for years, he
still retained, but his son William had charge of it. Silas Berry was
growing old, and the year before had had a slight shock of paralysis,
which had made him halt and feeble, although his mind was as clear as
ever. However, although he took no active part in the duties of the
store, he was still there, and sharply watchful for his interests,
the greater part of every day.

The two girls went up the steps to the store piazza. Rose stepped
forward and looked in the door. "Father's in there, and Tommy Ray,"
she whispered. "You needn't be afraid to go in." But she entered as
she spoke, and Rebecca followed her.

There was one customer in the great country store, a stout old man,
on the grocery side. His broad red face turned towards them a second,
then squinted again at some packages on the counter. He was haggling
for garden seeds. William Berry, who was waiting upon him, did not
apparently look at his sister and Rebecca Thayer, but Rebecca had
entered his heart as well as the store, and he saw her face deep in
his own consciousness.

Tommy Ray, the great white-headed boy who helped William in the
store, shuffled along behind the counter indeterminately, but the
girls did not seem to see him. Rose was talking fast to Rebecca. He
lounged back against the shelves, stared out the door, and whistled.

Out of the obscurity in the back of the store an old man's narrow
bristling face peered, watchful as a cat, his body hunched up in a
round-backed arm-chair.

"Mr. Nims will go in a minute," Rose whispered, and presently the old
farmer clamped past them out the door, counting his change from one
hand to the other, his lips moving.

William Berry replaced the seed packages which the customer had
rejected on the shelves as the girls approached him.

"Rebecca's got some eggs to sell," Rose announced.

[Illustration: "'Rebecca's got some eggs to sell'"]

William Berry's thin, wide-shouldered figure towered up behind the
counter; he smiled, and the smile was only a deepening of the
pleasant intensity of his beardless face, with its high pale forehead
and smooth crest of fair hair. The lines in his face scarcely
changed.

"How d'ye do?" said he.

"How d'ye do?" returned Rebecca, with fluttered dignity. Her face
bloomed deeply pink in the green tunnel of her sun-bonnet, her black
eyes were as soft and wary as a baby's, her full red lips had a
grave, innocent expression.

"How many dozen eggs have you got,