journeyed. "We can put things in behind--roots and flowers and

raspberries, or anything you are going after--much better than if
we had the chaise."

Mrs. Todd looked stony and unwilling. "I counted upon the
chaise," she said, turning her back to me, and roughly pushing back

all the quiet tumblers on the cupboard shelf as if they had been
impertinent. "Yes, I desired the chaise for once. I ain't goin'

berryin' nor to fetch home no more wilted vegetation this year.
Season's about past, except for a poor few o' late things," she

added in a milder tone. "I'm goin' up country. No, I ain't
intendin' to go berryin'. I've been plottin' for it the past

fortnight and hopin' for a good day."
"Would you like to have me go too?" I asked frankly, but not

without a humble fear that I might have mistaken the purpose of
this latest plan.

"Oh certain, dear!" answered my friend affectionately. "Oh
no, I never thought o' any one else for comp'ny, if it's convenient

for you, long's poor mother ain't come. I ain't nothin' like so
handy with a conveyance as I be with a good bo't. Comes o' my

early bringing-up. I expect we've got to make that great high
wagon do. The tires want settin' and 'tis all loose-jointed, so I

can hear it shackle the other side o' the ridge. We'll put the
basket in front. I ain't goin' to have it bouncin' an' twirlin'

all the way. Why, I've been makin' some nice hearts and rounds to
carry."

These were signs of high festivity, and my interest deepened
moment by moment.

"I'll go down to the Beggs' and get the horse just as soon as
I finish my breakfast," said I. "Then we can start whenever you

are ready."
Mrs. Todd looked cloudy again. "I don't know but you look

nice enough to go just as you be," she suggested doubtfully. "No,
you wouldn't want to wear that pretty blue dress o' yourn 'way up

country. 'Taint dusty now, but it may be comin' home. No, I
expect you'd rather not wear that and the other hat."

"Oh yes. I shouldn't think of wearing these clothes," said I,
with sudden illumination. "Why, if we're going up country and are

likely to see some of your friends, I'll put on my blue dress, and
you must wear your watch; I am not going at all if you mean to wear

the big hat."
"Now you're behavin' pretty," responded Mrs. Todd, with a gay

toss of her head and a cheerful smile, as she came across the room,
bringing a saucerful of wild raspberries, a pretty piece of salvage

from supper-time. "I was cast down when I see you come to
breakfast. I didn't think 'twas just what you'd select to wear to

the reunion, where you're goin' to meet everybody."
"What reunion do you mean?" I asked, not without amazement.

"Not the Bowden Family's? I thought that was going to take place
in September."

"To-day's the day. They sent word the middle o' the week. I
thought you might have heard of it. Yes, they changed the day. I

been thinkin' we'd talk it over, but you never can tell beforehand
how it's goin' to be, and 'taint worth while to wear a day all out

before it comes." Mrs. Todd gave no place to the pleasures of
anticipation, but she spoke like the oracle that she was. "I wish

mother was here to go," she continued sadly. "I did look for her
last night, and I couldn't keep back the tears when the dark really

fell and she wa'n't here, she does so enjoy a great occasion. If
William had a mite o' snap an' ambition, he'd take the lead

at such a time. Mother likes variety, and there ain't but a few
nice opportunities 'round here, an' them she has to miss 'less she

contrives to get ashore to me. I do re'lly hate to go to the
reunion without mother, an' 'tis a beautiful day; everybody'll be

asking where she is. Once she'd have got here anyway. Poor
mother's beginnin' to feel her age."

"Why, there's your mother now!" I exclaimed with joy, I was so
glad to see the dear old soul again. "I hear her voice at the

gate." But Mrs. Todd was out of the door before me.
There, sure enough, stood Mrs. Blackett, who must have left

Green Island before daylight. She had climbed the steep road from
the waterside so eagerly that she was out of breath, and was

standing by the garden fence to rest. She held an old-fashioned
brown wicker cap-basket in her hand, as if visiting were a thing of

every day, and looked up at us as pleased and triumphant as a
child.

