rivelled red pods fell out as Ann obeyed, and so much loose
pepper that they both began sneezing violently. Lottie's mother
presently called up the stairs for them to hurry to bed, for they surely
must be taking cold.

The next afternoon when Mrs. Grayson's carryall drove down the lane Ann
was waiting in front of the cottage, and climbed in before her Aunt
Sally came out to the gate to see them off.

"Tuck the lap-robe around you well," she called. "If I had known it was
so cold, I'd have gotten out your hoods instead of those sunbonnets. It
really begins to feel as if winter is on the way."

It was a dull gray day with a hint of snow in the air. Several flakes
fell before they reached the Grayson farm, and Ann pulled aside the
lap-robe more than once to peep at the light green shoes with secret
misgivings as to their appropriateness. The wool stockings made them
such a tight fit that they pinched considerably, but the pinching was
more than compensated for by the shapely appearance of her trim little
feet. Besides there was a vast amount of satisfaction to the wilful
child in the mere knowledge that she was having her own way.

[Illustration: "ANN FOLLOWED GINGERLY IN THEIR WAKE."]

Under ordinary circumstances Ann would have looked back at that
afternoon as one of the merriest of her life. She loved the woods like
an Indian, and usually was the leading spirit in such exploits as they
ventured on that day. They were off to the woods with baskets and
pails as soon as they had all assembled. But for once the late wild
grapes hung their tempting bunches overhead in vain. The persimmons,
frost-sweetened and brown, lay under the trees unsought by Ann's nimble
fingers, and the nuts pattered down on the dead leaves unheeded. While
the other children raced down the hills and whooped through the frosty
hollows, Ann followed gingerly in their wake, picking her way as best
she could through the rustling leaves and across the slippery logs that
bridged the little brooks. It was too cold to sit down. She was obliged
to keep stirring; so all that miserable afternoon she tagged after the
others, painfully conscious of her fine shoes, and a slave to the task
of keeping them clean.

"Hi! Ann, what's the matter?" called one of the boys as he noticed her
mincing along at the tail-end of the procession instead of gallantly
leading the charge as usual. Then his glance wandered down past the
checked sunbonnet and the long-sleeved ging