-sill,
And shook it forth with a royal will.

'Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag,' she said."

The black eyes of the little speaker burned with fiery indignation as
she hurled these words of defiance at a ten-quart pail of blackberries
standing in the middle of the dusty road where she had set it when the
emotion of her recital had overcome her to such a degree that mere words
were no longer effective and gestures had become absolutely necessary.
She was living it herself. What did it matter that there was no rebel
army confronting her, what did it matter that the town of Frederick lay
hundreds of miles away, what did it matter that she was merely a slip of
a girl living fifty years after the terrible scenes of war which
inspired the words she was reciting?

The whole picture lay as vividly before her as if she had been Dame
Barbara herself, and she entered into the spirit of the production with
such vim that her actual surroundings were forgotten. Her thin, peaked
face, browned by sun and wind, was glorified with patriotism, and her
voice rang sharp with the intensity of feeling. Having no flag to shake
in the face of the approaching enemy, she pulled a mullein stalk growing
among the tall grass and flaunted it so vigorously that in leaning over
her imaginary window-sill she lost her balance and was nearly capsized
into her pail of luscious berries.

A rude laugh interrupted her and she was brought to earth with a
suddenness that left her breathless and crimson with embarrassment
beside the road, digging her bare toes into the gray dust and waiting
for the jeers she knew were to follow.

Then her face changed and the defiance flashed back into the big black
eyes. Her tormentor was not the person she had evidently expected it to
be, and her courage rose accordingly. Again the boy laughed insolently
and the girl's fists clenched involuntarily as she looked up into the
sneering face above her and realized that after all she could do him no
harm for he was perched in the branches of a tree just out of reach over
her head. His bare legs dangled tantalizingly among the green leaves,
and all she could do to show her fierce hatred was to grimace at him.
The effect was most startling. Her tormentor lost his hold on the upper
bough and slid from his seat. There was a lively scratching and clawing
among the branches; while below, the black-eyed girl held her breath in
expectan