ent fer you, miss," he said.

Lou accepted it gravely.

"Thank you, sir," she said primly. "You ain't got any call to give me
this, not after bringin' us all the way from Hudsondale."

"I guess I can make a little present if I'm a mind ter, ter a pretty
little girl like you." Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. "Wish yer both luck on
your way."

They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the
village street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling
country road once more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou
glanced up at her companion.

"Could we set down here for a spell?" she asked. "I ain't tired, Jim,
but I feel like I'd die if I can't open this!"

She gestured with Mr. Perkins's gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the
grass.

"Of course. Let's see what's in it."

Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white.
It contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small
bottle of particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely
resembling coral. The square in which the articles had been wrapped
proved to be a large white silk handkerchief with an American flag
stamped in the corner.

"That must be for you, Jim," Lou said slowly. As in a trance she slipped
the string of beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few
drops of its contents upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the
rank odor in ecstasy.

Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little
soul the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he
resolved to see that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something
better for Lou than a servant's position. Education, perhaps----

"It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other
way." Her voice broke in upon his meditations. "We'd better eat the
rolls an' ham now. How far is it to where we're goin'?"

"Eight miles; I'm afraid it is a long way for you----"

"Then the sooner we git started the better," the girl interrupted. "I'll
take the pan an' run back to that yellow house we just passed for some
water."

Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully
against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself out
luxuriously in the grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of
noon had a stupefying effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his
thoughts grew nebulous until he finally drifted off into slumb