he knew little about him
but she felt instinctively that he was manly and kind-hearted.

One day when he came Jessamine met him almost gleefully. "No, nothing
today. There is no dinner to cook."

"You don't say. Where are the folks?"

"Gone on an excursion. They won't be back until tonight."

"They won't? Well, I'll tell you what to do. You get ready, and when
I'm through my rounds we'll go for a drive up the country."

"Oh, Mr. Bell! But won't it be too much bother for you?"

"Well, I reckon not! You want an excursion as well as other folks, and
you shall have it."

"Oh, thank you so much. Yes, I'll be ready. You don't know how much it
means to me."

"Poor little creature," said Mr. Bell, as he drove away. "It's
downright cruelty, that's what it is, to keep her penned up like that.
You might as well coop up a lark in a hen-house and expect it to
thrive and sing. I'd like to give that brother of hers a piece of my
mind."

When he lifted her up to the high seat of his express wagon that
afternoon he said, "Now, I want you to do something. Just shut your
eyes and don't open them again until I tell you to."

Jessamine laughed and obeyed. Finally she heard him say, "Look."

Jessamine opened her eyes with a little cry. They were on a remote
country road, cool and dim and quiet, in the very heart of the beech
woods. Long banners of light fell athwart the grey boles. Along the
roadsides grew sheets of feathery ferns. Above the sky was gloriously
blue. The air was sweet with the wild woodsy smell of the forest.

Jessamine lifted and clasped her hands in rapture. "Oh, how lovely!"

"Do you know where we're going?" said Mr. Bell delightedly. "Out to my
farm at Pine Pastures. My aunt keeps house for me, and she'll be real
glad to see you. You're just going to have a real good time this
afternoon."

They had a delightful drive to begin with, and presently Mr. Bell
turned into a wide lane.

"This is Cloverside Farm. I'm proud of it, I'll admit. There isn't a
finer place in the county. What do you think of it?"

"Oh, it is lovely--it is like home. Look at those great fields. I'd
like to go and lie down in that clover."

Mr. Bell lifted her from the wagon and marched her up a flowery garden
path. "You shall do it, and everything else you want to. Here, Aunt,
this is the young lady I spoke of. Make her at home while I tend to
the horses."

Miss Bell was a pleasant-faced woman with silver hair and kind blue
eyes.