le, Richard Gordon, should be able to establish a home for her, or at least know enough of his future plans to ha

riends with whom she had been staying decided to go to California. He remembered Mrs. Peabody, an old school friend, and suggested that Be

rat," a bright intelligent lad whom the Peabodys had taken from the local almshouse for his board and clothes. Betty Gordon found life at Bramble Farm very different from the pictur

nd Mrs. Bender had proved themselves true and steadfast friends to the boy and girl who stood sorely in need of friendship. It was th

ns from the Peabody farm, and at the hearing before the recorder something of Mr.

away for their annual vacation, matters at Bramble Farm had in the main improved. But they were gradually slipping back to the old level, and this morning, when

d free him from Mr. Peabody and set him forward on the road that led to fortune. Bob included m

ut of a reverie wherein he bade Bramble Farm and all the dwell

he went up to see his lawyer and get his mail. You know it was held there while he was out West. I hope he has all my letters now, and last night I wrote him another,

t afternoon," grumbled Bob. "I'm going over t

r from her blouse pock

dary line of Bramble Farm and sighted Mr. Peabody in conversation

Grove. You've never been there. No, you can't go, Betty, because I have to ride the sorrel. I su

ring himself to pay out the cash for even a secondhand wagon. As a result, the a

e of feminine curiosity with the additional excuse that interest

grin

he announced. "Now

d, and elevated her

ted. "Why, a vendue i

agon. So I have to ride that horse fourteen miles and back-and he has a bac

ble last night," mourned Betty. "You'll never be able to buy a wagon for that

in? If you see yourself perched on that raw-boned nag with me, I don't, that's all. But I tell you what; there's a sale to-morrow at a farm this side of Glen

de off on the old horse directly after dinner, and then for the firs

t me do the dishes?" urged the girl. "Do, Mrs. Peabody. You can

r back of the pump this morning. It's a week old, and he says he's coming out to call this afte

r practical mind to consideration of the immediate moment. The so-called parlor was hopeless she knew, and she dismissed it from the list of possibilities at

ernoon, and we can bring out the best things to make it look used. You let

er eyes mirroring her explicit f

n, aren't they? I thought so. Well, I'll lend you a ribbon girdle, and you can turn

rtesy the parlor. She flung up the windows and opened the blinds recklessly. She would take only the plain wooden chair and the two rockers, she decided, for the stuffed plus

rug. Then one by one, and making a separate trip each time, she carried out the table and the chairs. With a passing sigh for the bouquet abandoned in the field and probably wither

e the transformed corner of the porch. "Looks as if we used it regular every af

ter, call me, and I'll get it for him. You must be sitting in your chair reading a

g a last satisfied glance at the porch. "I declare, I ne

r, was not one to give in easily, and when she had brushed and pinned her hostess's thin hair as softly as she could arrange it, and had turned in the high collar of her blouse and pinned it with a cameo p

h a candor at once pathetic and naive. "I've been wi

stablished her in one of the rocking chairs w

Mrs. Peabody anxiously. "It's been so long since

ou've talked a little while. He won't stay long, I imagin

kly. "Of course, in time the new minister will know him as well as the old on