chinery.

"The other place is the tool house. Mr. Hildreth has a bunch of fine
tools and they're the apple of his eye--apples, would be more accurate,
perhaps. The tool house is usually locked, too, and there are only
three keys; but if you do find it unlocked some fine morning, take my
advice and stay outside. Or, if you must go in, don't touch a tool.
The rest of the farm is open to you and the four winds--with reasonable
restrictions, I ought to add."

Three pairs of eyes stared at him so solemnly, that he felt
uncomfortable.

"I'm not laying down the law in my own name," he said earnestly. "Mr.
Hildreth is mighty particular about how things are run at Rainbow Hill
and I thought I could save you future trouble by warning you. Of
course I only work for him--'hired man' is my title--and very much at
your service."

There was so much boyish honesty in the speech, so much genuine good
will and an utter absence of attempt to strike a pose, not unmixed with
worth-while pride and a desire that his position should be clear to
them from the start, that even Sarah, who was quick to resent real or
fancied efforts to "boss" her, answered his smile with her own
characteristic grin.

"Of course we won't go where we shouldn't," said Rosemary warmly. "At
least not now, when there is no excuse for not knowing."

But Warren, noting that Sarah became absorbed in the antics of a beetle
crossing her shoe, registered a resolve to see that the windmill door
was kept locked.

"There's your brother," said Shirley, pointing to a figure coming down
the lane.

"Rich isn't my brother--he's my pal," replied Warren. "And Mr.
Hildreth is with him, so you'll have a chance to meet a real farmer and
a good one."

"Then I can ask him about the insides of cats," was Sarah's rather
disconcerting response.

CHAPTER V

DAYS OF DELIGHT

"You're the doctor's sisters," declared Mr. Hildreth when he was within
earshot. Then, to Warren, "That row of onions isn't done."

Mr. Hildreth, the girls were to learn speedily, made statements. He
did not ask questions. And usually his declarations stood unchallenged.

He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a rather grim, weather-beaten
face and shrewd blue eyes. A hard worker, his neighbors said, and
accustomed to demanding, and receiving, the best from his helpers. He
was intolerant of laziness--"shiftlessness" the country phrase ran--but
he had the reputation of being a just task