One was over at Miss Hornaby's when she wouldn't
let Minnie and Myron go to school 'cause their shoes were all out on the
ground, and the other time he got that French weaver over at Beacon Hill
for selling cider."

Still Kit had no answer, for over at the corn-crib she beheld the
strangest scene. Out stepped the prisoner as fearlessly and blithely as
possible, spoke to her father, and the two of them instantly clasped
hands, while Shad, Mr. Hicks and Philemon stared with all their might. The
next the girls knew, the whole party came strolling back leisurely, and
Kit could see the stranger was regaling her father with a humorous view of
the whole affair. Shad tried to signal to her behind his back some
mysterious warning, and even Mr. Hicks looked jocular.

Kit leaned both hands on the railing, and stared hard at the trespasser.
He was a young man, dressed in a light gray suit with high sport boots. He
was, as Mrs. Gorham expressed it later, "light complected" and tanned so
deeply that his blonde, curly hair seemed even lighter. He lifted his hat
to Kit, with one foot on the lower step, while Mr. Robbins called up:

"Mr. Howard, my dear, our fruit expert from Washington, whom I was
expecting."

And Kit bowed, blushing furiously and wishing with all her heart she might
have silenced Evie's audible and disappointed ejaculation:

"Didn't he hook huckleberries after all?"

CHAPTER II

MRS. GORHAM SMELLS SMOKE

"I was perfectly positive that if we went away and left you in charge for
one single day, Kit, you would manage to get into some kind of
misadventure," Jean said, reproachfully, that evening. "If you only
wouldn't act on the impulse of the moment. Why on earth didn't you tell
father, and ask his advice before you telephoned to Mr. Hicks?"

"That's a sensible thing for you to say," retorted Kit, hotly, "after
you've all warned me not to worry Dad about anything. And I did not act
upon the impulse of the moment," very haughtily. "I made certain logical
deductions from certain facts. How was I to know he was hunting gypsy
moths and other winged beasts when I saw him bending over bushes in our
berry patch? Anyhow it would simplify matters if Dad would let us know
when he expected illustrious visitors. Did you see old Hannibal's face and
Evie's, too? They were so disappointed at not having a prisoner in tow to
exhibit to the Gilead populace on the way over to the jail."

Mrs. Gorham glanced up over her