"Take me along if you go," added Grace.

"Nobody but myself put it into my head, Nan," replied Richard, "and
I won't be able to take anybody along, Grace."

"Going to make your fortune?" queried the younger girl.

"You'll get lost," put in the other.

"Nonsense! catch Dick getting lost!" cried Grace indignantly. "Didn't
he bring us all safe through Baker's woods last fall, when we were
nutting?"

"Baker's woods isn't New York city," replied her elder sister. "Hundreds
of streets and millions of people! He'd have to keep his eyes wide
open and his wits about him."

"And that is just what I would do!" broke in Richard. "You don't suppose
I'd stand around like a gawk, staring at people!"

"But is it for fortune?" repeated Grace, freeing her hands from the
dough and coming up close.

"Yes, it's for fortune, if that's what you call it," said Richard
bluntly. "I'm tired of Mossvale, and I'm going to strike out, that is
if I can get consent. I've spoken to mother about it already, and if--"

A heavy knock on the back stoop caused Richard to stop speaking. Going
to the door, he was confronted by Nicholas Boswell, a young farmer who