t Nabbie to see the
bees.

When that awful odor smote them they stopped short. Uncle Mowbray was a
fastidious man. He sniffed and turned up his nose.

"Is it sink spouts?" he gasped. "Are the traps out of order?"

"No, no, Pascal!" said Aunt Nabbie, in a low tone, trying to quiet him.
"It is only bread."

"Bread!" cried Uncle Mowbray, with a glance of rank suspicion at the two
girls. "Bread smelling like that!"

Just then Ellen discovered something white, which appeared to be
mysteriously increasing in size, in the shadow on the back side of the
kitchen stove. After a glance she caught open the oven door.

It was that mug-bread dough! It had crawled--crawled out of the tins
into the oven--crawled down under the oven door to the kitchen floor,
where it made a viscous puddle, and was now trying, apparently, to crawl
out of sight under the wood-box.

Aunt Nabbie burst out laughing; she could not help it. Then she tried to
turn Uncle Mowbray out.

But no, he must stand there and talk about it. He was one of those men
who are always peeping round the kitchen, to see if the women are doing
things right. But Olin scudded out after one look, and the girls saw him
under one of the Balm o' Gilead trees, shaking and laughing as if he
would split.

Poor Doad and Nell! That was a dreadful forenoon for them. As youthful
housekeepers they felt, themselves disgraced beyond redemption. In
three years they had not recovered from it, and would cringe when any
one reminded them of Uncle Mowbray and the mug-bread.

CHAPTER XI

THE BIRDS AND BIRD-SONGS AT THE OLD FARM

"Sing away, ye joyous birds,
While the sun is o'er us."

Looking back to that first fortnight after my arrival at the Old
Squire's, I think what most impressed my youthful mind was the country
verdure and the bird-songs. Everything looked so very green, accustomed
as my eyes were to the red city bricks, white doorsteps and dusty
streets. The universal green of those June days at times well nigh
bewildered me.

Astronomers tell us that there are systems of worlds in outer space,
presided over by green suns; it was as if I had been transported to such
a world. Moreover, the effect was cool and calm and healthful; cities
are abnormal places of abode; man originated and during all the early
ages of his development, lived in the green, arboreal country,
surrounded by rustic scenery and sylvan quiet. The clangor and roar of a
great city, particula