a, drying her eyes
and smiling once more, "and I've been boo-hooing all for nothing! I
sha'n't say a word about it to Edith, and don't you either, Jack. It
isn't worth while to worry her, and Mrs. Parker is a terrible gossip."

They went home, and Cynthia gave her sister a gay account of her visit,
carefully omitting all exciting items, and then she helped Edith put
away some of the things, and finally was free to go on the river in the
afternoon. Jack, boylike, had forgotten all about Mrs. Parker's news. He
did not believe it, and therefore it was not worth thinking of. But
Cynthia's mind was not so easily diverted. She did not believe it,
either, but then it might be true, and if it were, what was to be done?
It seemed as if a worse calamity could not happen.

Jack, her usual companion on the river, was busy with some carpentry. He
was making a "brooder" like one he had bought, to serve as a home for
the little chicks when they should be hatched. He used the "barn
chamber" for a workshop, and the sound of his saw and his hammer could
be heard through the open window.

Cynthia was deeply interested in poultry-raising, but she wished it did
not consume so much of her brother's time and attention.

Edith was going to the village to an afternoon tea at the Morgans'.
Gertrude Morgan was her most intimate friend, and all the nicest girls
and boys would be there to talk over a tennis tournament. Cynthia was
rather sorry that she had not been asked. She said to herself that she
would be of more value in the discussion than Edith, for she really
played tennis, while Edith merely stood about looking graceful and
pretty. However, she had not been invited, and, after all, the river was
more fun than any afternoon tea.

One of the men put the canoe in the water for her, and, with a huge
stone to act as ballast, she paddled up stream, browsing along the banks
looking for wild flowers, or steering her way through the rocks, of
which the river was very full just at this point.

Cynthia, fond as she was of companionship, being of an extremely
sociable disposition, was never lonely on her beloved river.

Edith dressed herself carefully and drove off to the tea. She looked
very attractive in her spring gown of gray and her large black hat, and
as she studied herself in the small old-fashioned mirror that hung in
her room she felt quite pleased with her appearance.

"If I only had more nice gloves I should be satisfied," she thou