was sure her father would like; a sketch of Massenet she must call to
Rose Bartlett's attention. She planned luncheon and began the peeling of
potatoes with a page of Keats propped on the table beside her--a trick
she had learned at the Bartletts'. "Endymion" need suffer nothing from
proximity to potatoes, though it should be said that Phil's paring would
have distressed a frugal housekeeper.

While thus employed a step sounded on the brick walk, and a young man
knocked at the open door without glancing in. He chewed a straw as he
observed the chimneys of the adjoining house, and Phil, sitting by the
kitchen table, paused in her paring to make sure of his identity. Then
she placed her pan of potatoes on the table and crossed quickly to the
door.

"Good-morning, madam. Would you like--"

He extended two apples as samples. Phil glanced at them with interest.
They were not the best of apples, as any one could see. Fred Holton
removed his hat and pulled the straw from his mouth.

"I beg your pardon, Miss Kirkwood," he said, with a gravity that was not
mitigated by a slight quivering of Phil's lips as she continued to
ignore their earlier acquaintance. "I didn't know this was your house or
I shouldn't have come in."

"Then it's a good thing you didn't know," replied Phil. "If you're
selling apples you have to try all the houses you come to. Not to go
into every gate wouldn't be business."

"Well, I suppose that's so," observed Holton doubtfully, letting one of
the apples fall. Phil picked it up with the quick reach of a shortstop.
She ignored his apologies for failing to recover it himself, and
examined the apple critically.

"If you haven't any better apples in your wagon than this, you're not
likely to sell many," Phil commented. "This one's spotted and it's a
safe guess that a worm nestles within. You ought to pick out the best
for samples."

"They're not a very good lot," confessed Holton. "It's an old orchard
and it hasn't had any attention. I'm going to put out some new trees
next year."

"That's a good idea," Phil observed reflectively. "I've noticed that
they've been planting pears and apples in several places around there.
Uncle Amy got a good first crop this year from his young orchard. But he
had a man spray the bugs off. There are a lot of things to do to an
orchard. The land Uncle Amy turned into an orchard runs right up to your
place, and it must be the same kind of land. But it isn't as easy as it