A Daughter of the Land

Kate stepped in and began to right things with practised hand.

Disaster came when she saw Polly, at the well, take an instant

from bringing in the water, to wave in the direction of the Peters

farm. As she entered the door, Kate swept her with a glance.

"Have to upset the bowl, as usual?" she said, scathingly. "Just

as I think you're going to make something of yourself, and be of

some use, you begin mooning in the direction of that big, gangling

Hank Peters. Don't you ever let me see you do it again. You are

too young to start that kind of foolishness. I bet a cow he was

hanging around here, and made you late with dinner."

"He was not! He didn't either!" cried Polly, then stopped in

dismay, her cheeks burning. She gulped and went on bravely:

"That is, he wasn't here, and he didn't make ME late, any more

than I kept HIM from his work. He always watches when there are

tramps and peddlers on the road, because he knows I'm alone. I

knew he would be watching two men who stopped to see you, so I

just went as far as the haw tree to tell him I was all right, and

we got to talking --"

If only Kate had been looking at Polly then! But she was putting

the apple butter and cream on the table. As she did so, she

thought possibly it was a good idea to have Henry Peters seeing

that tramps did not frighten Polly, so she missed dawn on the face

of her child, and instead of what might have been, she said:

"Well, I must say THAT is neighbourly of him; but don't you dare

let him get any foolish notions in his head. I think Aunt Nancy

Ellen will let you stay at her house after this, and go to the

Hartley High School in winter, so you can come out of that much

better prepared to teach than I ever was. I had a surprise

planned for you to-night, but now I don't know whether you deserve

it or not. I'll have to think."

Kate did not think at all. After the manner of parents, she SAID

that, but her head was full of something she thought vastly more

important just then; of course Polly should have her share in it.

Left alone to wash the dishes and cook supper while her mother

went to town, it was Polly, who did the thinking. She thought

entirely too much, thought bitterly, thought disappointedly, and

finally thought resentfully, and then alas, Polly thought

deceitfully. Her mother had said: "Never let me see you." Very

well, she would be extremely careful that she was NOT seen; but

before she slept she rather thought she would find a way to let

Henry know how she was being abused, and about that plan to send

her away all the long winter to school. She rather thought Henry

would have something to say about how his "Little Beautiful" was

being treated. Here Polly looked long and searchingly in the

mirror to see if by any chance Henry was mistaken, and she

discovered he was. She stared in amazement at the pink-cheeked,

shining eyed girl she saw mirrored. She pulled her hair looser

around the temples, and drew her lips over her teeth. Surely

Henry was mistaken. "Little Beautiful" was too moderate. She

would see that he said "perfectly lovely," the next time, and he

did.