A Daughter of the Land

"No, I couldn't," said Kate.

"Who came after you?" asked Mrs. Holt.

"Dr. Gray," answered Kate.

"That new doctor at Hartley? Why, be you an' him friends?"

Mrs. Holt had followed down the hall, eagerly waiting in the

doorway. Kate glanced at her and felt sudden pity. The woman was

warped. Everything in her life had gone wrong. Possibly she

could not avoid being the disagreeable person she was. Kate

smiled at her.

"Worse than that," she said. "We be relations in a few days.

He's going to marry my sister Nancy Ellen next Tuesday."

Kate understood the indistinct gurgle she heard to be approving,

so she added: "He came after me early so I could go to Hartley

and help get their new house ready for them to live in after the

ceremony."

"Did your father give them the house?" asked Mrs. Holt eagerly.

"No. Dr. Gray bought his home," said Kate.

"How nice! What did your father give them?"

Kate's patience was exhausted. "You'll have to wait until I come

back," she said. "I haven't the gift of telling about things

before they have happened."

Then she picked up her telescope and saying "good-bye," left the

house.

As they drove toward Hartley: "I'm anxious to see your house,"

said Kate. "Did you find one in a good neighbourhood?"

"The very best, I think," said the doctor. "That is all one could

offer Nancy Ellen."

"I'm so glad for her! And I'm glad for you, too! She'll make you

a beautiful wife in every way. She's a good cook, she knows how

to economize, and she's too pretty for words, if she IS my

sister."

"I heartily agree with you," said the doctor. "But I notice you

put the cook first and the beauty last."

"You will, too, before you get through with it," answered Kate.

"Here we are!" said he, soon after they entered Hartley. "I'll

drive around the block, so you can form an idea of the location."

Kate admired every house in the block, the streets and trees, the

one house Robert Gray had selected in every particular. They went

inside and built fires, had lunch together at the hotel, and then

Kate rolled up her sleeves and with a few yards of cheese-cloth

for a duster, began unwrapping furniture and standing it in the

room where it belonged. Robert moved the heavy pieces, then he

left to call on a patient and spend the evening with Nancy Ellen.

So Kate spent several happy days setting Nancy Ellen's new home in

order. From basement to garret she had it immaculate and shining.

No Bates girl, not even Agatha, ever had gone into a home having

so many comforts and conveniences.

Kate felt lonely the day she knew her home was overcrowded with

all their big family; she sat very still thinking of them during

the hour of the ceremony; she began preparing supper almost

immediately, because Robert had promised her that he would not eat

any more of the wedding feast than he could help, and he would

bring Nancy Ellen as soon afterward as possible. Kate saw them

drive to the gate and come up the walk together. As they entered

the door Nancy Ellen was saying: "Why, how does the house come to

be all lighted up? Seems to me I smell things to eat. Well, if

the table isn't all set!"