willer? Did
you get badly hurt?"

"Hullo!" grunted Toby. "Ain't you Hen Sherwood's gal?"

"I'm his niece," she told him. "Can I help?"

"Well, I dunno. I got a wallop from one o' them logs when we was
breakin' that jam, and it's scraped the skin off me arm----"

"Let me see," cried Nan, earnestly. "Oh! Mr. Vanderwiller! That must be
painful. Haven't you anything to put on it?"

"Nothin' but this rag," grunted Toby, drily. "An' ye needn't call me
'Mister,' Sissy. I ain't useter bein' addressed that way."

Nan laughed; but she quickly washed the scraped patch on the old man's
arm with clean water and then bound her own handkerchief over the
abrasion under the rather doubtful rag that Toby himself supplied.

"You're sure handy, Sissy," he said, rising and allowing her to help him
into the shirt again and on with his coat. "Now I'll hafter toddle along
or Tim will give me a call-down. Much obleeged. If ye get inter the
tam'rack swamp, come dry-foot weather, stop and see me an' my old
woman."

"Oh! I'd love to, Mr. Vanderwiller," Nan cried. "The swamp must be full
of just lovely flowers now."

The old man's face wrinkled into a smile, the first she had seen upon
it. Really! He was not a bad looking man, after all.

"You fond of posies, sissy?" he asked.

"Indeed I am!" she cried.

"There's a-plenty in the swamp," he told her. "And no end of ferns and
sich. You come see us and my old woman'll show ye. She's a master hand
at huntin' up all kind o' weeds I tell her."

"I'll surely come, when the weather gets warmer," Nan called after Toby
as the old man dogtrotted down the bank of the river. But he did not
answer and was quickly out of sight.

Chapter XX. NAN'S SECRET

But Margaret Llewellen declared she would not go with her!

"It's nasty in the Tam'rack swamp; and there's frogs and, and snakes.
Ketch me! And as fur goin' ter see Tobe and his old woman, huh! They're
both as ugly as sin."

"Why, Margaret!" exclaimed Nan, in horror. "How you talk!"

"Wal, it's so. I don't like old, wizzled-up folks, I don't, now I tell
ye!"

"That sounds awfully cruel," said Nan, soberly.

"Huh!" snorted Margaret, no other word would just express her manner of
showing disgust. "There ain't no reason why I should go 'round makin'
believe likin' them as I don't like. Dad useter take the hide off'n me
and Bob for lyin'; an' then he'd stand an' palaver folks that he jest
couldn't scurce abide, fur I heard him say so. Th