thou shalt be hung'. Don't you think that would be more
interesting?"

"No, I don't," Mollie answered decidedly, "I like things to be short
and plain like Thou shalt not steal. Then you know where you are."

Prudence looked disapprovingly at her sister. "You should not talk
like that, Grizzel; it is flippant, and you know what Papa says
about flippancy."

Grizzel made a face but did not answer, and they went on in silence
till they reached the foot of the hill. They crossed the little
creek by stepping-stones, and walked slowly up the winding path, the
vines with their ripening grapes on the one side, and on the other
great cherry trees, laden with the largest and reddest cherries that
Mollie had ever seen in her life. They hung down temptingly among
the green leaves, dangling their little bunches in the most inviting
way imaginable, some scarlet, some black, and some almost white, but
all ripe and luscious. The children stretched up their hands and
pulled some, which tasted as good as they looked.

"I'm going to make cherry jam to-morrow," Grizzel said, dropping her
stones on the ground and carefully pushing them into the soil with
the heel of her boot. "I'm going to make the first beginnings of my
fortune."

"What fortune?" asked Mollie, throwing her stones away in the
careless fashion of people who are accustomed to buying their fruit
in shops.