"Oh, what a poor, plain garden! Hardly a flower in it except
your bush o' balm!" she said. "But you do keep your garden neat,

Almiry. Are you both well, an' goin' up country with me?" She
came a step or two closer to meet us, with quaintpoliteness and

quite as delightful as if she were at home. She dropped a quick
little curtsey before Mrs. Todd.

"There, mother, what a girl you be! I am so pleased! I was
just bewailin' you," said the daughter, with unwonted feeling. "I

was just bewailin' you, I was so disappointed, an' I kep' myself
awake a good piece o' the night scoldin' poor William. I watched

for the boat till I was ready to shed tears yisterday, and when
'twas comin' dark I kep' making errands out to the gate an' down

the road to see if you wa'n't in the doldrums somewhere down the
bay."

"There was a head-wind, as you know," said Mrs. Blackett,
giving me the cap-basket, and holding my hand affectionately as we

walked up the clean-swept path to the door. "I was partly ready to
come, but dear William said I should be all tired out and might get

cold, havin' to beat all the way in. So we give it up, and set
down and spent the evenin' together. It was a little rough and

windy outside, and I guess 'twas better judgment; we went to bed
very early and made a good start just at daylight. It's been a

lovely mornin' on the water. William thought he'd better fetch
across beyond Bird Rocks, rowin' the greater part o' the way; then

we sailed from there right over to the landin', makin' only one
tack. William'll be in again for me to-morrow, so I can come back

here an' rest me over night, an' go to meetin' to-morrow, and have
a nice, good visit."

"She was just havin' her breakfast," said Mrs. Todd, who had
listened eagerly to the long explanation without a word of

disapproval, while her face shone more and more with joy. "You
just sit right down an' have a cup of tea and rest you while we

make our preparations. Oh, I am so gratified to think you've come!
Yes, she was just havin' her breakfast, and we were speakin' of

you. Where's William?"
"He went right back; said he expected some schooners in about

noon after bait, but he'll come an' have his dinner with us
tomorrow, unless it rains; then next day. I laid his best things

out all ready," explained Mrs. Blackett, a little anxiously. "This
wind will serve him nice all the way home. Yes, I will take a cup

of tea, dear,--a cup of tea is always good; and then I'll rest a
minute and be all ready to start."

"I do feel condemned for havin' such hard thoughts o'
William," openly confessed Mrs. Todd. She stood before us so large

and serious that we both laughed and could not find it in our
hearts to convict so rueful a culprit. "He shall have a good

dinner to-morrow, if it can be got, and I shall be real glad to see
William," the confession ended handsomely, while Mrs. Blackett

smiled approval and made haste to praise the tea. Then I hurried
away to make sure of the grocery wagon. Whatever might be the good

of the reunion, I was going to have the pleasure and delight of a
day in Mrs. Blackett's company, not to speak of Mrs. Todd's.

The early morning breeze was still blowing, and the warm,
sunshiny air was of some ethereal northern sort, with a cool

freshness as it came over new-fallen snow. The world was filled
with a fragrance of fir-balsam and the faintest flavor of seaweed

from the ledges, bare and brown at low tide in the little harbor.
It was so still and so early that the village was but half awake.

I could hear no voices but those of the birds, small and great,--
the constant song sparrows, the clink of a yellow-hammer over in

the woods, and the far conversation of some deliberate crows. I
saw William Blackett's escaping sail already far from land, and

Captain Littlepage was sitting behind his closed window as I passed
by, watching for some one who never came. I tried to speak to him,

but he did not see me. There was a patient look on the old man's
face, as if the world were a great mistake and he had nobody with

whom to speak his own language or find companionship.
XVII

A Country Road
WHATEVER DOUBTS and anxieties I may have had about the

inconvenience of the Begg's high wagon for a person of Mrs.
Blackett's age and shortness, they were happily overcome by the aid

of a chair and her own valiant spirit. Mrs. Todd bestowed great
care upon seating us as if we were taking passage by boat, but she

finally pronounced that we were properly trimmed. When we had gone
only a little way up the hill she remembered that she had left the

house door wide open, though the large key was safe in her pocket.
I offered to run back, but my offer was met with lofty scorn, and

we lightly dismissed the matter from our minds, until two or three
miles further on we met the doctor, and Mrs. Todd asked him to stop

and ask her nearest neighbor to step over and close the door if the
dust seemed to blow in the afternoon.

