s to take a nap, and escorted the farmer as far as the
barn on his way to the turnip-field. Then, "the coast being clear," she
said to herself, "we will prepare for the tree-party."

Accordingly, arming herself with a stout pruning-knife, she took her way
to the "wood-lot," which lay on the north side of the house. The
splendor of the trees, which were now in full autumnal glory, gave Hilda
a sort of rapture as she approached them. What had she ever seen so
beautiful as this,--the shifting, twinkling myriads of leaves, blazing
with every imaginable shade of color above the black, straight trunks;
the deep, translucent blue of the sky bending above; the golden light
which transfused the whole scene; the crisp freshness of the afternoon
air? She wanted to sing, to dance, to do everything that was joyous and
free. But now she had work to do. She visited all her favorite
trees,--the purple ash, the vivid, passionate maples, the oaks in their
sober richness of murrey and crimson. On each and all she levied
contributions, cutting armful after armful, and carried them to the
house, piling them in splendid heaps on the shed-floor. Then, after
carefully laying aside a few specially perfect branches, she began the
work of decoration. Over the chimney-piece she laid great boughs of
maple, glittering like purest gold in the afternoon light, which
streamed broadly in through the windows. Others--scarlet, pink, dappled
red, and yellow--were placed over the windows, the doors, the dresser.
She filled the corners with stately oak-boughs, and made a bower of the
purple ash in the bow-window,--Faith's window. Then she set the
tea-table with the best china, every plate and dish resting on a mat of
scarlet leaves, while a chain of yellow ones outlined the shining square
board. A tiny scarlet wreath encircled the tea-kettle, and even the
butter-dish displayed its golden balls beneath an arch of flaming
crimson. This done, she filled a great glass bowl with purple-fringed
asters and long, gleaming sprays of golden-rod, and setting it in the
middle of the table, stood back with her head a little on one side and
surveyed the general effect.

"Good!" was her final comment; "very good! And now for my own part."

She gathered in her apron the branches first selected, and carried them
up to her own room, where she proceeded to strip off the leaves and to
fashion them into long garlands. As her busy fingers worked, her
thoughts flew hither and th