ht.

"He is altogether too persistent. I hope he is as energetic in a better
way--I hope he attends to his business as faithfully as he seems to attend
to _our_ affairs," continued Lyddy, bitterly.

"I don't suppose this idea of his father coming up here into the hills is
entirely an excuse for him to become familiar with--with _us_. But it
looks very much like it. I--I wonder what kind of a man old Mr. Colesworth
can be?"

Lyddy ruminated upon the letter she had received all that day and refused
to answer it right away. Indeed, as far as she could see, the letter did
not really need an answer. This Harris Colesworth spoke just as though
he expected they would be only too glad to meet him on Saturday with a rig.

"And, if it were anybody else, I suppose I would be glad to do so," Lyddy
finally had to admit. "I suppose that 'beggars mustn't be choosers'; and
if this Harris Colesworth isn't a perfectly proper young man to have
about, father will very quickly attend to _his_ case."

Really, Lyddy Bray thought much more about the Colesworths than her sister
and father thought she did. After being urged by 'Phemie several times she
finally allowed her sister to reply to the letter, promising to have a
carriage at the station for the train mentioned in Harris Colesworth's
letter.

Of course, this meant hiring Lucas Pritchett and the buckboard. Lucas was
at Hillcrest a good deal of the time that week. He got the garden plowed
and the early potatoes planted, as well as some few other seeds which
would not be hurt by the late frosts.

Mr. Bray got around very slowly; at first he could only walk up and down
in the sun, or sit on the porch, well wrapped up.

Like most men born in the country and forced to be city dwellers for
many years, John Bray had longed more deeply than he could easily express
for country living. He appreciated the sights and sounds about him--the
mellow, refreshing air that blew over the hills--the sunshine and the
pattering rain which, on these early spring days, drifted alternately
across the fields and woods.

With the girls he planned for the future. Some day they would have a
cow. There was pasture on the farm for a dozen. And already Lyddy was
studying poultry catalogs and trying to figure out a little spare money
to purchase some eggs for hatching.

Of course they had no hens and at this time of the year the neighbors
were likely to want their own setting hens for incubating purposes. Lyddy