Allen French

“ Harriet, carrying the jacket, had to hurry to keep up with him, and was glad when they came in sight of the little low farm-house in which Nate lived. She was equally glad to see, laboring up the road that approached from below, the doctor’s carriage. Nate reached the house, strode through the open door, and laid his burden on a couch.
“Thar!” he said.
The lad lay so white and still that fear clutched swiftly at Harriet’'s heart. “He is n't—dead?” she faltered. ”

“ Quickly unbuttoning the sleeve of the lad’s outing shirt, with one strong pull she tore it open to the shoulder, and with two more ripped it from the arm. The blood still spurted from the wrist, and behind her the girls squealed again. Then rapidly Harriet knotted the sleeve round the arm above the wound, and gave one end of it to the stronger of her friends. ”

“ They looked at each other, hesitating. Like silly creatures they blushed, and like foolish ones they shuddered. *“No,” they agreed. “We don't dare!”
“Then go for Nate quickly!” she ordered. “Both go. Together you ought to find the way.”
“Come with us,” begged one.
Harriet shook her head. “He must n’t be left alone. If he moves, the knot may slip, and he ’d bleed to death. No, go quickly, and try to notice how to find your way back.”
With visible relief, yet fluttered by excitement and importance, they left her. Harriet was alone in the pasture with the boy. ”

“ When you get to college, Pelham, and meet the fellows that have money—well, never mind. But, at any rate, for this summer I ’ll keep within the same allowance as you do.”
Pelham had listened quietly. The other had not watched his face, or he would have noticed the eyes growing more and more serious, the mouth more and more firm. At the end, he asked, in a voice that was perfectly level, “But the roll?”
Brian reached into his pocket, and, drawing out a wallet, displayed within it layer upon layer of bank-bills. “Why, how you stare!” he mocked. “Has Cousin Pelham never seen so much before?” ”

“ There was but one of the girls worth our attention. The others were nobodies, the hand-maidens of Nausicaa, whose self she was. But they felt themselves quite her equals, never suspected her of being a princess, and called her Harriet. Their talk was girls’ talk, happy and careless, except when one of them asked: “Are n't you scared to be so far away by ourselves?”
Harriet straightened her slender figure, shook down the berries in her basket, and looked at the town. “Three miles home,” she said. “I can see our own roof. But it ’s only a mile to Nate's. Why should we be scared?” ”

“ I tell you, Pelham, if you lived in the city, you 'd never dare take such risks with your money. Why, I don’t go fifty feet in a crowded street without touching myself to see if my money is safe.” Brian put his hand to his hip, started, stared, felt wildly inside the pocket, then cried:
“The wallet is gone!” ”

“ The two boys drove to the stable. “So!” said Pelham, after a pause, “you ’d rather lose the money than tell Father the truth of it?”
Brian, still very red, made no answer,
Charter II
THE STRANGER AGAIN
On a hillside, three girls were picking berries. Clumps of blueberry bushes, which here yielded their earliest fruit, dotted the pasture. The wide field was fringed, at its upper edge, with woods, beyond which rose the weather-worn face of a cliff that topped them by a dozen feet. ”

“ I tell you to hurry.”
“We ’re going as fast as we can,” returned Pelham. “And as for catching him, it depends entirely on the direction that he takes. He may swing toward Nate’s farm, and if he comes out there, we ’ve as good as got him already. But if he keeps to the west of it, we ’ll have to turn out the whole town in order to catch him.”
“Then we ’ll turn out the town!” declared Brian.
Pelham asked, “What are you going to say about the money?”
Brian was checked, but only for a moment. “I ’ll say that there was five dollars in the wallet.” ”

“ Now he was with Nate. They were n't in the next room any longer, but were in Nate’s own bedroom, just beyond. The three girls waited now, listening for sounds from the farther room. At a groan, the two girls turned pale, and Harriet, biting her lips, covered the water in the open pan, that it might heat more quickly. It was some minutes before Nate reappeared.
“Now, Harriet, if you 've got some warm wa-ter—” He went back.
She felt helpless, but thought rapidly. If the water was to be but warm, then perhaps it ought to be a little warmer than the hand. ”

“ So if I 'm to live here with you people, it 's right that I should n’t bring my luxurious habits to corrupt Uncle Rob’s simple country household. Mind you, I don’t think that Uncle is right. He can do nothing to stop the march of progress proper to people of our class. ”

“ Brian looked away. “I can run it,” he answered. “But, Pelham,” he asked quickly, “does n’t your father ever let you handle money? He ought to get you used to it.”
“Oh, I 'm used to it,” replied Pelham. ‘“More than once I ’ve carried three thousand dollars, all in bills, right in my inside pocket.”
“What for?” said Brian, surprised in his turn.
“For the pay-roll,” explained Pelham. “Some of our men at the mills get as high as thirty dollars a week, and all of them are paid above the average of ordinary mill-workers. The money comes over this road every Saturday, and—"
“Over this road!” ”