"That isn't anything," Sarah assured him, backing off.

"Come here and let me see it," the doctor repeated and, as Sarah
reluctantly approached him, "how did you get it?"

"I was under the wagon," said Sarah, wincing slightly as Doctor Hugh
felt of the bruise with firm, practised fingers, "and I heard Warren
coming and I jumped up and hit my head."

She did not think it necessary to add that Warren had requested her to
stay in the road and not crawl under the broken wagon.

"All right, the skin isn't broken," announced the doctor. "But it
aches a little doesn't it, dear?"

"A little," nodded Sarah, winking to keep back the tears.

He put an arm around her, heedless of the dirt and grease.

"That won't last long," he promised, "and if you and Shirley will go in
and get washed and dressed without dawdling, I'll take you for a little
drive before dinner."

"Rosemary, too?" asked Shirley, balancing like a butterfly on the top
step.

"Rosemary, too."

Forgetting her aching bump, Sarah followed Shirley into the house with
a shout, and the sound of their feet clattering up the open stairway
proclaimed their intentions of not wasting a minute.

"Here comes Mrs. Hildreth," said Rosemary in a low voice. "I wish I
could fix her just once--she doesn't know how to be pretty."

Rosemary, with uncanny penetration, had hit upon the truth. Mrs.
Hildreth did not know how to be pretty. She would have said she had
not the time to "fuss with her looks," but it would have taken little
extra time to have done her really abundant hair in a becoming style
instead of the tight knot into which she invariably twisted it. And
surely, if she could don that clean, starched dark calico dress in five
minutes, it would have taken no longer to put on a pretty light-colored
frock.

"I thought your brother would be out to spend Sunday," said Mrs.
Hildreth capably, in her high-pitched, nervous voice, "so I brought up
two extra bunches of asparagus. Winnie told me the doctor liked it."

"Winnie has my likes and dislikes down pat," declared Doctor Hugh,
rising and shaking hands. "Will you come in, Mrs. Hildreth? My mother
will be down in a minute."

Rosemary took the asparagus and seconded the invitation.

"No, thanks, I can't stay," said Mrs. Hildreth, rather regretfully. "I
have to tend to the chickens and get the milk pans and strainers ready
and do a lot of little chores before I get supper. You use your porch
a lot, don't