of Thomas Payne's handsome, audacious
face meeting Charlotte's.

Barney had not wished to play, but he played with zeal, only he never
seemed to see Charlotte's fingers on the rope, and Charlotte never
saw his. The girls' cheeks flushed deeper, their smooth locks became
roughened. The laughter waxed louder and longer; the matrons looking
on doubled their broad backs with responsive merriment. It became
like a little bacchanalian rout in a New England field on a summer
afternoon, but they did not know it in their simple hearts.

At six o'clock the mist began to rise, the sunlight streamed through
the trees in slanting golden shafts, long drawn out like organ
chords. The young people gathered up their pails and baskets and went
home, flocking down the road together, calling back farewells to Rose
and William and their mother, who stood in front of the tavern
watching them out of sight.

They were not quite out of sight when they came to Hiram Baxter's
little house, and Silas Berry emerged from the shop door. "Hullo!" he
cried out, and they all stopped, smiling at him with a cordiality
which had in it a savor of apology. Indeed, Thomas Payne had just
remarked, with a hearty chorus of assents, that he guessed the old
man wasn't so bad after all.

Silas advanced towards them; he also was smiling. He fumbled in his
waistcoat pocket, and drew out a roll of paper which he shook out
with trembling fingers. He stepped close to Thomas Payne and extended
it.

"What is it?" asked the young man.

Silas smiled up in his face with the ingenuous smile of a child.

"What is it?" Thomas Payne asked again.

The others crowded around.

"It's nothin' but the bill," replied Silas, in a wheedling whisper.
His dry old face turned red, his smile deepened.

"The bill for what?" demanded Thomas Payne, and he seized the paper.

"For the cherries you eat," replied Silas. "I've always been in the
habit of chargin' more, but I've took off a leetle this time." His
voice had a ring of challenge, his eyes were sharp, while his mouth
smiled.

Thomas Payne scowled over the bill. The other young men peered at it
over his shoulder, and repeated the amount with whistles and
half-laughs of scorn and anger. The girls ejaculated to each other in
whispers. Silas stood impervious, waiting.

The young men whipped out their purses without a word, but Thomas
motioned them back. "I'll pay, and we'll settle afterwards. We can't
divide up here," he sai