"She'll be there in her kitchen; she'll hear you the minute
you call; 'twont give you no delay," said Mrs. Todd to the doctor.

"Yes, Mis' Dennett's right there, with the windows all open. It
isn't as if my fore door opened right on the road, anyway." At

which proof of composure Mrs. Blackett smiled wisely at me.
The doctor seemed delighted to see our guest; they were

evidently the warmest friends, and I saw a look of affectionate
confidence in their eyes. The good man left his carriage to speak

to us, but as he took Mrs. Blackett's hand he held it a moment,
and, as if merely from force of habit, felt her pulse as they

talked; then to my delight he gave the firm old wrist a commending
pat.

"You're wearing well; good for another ten years at this
rate," he assured her cheerfully, and she smiled back. "I like to

keep a strictaccount of my old stand-bys," and he turned to me.
"Don't you let Mrs. Todd overdo to-day,--old folks like her are apt

to be thoughtless;" and then we all laughed, and, parting, went our
ways gayly.

"I suppose he puts up with your rivalry the same as ever?"
asked Mrs. Blackett. "You and he are as friendly as ever, I see,

Almiry," and Almira sagely nodded.
"He's got too many long routes now to stop to 'tend to all his

door patients," she said, "especially them that takes pleasure in
talkin' themselves over. The doctor and me have got to be kind of

partners; he's gone a good deal, far an' wide. Looked
tired, didn't he? I shall have to advise with him an' get him off

for a good rest. He'll take the big boat from Rockland an' go off
up to Boston an' mouse round among the other doctors, one in two or

three years, and come home fresh as a boy. I guess they think
consider'ble of him up there." Mrs. Todd shook the reins and

reached determinedly for the whip, as if she were compelling public
opinion.

Whatever energy and spirit the white horse had to begin with
were soon exhausted by the steep hills and his discernment of a

long expedition ahead. We toiled slowly along. Mrs. Blackett and
I sat together, and Mrs. Todd sat alone in front with much majesty

and the large basket of provisions. Part of the way the road was
shaded by thick woods, but we also passed one farmhouse after

another on the high uplands, which we all three regarded with deep
interest, the house itself and the barns and garden-spots and

poultry all having to suffer an inspection of the shrewdest sort.
This was a highway quite new to me; in fact, most of my journeys

with Mrs. Todd had been made afoot and between the roads, in open
pasturelands. My friends stopped several times for brief dooryard

