won't you?" she asked. "I'm goin' to pick you some of the handsomest
poppies I ever raised. I got the seed from my sister-in-law's cousin,
she that was 'Miry Gregg, and they do beat everything. They wilt so
that it ain't no use to pick 'em now, unless you was calc'latin' to
come home by the other road. There's nobody sick about here, is
there?" to which the doctor returned a shake of the head and the
information that he should be returning that way about noon. As he
drove up the hill he assured himself with great satisfaction that he
believed he hadn't told anything that morning which would be repeated
all over town before night, while his hostess returned to her house
quite dissatisfied with the interview, though she hoped for better
fortune on Dr. Leslie's return.

For his part, he drove on slowly past the Thacher farmhouse, looking
carefully about him, and sending a special glance up the lane in
search of the invalid turkey. "I should like to see how she managed
it," he told himself half aloud. "If she shows a gift for such things
I'll take pains to teach her a lesson or two by and by when she is
older.... Come Major, don't go to sleep on the road!" and in a few
minutes the wagon was out of sight, if the reader had stood in the
Thacher lane, instead of following the good man farther on his errand
of mercy and good fellowship.


At that time in the morning most housekeepers were busy in their
kitchens, but Mrs. Thacher came to stand in her doorway, and shaded
her forehead and eyes with her hand from the bright sunlight, as she
looked intently across the pastures toward the river. She seemed
anxious and glanced to and fro across the fields, and presently she
turned quickly at the sound of a footstep, and saw her young