"All right, sir. You can sit still as long as you like, sis, and by and
by I'll take you home on Rob."

"I'm going now, Jake," said Roxie, hesitating a little, and finally
concluding not to mention the checkerberries, lest her father or
brother should object to her going alone into the wilder part of the
forest. "Ma said she'd be lonesome," added she hurriedly, and then her
cheeks began to burn as if she had really told a lie instead of
suggesting one.

"Well, you're a right down good girl to come so far and then to think
of Ma instead of yourself, and next day we're working about home I'll
give you a good ride to pay for it."

And Jake kissed his little sister tenderly, her father nodded good-bye
with some pleasant word of thanks, and Roxie with the empty tin pail in
her hand set out upon her homeward journey, a little excitement in her
heart as she thought of her contemplated excursion, a little sting in
her conscience as she reflected that she had not been quite honest
about any part of it.

Did you ever notice, when a little troubled and agitated, how quickly
you seemed to pass over the ground, and how speedily you arrived at the
point whither you had not fairly decided to go?

It was so with Roxie, and while she was still considering whether after
all she would go straight home, she was already at the entrance of the
sunny southern glade where lay the patch of bright red berries whose
faint, wholesome perfume told of their vicinity even before they could
be seen. Throwing herself upon her knees, the little girl pushed aside