kly, fearful that Jack's scant supply
of patience would be utterly exhausted. "Besides, there was a breeze
in the afternoon. It wasn't a bad day at all, Mrs. Hildreth."

"Don't you want to sit down, Mrs. Hildreth?" suggested Rosemary,
wondering how anyone could remain standing so long, after being on her
feet virtually all day.

"No, I'm going down the road in a minute," Mrs. Hildreth answered. "I
want to ask Mrs. Tice about some new kind of rubber rings she got for
her jars. How much fruit did Winnie put up so far, Rosemary?"

"Why--I don't believe I know," said Rosemary with a little laugh. "She
made jelly, I remember and she's been canning nearly every week; but I
don't know how many quarts or pints she has. Do you, Hugh?"

"Never counted," acknowledged the doctor lazily. "I'll warrant Winnie
can tell you right off the reel, Mrs. Hildreth. She's proud of her
success--I heard her tell my mother so."

"I'll step over and look at her shelves some day," promised Mrs.
Hildreth. "Dear me, I'm tired. But if I don't go to Bertha's now,
I'll never get there. Tell Mr. Hildreth I'll be right back, if he asks
you where I am."

She went heavily down the steps and disappeared across the lawn.

Richard dropped with an exaggerated thud.

"Another minute and my ankles would have given out!" he declared. "And
she thinks it is work that tired her out."

"Well, it is," said Rosemary. "She works from five in the morning till
nearly ten at night."

"But she could rest, if she only knew how," Richard protested.

"Ah, now you have it, Rich," said Doctor Hugh. "There's a great deal
in knowing how to rest."

"There's no use in knowing how, when you can't rest if you want to,"
Jack complained bitterly.

"That isn't a very clear sentence, Jack," said the doctor. "Explain a
little, won't you?"

"Oh, I'm tired," Jack declared ungraciously, "and there's nothing to
explain, anyway."

The desultory conversation that followed was almost wholly between
Rosemary and Richard. Jack was curiously silent and Doctor Hugh, too,
seemed content to listen. Finally he rose.

"We must be getting back," he said. "First though, I'll take a look at
your hand, Jack."

"There's nothing the matter with it," countered Jack gruffly.

"You act remarkably like Sarah," was Doctor Hugh's response to this.
"Come in where I can have a light and don't be foolish."

Jack followed him sulkily and Rosemary and Richard watched while the
do