Miss Briskow held her hand high, admiring the play of light upon
the facets of the splendid jewel, then she voiced a complacent
thought that has been variously expressed by other women better
circumstanced than she--"If we can afford to buy 'em, I reckon we
can afford to wear 'em."

Not until Gray had suggested that her days of work in the fields
were probably about ended did the girl's expression change. Then
indeed her interest was arrested. She regarded him with a sudden
quickening of imagination; she revolved the novel idea in her
mind.

"From what my driver has told me about the Briskow farm," he ran
on, "you won't have to work at anything, unless you care to."

Allie continued to weigh this new thought in her mind; that it
intrigued her was plain, but she made no audible comment.




CHAPTER V

For perhaps half an hour the women tried on one piece of jewelry
after another, exclaiming, admiring, arguing, then the mother
realized with a start that meal time was near and that the
menfolks would soon be home. Leaving Allie to entertain their
guest, she hurried out, and the sound of splitting kindling, the
clatter of stove lids, the rattle of utensils came from the