re bully after all, and there was never a bully yet who was not a
moral coward!

"Mr. Pritchett," she told him, calmly, "you cannot frighten me by shouting
at me. I may as well tell you right now that the crops you have raised
for Aunt Jane of late years have not been satisfactory. We expect a
better crop this year, and if you do not wish to put it in, some other
neighbor will.

"This is a good time to decide the matter. What do you say?"

CHAPTER VII

HILLCREST

Mrs. Pritchett and Sairy really were frightened by Lyddy Bray's temerity.
As for Lucas, he still hung his head and would not look at his father.

Cyrus Pritchett had bullied his family so long that to be bearded in his
own house certainly amazed him. He glared at the girl for fully a minute,
without being able to formulate any reply. Then he burst out with:

"You let me ketch any other man on this ridge puttin' a plow inter the
old doctor's land! I've tilled it for years, I tell ye----"

"And you can till it again, Mr. Pritchett," said Lyddy, softly. "You
needn't holler so about it--we all hear you."

The coolness of the girl silenced him.

"So, now it's understood," she went on, smiling at him brightly. "And
we'll try this year to make a little better crop. We really must get
something more out of it than the taxes."

"Jane Hammon' won't buy no fertilizer," growled Mr. Pritchett, put on
the defensive--though he couldn't tell why. "An' ye can't grow corn on
run-down land without potash an' kainit, and the like."

"Well, you shall tell us all about that later," declared Lyddy, "and
we'll see. I understand that you can't get blood from a turnip. We want
to put Hillcrest in better shape--both in and out of the house--and then
there'll be a better chance to sell it."

Cyrus Pritchett's eyes suddenly twinkled with a shrewd light.

"Does Jane Hammon' really want to sell the farm?" he queried.

"If she gets a good offer," replied Lyddy. "That's what we hope to do
while we're at Hillcrest--make the place more valuable and more attractive
to the possible buyer."

"Ha!" grunted Cyrus, sneeringly. "She'll get a fancy price for
Hillcrest--not!"

But that ended the discussion. "Maw" Pritchett looked on in wonder. She
had seen her husband beaten in an argument by a "chit of a girl"--and
really, Cyrus did not seem to be very ugly, or put out about it, either!

He told Lucas to put the ponies to the wagon again, and to take the Bray
girls and thei