him into a cool bed, and put chopped ice on the aching forehead,
and gotten him, grateful and penitent, off to sleep, her neighbour
came over again to whisper in the kitchen.

"He's all right," Cherry smiled. "He was so glad to get to bed,
and so appreciative!" she added in a motherly tone.

"You look as if you hadn't a thing in the world to do!" the older
housekeeper commented, glancing about the neat, quiet kitchen.

"I believe I like sick nursing!" Cherry smiled back.

For a day or two Martin stayed in bed and Cherry spoiled and
petted him, and was praised and thanked for every step she took.
After that they took a little trip into the mountains near by, and
Cherry sent Alix postcards that made her sister feel almost a pang
of envy.

But then the routine began again, and the fearful heat of
midsummer came, too. Red Creek baked in a smother of dusty heat,
the trees in the dry orchards, beside the dry roads, dropped
circles of hot shadow on the clodded, rough earth. Farms dozed
under shimmering lines of dazzling air, and in the village, from
ten o'clock until the afternoon began to wane, there was no stir.
Flies buzzed and settled on screen doors, the creek shrunk away
between crumbling rocky banks, the butcher closed his shop, and
milk soured in the bottles.

The Turners, and some other families, always camped together in
the mountains during this season, and they were off when school