her as she was coming home from Annie Lipton's. "I am never afraid,"
said she, and her little face betrayed the lie, "but I was tired, and
besides I was beginning to be cold, for I went out without my fur."

"You should not have gone without it. It grows so cold when the sun goes
down," said Mrs. Ewing. Then a chime of Japanese bells was heard which
announced dinner.

"Doctor Elliot will be glad of dinner," said Doctor Gordon. "He has
walked all the way from Gresham."

Clemency looked at him with approval, and tried to look as if she had
never seen him walking in her life. "That is a good walk," said she.
"Twenty-five miles it must be. If more men walked instead of working
poor horses all the time, it would be better for them."

"That is a hint for your Uncle Tom," said Gordon laughingly.


"I never hint," said Clemency. "It is just a plain statement. Men are
walking animals. They could travel as well as horses in the course of
time if they only put their minds to it."

"Well, your old uncle's bones must be saved, even at the expense of the
horse's," said Doctor Gordon.

"Bones are improved by use," said Clemency severely, as she took her
seat at the dinner-table. They all laughed. The girl herself relaxed her
pretty face with a whimsical smile. It was quite evident that Clemency
was the spoiled and petted darling of the house, and that she traded