• frankly [´fræŋkli] ad.直率地；慷慨地 (初中英语单词)
• humble [´hʌmbəl] a.谦卑的 vt.贬抑 (初中英语单词)
• whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)
• cheerful [´tʃiəful] a.快乐的；高兴的 (初中英语单词)
• ambition [æm´biʃən] n.雄心，野心；企图 (初中英语单词)
• variety [və´raiəti] n.变化；多样(性)；种类 (初中英语单词)
• ashore [ə´ʃɔ:] ad.向岸上 (初中英语单词)
• daylight [´deilait] n.日光；黎明 (初中英语单词)
• eagerly [´i:gəli] ad.渴望地，急切地 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• delightful [di´laitful] a.讨人喜欢的 (初中英语单词)
• partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
• explanation [,eksplə´neiʃən] n.解释；说明；辩解 (初中英语单词)
• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
• breeze [bri:z] n.微风；不费力的事 (初中英语单词)
• flavor [´fleivə] n.滋味 vt.给....调味 (初中英语单词)
• constant [´kɔnstənt] a.坚定的；坚贞的 (初中英语单词)
• overcome [,əuvə´kʌm] vt.战胜，克服 (初中英语单词)
• properly [´prɔpəli] ad.适当地；严格地 (初中英语单词)
• lightly [´laitli] ad.轻微地，稍微 (初中英语单词)
• carriage [´kæridʒ] n.马车；客车；货运 (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• advise [əd´vaiz] vt.忠告；建议；通知 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• expedition [,ekspi´diʃən] n.远征；探险；迅速 (初中英语单词)
• highway [´haiwei] n.公路，大道 (初中英语单词)
• roughly [´rʌfli] ad.粗糙地；毛糙地 (高中英语单词)
• cupboard [´kʌbəd] n.碗柜，食橱 (高中英语单词)
• mistaken [mis´teikən] mistake的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• oracle [´ɔrəkl] n.预言(者)；圣理名言 (高中英语单词)
• quaint [kweint] a.离奇的；奇妙的 (高中英语单词)
• anxiously [´æŋkʃəsli] ad.挂念地；渴望地 (高中英语单词)
• openly [´əupənli] ad.公开地；直率地 (高中英语单词)
• convict [kən´vikt, ´kɔnvikt] vt.证明...有罪 n.罪犯 (高中英语单词)
• confession [kən´feʃən] n.招供；认错；交待 (高中英语单词)
• approval [ə´pru:vəl] n.赞成，批准，认可 (高中英语单词)
• grocery [´grəusəri] n.食品杂货店 (高中英语单词)
• fragrance [´freigrəns] n.芬芳，芳香 (高中英语单词)
• deliberate [di´libəreit] a.慎重的；故意的 (高中英语单词)
• pronounced [prə´naunst] a.发出音的；显著的 (高中英语单词)
• wisely [´waizli] ad.明智地，聪明地 (高中英语单词)
• cheerfully [´tʃiəfuli] ad.高兴地，愉快地 (高中英语单词)
• strict [strikt] a.严厉的；精确的 (高中英语单词)
• farmhouse [´fɑ:mhaus] n.农场住房，农舍 (高中英语单词)
• inspection [in´spekʃən] n.检查；视察；参观 (高中英语单词)
• unwilling [ʌn´wiliŋ] a.不愿意的；不情愿的 (英语四级单词)
• vegetation [,vedʒi´teiʃən] n.植物；生长 (英语四级单词)
• conveyance [kən´veiəns] n.运送；传达；传播 (英语四级单词)
• triumphant [trai´ʌmfənt] a.胜利的；洋洋得意的 (英语四级单词)
• valiant [´væliənt] a.勇敢的，英勇的 (英语四级单词)
• composure [kəm´pəuʒə] n.镇静，沉着 (英语四级单词)
• delighted [di´laitid] a.高兴的；喜欢的 (英语四级单词)
• parting [´pɑ:tiŋ] a.&n.分离(的) (英语四级单词)
• affectionately [ə´fekʃnitli] ad.热情地；体贴地 (英语六级单词)
• festivity [fe´stiviti] n.节日；喜庆日；庆祝 (英语六级单词)
• doubtfully [´dautfuli] ad.怀疑地，可疑地 (英语六级单词)
• illumination [i,lju:mi´neiʃən] n.照明；阐明 (英语六级单词)
• reunion [ri:´ju:njən] n.再结合；再联合；团聚 (英语六级单词)
• politeness [pə´laitnis] n.礼貌；文雅；温和 (英语六级单词)
• curtsey [´kə:tsi] n.(妇女行的)屈膝礼 (英语六级单词)
• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
• culprit [´kʌlprit] n.犯人；罪犯 (英语六级单词)
• ethereal [i´θiəriəl] a.飘渺的；稀薄的 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• assured [ə´ʃuəd] a.确实的 n.被保险人 (英语六级单词)
• rivalry [´raivəlri] n.竞争；竞赛；敌对 (英语六级单词)