrinations lead you, and return it when

you please. I shall proceed to my chamber and formulate your

check immediately. You are also welcome to my best hat and cape,

and any of my clothing or personal adornments you can use to

advantage."

"Oh, Agatha, I wish you were as big as a house, like me," said

Kate, joyfully. "I couldn't possibly crowd into anything you

wear, but it would almost tickle me to death to have Nancy Ellen

know you let me take your things, when she won't even offer me a

dud of her old stuff; I never remotely hoped for any of the new."

"You shall have my cape and hat, anyway. The cape is new and very

fashionable. Come upstairs and try the hat," said Agatha.

The cape was new and fashionable as Agatha had said; it would not

fasten at the neck, but there would be no necessity that it should

during July and August, while it would improve any dress it was

worn with on a cool evening. The hat Kate could not possibly use

with her large, broad face and mass of hair, but she was almost as

pleased with the offer as if the hat had been most becoming. Then

Agatha brought out her telescope, in which Kate laid the cape

while Agatha wrote her a check for one hundred and twenty dollars,

and told her where and how to cash it. The extra twenty was to

buy a pair of new walking shoes, some hose, and a hat, before she

went to her train. When they went downstairs Adam, Jr., had a

horse hitched and Adam, 3d, drove her to her home, where, at the

foot of the garden, they took one long survey of the landscape and

hid the telescope behind the privet bush. Then Adam drove away

quietly, Kate entered the dooryard from the garden, and soon

afterward went to the wash room and hastily ironed her clothing.

Nancy Ellen had gone to visit a neighbour girl, so Kate risked her

remaining until after church in the evening. She hurried to their

room and mended all her own clothing she had laid out. Then she

deliberately went over Nancy Ellen's and helped herself to a pair

of pretty nightdresses, such as she had never owned, a white

embroidered petticoat, the second best white dress, and a most

becoming sailor hat. These she made into a parcel and carried to

the wash room, brought in the telescope and packed it, hiding it

under a workbench and covering it with shavings. After that she

went to her room and wrote a note, and then slept deeply until the

morning call. She arose at once and went to the wash room but

instead of washing the family clothing, she took a bath in the

largest tub, and washed her hair to a state resembling spun gold.

During breakfast she kept sharp watch down the road. When she saw

Adam, 3d, coming she stuck her note under the hook on which she

had seen her father hang his hat all her life, and carrying the

telescope in the clothes basket covered with a rumpled sheet, she

passed across the yard and handed it over the fence to Adam,

climbed that same fence, and they started toward Hartley.