ave hurt much."

"But it does hurt to have him whip. At least, it used to hurt me. Do be
careful, Puss. I don't want him to begin whipping you. How did you make
him so mad?"

The child briefly recounted the story of the morning's tribulations
between bites of biscuit and cheese, growing so angry over her recital
that the flood gates were opened again and she sobbed aloud in her
tempest of grief.

"It's all on account of my horrid name," she told him. "I just can't be
good when folks say such mean things. Joe Pomeroy is a sneak anyway, and
I've been itching to lick him for a long, long time--ever since Sneed
hit me with the whip he uses to drive the cows with."

"Did Sneed hit you with a whip?"

"Yes. Oh, Tom, I never meant to tell you that! Now you'll go and fight
him and he will hurt you, 'cause he's so much bigger than you are, and
then Dad will whale you for fighting. Thrash Joe, but don't tackle
Sneed. Oh, please!"

Tom laughed ironically. "Hm, what satisfaction would it be to me to
thrash someone that _you_ have licked, Puss?" he asked.

"Please, Tom, don't touch Sneed," she begged, crying harder than ever;
and to still her sobs, he promised, though in his heart he vowed
vengeance.

"How did you happen to go blackberrying without me?" he asked to divert
her attention from her anxiety over him. "I thought you wanted me to go
with you."

"Why, you're so busy at the store that we don't have time to get more
than a handful at night when you can go, and the bushes were just loaded
with them just below Pomeroy's pasture. I never thought about Joe's
being there to tease me. I did want the berries so much, for Aunt Maria
said she would make some jelly and some jam if I would pick the berries.
She won't gather 'em 'cause the thorns tear her hands so. I got the pail
full--heaped up so they kept tumbling off--and now they are all spoiled
and I've scratched my hands to pieces all for nothing."

Tom expected a fresh wail would follow this statement, for though
Tabitha was not ordinarily a cry-baby, the day of trials had been too
much for her; but he was surprised when after a moment of silence in
which he was vainly trying to think of something consoling to say, she
remarked, "Well, I don't know's I care much about the berries, 'cause
we're going to move, and I s'pose if we had a lot of jelly put up, Dad
would say it wasn't any use to take it with us, and we would have to
leave it along with the rest of the truck t