g his jacket to pieces, not himself.

"Give me the b-basket," sobbed Moses, "and let me g-g-go."

"You may certainly go, you little tramp," said Michael, "but Jim and me
will keep the basket. I much misdoubt me if there isn't mischief here.
What's the basket put hiding here for, and who does it belong to?"

"Old B-B-Betty," gasped forth the agitated Moses.

"Well, let old Betty fetch it herself. Mrs. Willis will keep it for her,"
said Michael. "Come along, Jim, get to your weeding, do. There, little
scamp, you had better make yourself scarce."

Moses certainly took his advice, for he scuttled off like a hare. Whether
he ever got his cherries or not, history does not disclose.

Michael, looking gravely at Jim, opened the basket, examined its
contents, and, shaking his head solemnly, carried it into the house.

"There's been deep work going on, Jim, and my missis ought to know," said
Michael, who was an exceedingly strict disciplinarian. Jim, however, had
a soft corner in his heart for the young ladies, and he commenced his
weeding with a profound sigh.

CHAPTER XXXVII

A BROKEN TRUST.

The next morning Annie Forest opened her eyes with that strange feeling
of indifference and want of vivacity which come so seldom to youth. She
saw the sun shining through the closed blinds; she heard the birds
twittering and singing in the large elm-tree which nearly touched the
windows; she knew well how the world looked at this moment, for often and
often in her old light-hearted days she had risen before the maid came to
call her, and, kneeling by the deep window-ledge, had looked out at the
bright, fresh, sparkling day. A new day, with all its hours before it,
its light vivid but not too glaring, its dress all manner of tender
shades and harmonious colorings! Annie had a poetical nature, and she
gloried in these glimpses which she got all by herself of the fresh, glad
world.

To-day, however, she lay still, sorry to know that the brief night was at
an end, and that the day, with its coldness and suspicion, its terrible
absence of love and harmony, was about to begin.

Annie's nature was very emotional; she was intensely sensitive to her
surroundings; the grayness of her present life was absolute destruction
to such a nature as hers.

The dressing-bell rang; the maid came in to draw up the blinds, and call
the girls. Annie rose languidly and began to dress herself.

She first finished her toilet, and then approa