ered
ribbons ere they would loose their hold upon the peaks beyond the valley
and behind her.

A feeling of elation grew in her--elation born of her abounding health,
fine youth, the glory of the scene, the high intoxication of first love.

She beguiled the way with mountain ballads, paused, here and there, to
pluck some lovely flower, accumulating, presently, a nosegay so enormous
as to be almost unwieldy, whistled to the birds and smiled as they sent
back their answers, laughed at the fierce scolding of a squirrel on a
limb, heard the doleful wailing of young foxes and crept near enough
their burrow to see them huddled in the sand before it, waiting eagerly
for their foraging mother and the breakfast she would bring.

When the trail crossed a clear brook she paused upon the crude, low
bridge and watched the trout dart to and fro beneath it; where it
debouched upon a hill-side of commanding view she stopped there,
breathing hard from sheer enjoyment of the glory of the prospect spread
before her in the valley.

She was very happy, as she almost always was of summer mornings. The
mountain air, circulating in her young and sturdy lungs, was almost as
intoxicating as strong wine and made the blood leap through her
arteries, thrill through her veins.

The worries of the night before seemed, for a time, to have been
groundless. She ceased to fear her meeting with the bluegrass gentlefolk
and looked forward to it with real confidence and pleasure. Her
confidence in Layson was abounding, and she assured herself till the
thought became conviction that he never would permit her to subject
herself to anything which properly could be humiliating.

The problem of her garb, too, began to seem far less insoluble than it
had seemed the night before. She felt certain, as she travelled with her
springing step, that she would find it possible to meet creditably the
great emergency with what she had at home and could discover at the
little general-store which she was bound for.

When she reached the tiny, mud-chinked structure at the cross-roads,
though, and caught her first glimpse of its lightly burdened shelves,
her heart sank for an instant. Could it be possible that from its stock
she would be able to select material with which she could compete with
folk from the far bluegrass in elegance of garb?

But after she had made investigation and had interested in her project
the lank mountain-woman who presided at the counter, sh