r her
eyes; and the color go out of her face; and he noted the little
pain-lines around her mouth. So, as soon as the collie judging was
over, he made her get into the car; and he drove her home, meaning to
return to Hawthorne in time for the afternoon judging of specials and
of variety classes.

Meanwhile, as the morning passed, Lad was roused from his fitful
old-age slumber by the sound of crying. Into his dreams seeped the
distressing sound. He woke; listened; got up painfully and started
toward the front door.

Halfway to the door, his brain cleared sufficiently for him to
recognize the voice that had awakened him. And his leisurely walk
merged into a run.

Ruloff and Sonya had been working all morning in the peach orchard. To
the child's chagrin, Lad was nowhere in sight. Every time she passed
the house she loitered as long as she dared, in hope of getting a
glimpse of him.

"I wonder where Laddie is," she ventured, once, as her father was
filling a basket for her to carry.

"The dogs have gone to a silly show," grunted Ruloff, piling the
basket. "The superintendent told me, yesterday. To waste a whole day
with dogs! Pouf! No wonder the world is poor! Here, the basket is full.
Jump!"

Sonya picked up the heavy load--twice as big as usual were the baskets
given her to carry, now that the interfering Master and the
superintendent were not here to forbid--and started laboriously for the
house.

Her back ached with weariness. Yet, in the absence of her protectors,
she dared not complain or even to allow herself the luxury of walking
slowly. So, up the hill, she toiled; at top speed. Ruloff had finished
filling another basket, and he prepared to follow her. This completed
the morning's work. His lunch-pail awaited him at the barn. With nobody
to keep tabs on him, he resolved to steal an extra hour of time, in
honor of Labor Day--at his employer's expense.

Sonya pattered up the rise and around to the corner of the house.
There, feeling her father's eye on her, as he followed; she tried to
hasten her staggering steps. As a result, she stumbled against the
concrete walk. Her bare feet went from under her.

Down she fell, asprawl; the peaches flying in fifty directions. She had
cut her knee, painfully, against the concrete edge. This, and the
knowledge that Ruloff would most assuredly punish her clumsiness, made
her break out in shrill weeping.

Among the cascaded peaches she lay, crying her eyes out. Up the