h just a scarf of the same
color twisted round the crown and a knowing little wing in front, was
chosen; and then Mrs. Gray spied a smaller one of fine yellowish straw
with a wreath of brown-centred daisies, and having popped it on Cannie's
head for one moment, liked the effect, and ordered that too. Two new
hats! It seemed to Cannie's modest ideas like the wildest extravagance;
and after they returned to the coupe she found courage to say,--

"Cousin Kate, please, you mustn't buy me too many things."

"No, dear, I won't. I'll be careful," replied Mrs. Gray, smiling. Then,
seeing that Cannie was in earnest, she added, more seriously: "My child,
I've no wish to make you fine. I don't like finery for young girls; but
one needs a good many things in a place like this, and I want to have
you properly dressed in a simple way. It was agreed upon between Aunt
Myra and myself that I should see to your summer wardrobe after you got
here, because Newport is a better shopping-place than North Tolland; and
while we are about it, we may as well get pretty things as ugly ones. It
doesn't cost any more and is no more trouble, and I am sure you like
them better, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, indeed," replied Cannie, quite relieved by this explanation.
"I like pretty things ever so much--only--I thought--I was afraid--" She
did not know how to finish her sentence.

[Illustration: THE OLD STONE MILL.

It was a roofless circular tower, supported on round arches.--PAGE 73.]

"You were afraid I was ruining myself," asked her cousin, looking
amused. "No, Cannie, I won't do that, I promise you; and in return,
you will please let me just settle about a few little necessary things
for you, just as I should for Georgie and Gertrude, and say no more
about it. Ah! there is the old Mill; you will like to see that. Stop a
moment, John."

The coupe stopped accordingly by a small open square, planted with grass
and a few trees, and intersected with paths. There was a music-stand in
the centre, a statue on a pedestal; and close by them, rising from the
greensward, appeared a small, curious structure of stone. It was a
roofless circular tower, supported on round arches, which made a series
of openings about its base. Cannie had never heard of the Stone Mill
before, and she listened eagerly while Mrs. Gray explained that it had
stood there since the earliest days of the Colony; that no one knew
exactly how old it was, who built it, or for what purpose it