due that year he come 'round and offered to let
me have the money at a cheaper rate than I'd been payin', an' all the
time I wanted. Ye see, that was a cheap way of gittin' a reperation for
bein' honest, after all."

"And didn't you see the strawberry mark after that?" sighed Agnes.

"Nope. Nor they never called me 'Strawberry Bob,' though I've been
raisin' more berries than most folks in this locality, ever since,"
said Bob Buckham.

"Oh, Mr. Buckham!" exclaimed Agnes. "I ought to be called 'Strawberry
Agnes'!"

"Heh? What for?" asked the startled farmer.

"Because I stole berries! I stole them from you! Last May!" gulped the
girl. "You know when those girls raided your field? I was one of them. I
was the first one over the fence and picked the first berry. I--I'm
awfully sorry; but I really didn't think how wrong it was at the time.
And I wish I'd come to you and told you before, instead of waiting until
the principal of our school--Mr. Marks--and everybody, knew about it."

"Sho, honey!" exclaimed Mr. Buckham, softly. "Was you one o' them gals?
I'd no idee. Wal! say no more about it. What you took didn't break me,"
and he laughed. "And I won't tell nobody," he added, patting Agnes'
shoulder.

As Agnes dried her eyes before joining her sisters and Neale O'Neil at
the door, she thought that it was rather unnecessary for the farmer to
make that promise. When he had caused the list of girls' names to be
sent to the school principal, he had assured her punishment.

While Bob Buckham was saying to himself: "Now, that's a leetle gal after
my own heart. She's a hull sight nicer than that other one. And she's
truly repentant, too."

CHAPTER XII

TEA WITH MRS. ELAND

Neale was right. At the supper table at the old Corner House that night
(the Saturday night supper was always a gala affair) Mrs. MacCall asked,
anxiously:

"What's the matter with you, boy? Are you sick?"

"Oh, no, Mrs. MacCall. Do I look sick?" responded the white-haired boy,
startled.

"Must be somethin' the matter with you," said the housekeeper, with
conviction. "Otherwise you wouldn't stop at only two helpings of beans
and only four fishcakes. I'll have to speak to Mr. Con Murphy," she
added grimly. "He'd better see that you have a good course of jalap.
You're getting puny."

Uncle Rufus chuckled unctiously from the background. "Dat boy," he
murmured, "ain't sickenin' none. He done et a peck o' chestnuts, I
reckon, already."