people in the
country need. But, alas! you only see that old hay-wagon, which I am sure
would fall to pieces if horses attempted to pull it, and that affair
with two big wheels and a top. I think they call it a gig, and I believe
old Mr. Butterwood used to drive about in it."

"Indeed he did," said Dora. "I remember seeing him when I was a little
girl. It must be very comfortable. I should think your sister and you
would enjoy driving in that. In a gig, you know, you can go
anywhere--into wood-roads, and all sorts of places where you couldn't
turn around with anything with four wheels. And how nice it is that it
has a top. I've heard it said that Mr. Butterwood would always have
everything comfortable for himself. Perhaps your sister is in some of
these smaller rooms. What are they?"

"Oh, harness rooms, and I know not what," answered Ralph, and then he
called out:--

"Miriam!" His voice was of a full, rich tone, and it was echoed from the
bare walls and floors.

"If my sister is in the barn at all," said Ralph, "I think she must be on
the floor above this, for there is the hay, and the hens' nests, if there
are any--"

"Oh, let us go up there," said Dora; "that is just where we ought to
find her."

There was not the least affectation in Dora's delight, as she stood on
the wide upper floor of the barn. Its great haymows rose on either side,
not piled to the roof as before, but with enough hay left over from
former years to fill the air with that delightful scent of mingled
cleanliness and sweetness which belongs to haylofts. At the back was a
wide open door with a bar across it, out of which she saw a
far-stretching landscape, rich with varied colors of spring, and through
a small side door at the other end of the floor, which there was level
with the ground, came a hen, clucking to a brood of black-eyed, downy
little chicks, which she was bringing in for the night to the spacious
home she had chosen for them.

Whether or not Dora would have enjoyed all this as much had she been
alone is a point not necessary to settle, but she was a true country
girl, and had loved chickens, barns, and hay from her babyhood up. She
stepped quickly to the open door, and she and Ralph leaned upon the bar
and looked out upon the beautiful scene.

"How charming it will be," she said, "for your sister to come here and
sit with her reading or sewing. She can look out and see you, almost
wherever you happen to be on your farm."