Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1913-02-13

raise false hopes Without any poss1b1l-
ity OF a full explanation. How she
wished now that she had spoken of
Frank to Mrs. Allen or to her moth
er! To Mrs. Curds hints it was i'm
possible to make any reply.
They adjourned to the farmyard,
where Phyllida was more at ease
as she wandered round, feeding the
chickens, scratching the pigs, strok-
ing the cows, and calling the pigeons
round her in whirling flights by bats
of peas, till dinner-time came, and
Johnny with it.
Phy1lida was fain to allow he show
ed to advantage in his own house.
Awkward and ugly he always must be,
but his manner to his mother was as
pleasant to see as was her pride il
him; and then he concerned himself
SO kindly about one of the haymakers
who had cut his hand badly, ard was
SO mindful that his dogs SHOULD have
water and food, that she sat down to
dinner more in charity with him than
she could have believed possible an
hour before, resisting all Mrs. Curd's
efforts to make her take the top of
the table under pretext of her so hav-
ing a better view.
Still the prospect of an afternoon
alone with him rather appalled, her,
and she sincerely entreated his moth
er to come with them-a proposal
Mrs. Curd rejected with laughter, de-
claring she always took "a forty
winks' after her dinner, and could
not abide boat any more than a
gun, which, loaded or not loaded, she
always expected to go off. She show
ed no signs Of drowsiness, however,
when she saw them off from the door,
Johnny carrying a basket of straw
berries-his own thought, as his
mother took care to explain, lest Phyl-
Ida should be droughty.
Phyllida had happy capacity for
setting troublesome thoughts aside,
and having come out to enjoy herself,
she was resolved to do SO, whoever
her companion might be. There was
summer afternoon, full of sweet
scents and sounds, as they floated
lazily down with the tide, hosting the
heavy brown sail whenever a bend in
the river gave them the benefit of
light breeze. Phyllida had never been
out in boat before, or seen a lock,
to her companions surprise, and she
enjoyed the new experience to the
full. She made him show her how to
row and how to steer, and was always
pulling in to the banks, to pick some
of the beautiful water-plants that
fringed the stream-meadoW-sw
and forget-me-nots, tall flags and bull
rushes, arrowhnads and the graceful
white ranunculus floating on the wa
ter, and, best of all, the water-lilies,
which she spied in creek with cries
of JOY.
They went down the stream as far
as the SaIterns, large salt-pans, which
were one of the chief sources of the
prosperity of Belmains. There they
landed, that they might see the whole
process of saltmahing; there they ate
their strawberries and reflled the
basket with mushrooms-mother was
always wanting them for ketchup,
Johnny said-and then re-embarked
when the shadows were frightening,
to row slowly home.
Phyllida sat in the stern, idly steer
ing with one hand and dragging the
other through the cool water, in a
great contentment. She had not en-
joyed day so much since her birth
day in the spring woods, and she felt
grateful to Johnny for not disturbing
the silence and letting her dream on.
Johnny was thinking too much to