pony into Picker's grocery store. Before Tess had come to live in
the sanitarium at the edge of town where her father was head doctor,
she had lived in Macon City and had had superior advantages--city
life, to Missy, a Cherryvalian from birth, sounded exotic and
intriguing. Then Tess in her nature was far from ordinary. She was
characterized by a certain dash and fine flair; was inventive,
fearless, and possessed the gift of leadership. Missy, seeing how
eagerly the other girls of "the crowd" caught up Tess's original
ideas, felt enormously flattered when the leader selected such a
comparatively stupid girl as herself as a chum.

For Missy thought she must be stupid. She wasn't "smart" in school
like Beulah Crosswhite, nor strikingly pretty like Kitty Allen, nor
president of the Iolanthians like Mabel Dowd, nor conspicuously
popular with the boys like Genevieve Hicks. No, she possessed no
distinctive traits anybody could pick out to label her by--at least
that is what she thought. So she felt on her mettle; she wished to
prove herself worthy of Tess's high regard.

It was rather strenuous living up to Tess. Sometimes Missy couldn't
help wishing that her chum were not quite so alert. Being all the
while on the jump, mentally and physically, left you somewhat
breathless and dizzy; then, too, it didn't leave you time to sample
certain quieter yet thrilling enjoyments that came right to hand.
For example, now and then, Missy secretly longed to spend a
leisurely hour or so just talking with Tess's grandmother. Tess's
grandmother, though an old lady, seemed to her a highly romantic
figure. Her name was Mrs. Shears and she had lived her girlhood in a
New England seaport town, and her father had been captain of a
vessel which sailed to and from far Eastern shores. He had brought