is a great feeder," said Winthrop; "so is Indian corn."

"By its being 'a great feeder', you mean that it takes a great
deal of the nourishing quality of the soil?"

"Yes."

"How many things I do not know!" said Elizabeth wistfully.

In the little pause which ensued, Winifred took her chance to
say,

"Here's your dinner, Governor."

"Then when the ground is ploughed, is there anything else to
be done before it is ready for the wheat?"

"Only harrowing."

Elizabeth mused a little while.

"And how much will the wheat be worth, Winthrop, from all this
field?"

"Perhaps two hundred dollars; or two hundred and fifty."

"Two hundred and fifty. -- And then the expenses are
something."

"Less to us," said Winthrop, "because we do so much of the
labour ourselves."

"Here's your dinner, Winthrop," said Winifred; -- "shall I set
it under the tree?"

"Yes -- no, Winifred, -- you may leave it here."

"Then stop and eat it now, Governor, won't you? -- don't wait
any longer."

He gave his little sister a look and a little smile, that told
of an entirely other page of his life, folded in with the
ploughing experience; a word and look very different from any
he had given his questioners. Other indications Elizabeth's
eye had caught under 'the tree,' -- a single large beech tree
which stood by the fence some distance off. Two or three books
lay there.

"Do you find time for reading here in the midst of your
ploughing, Mr. Winthrop?"

"Not much -- sometimes a little in the noon-spell," he
answered, colouring slightly.

They left him and walked on to visit Rufus. Elizabeth led near
enough to the tree to make sure, what her keen eye knew pretty
well already, that one of the books was the very identical old
brown-covered Greek and Latin dictionary that she had seen in
the boat. She passed on and stood silent by Rufus's plough.

"Well, we've come to see you, Rufus," said Miss Cadwallader.

"I thought you had come to see my brother," said he.

"I didn't come to see either one or the other," said
Elizabeth. "I came to see what you are doing."

"I hope you are gratified," said the young man a little
tartly.

"What's the use of taking so much trouble to break up the
ground?" said Rose.

"Because, unfortunately, there is no way of doing it without
trouble," said Rufus, looking unspoken bright things into the
furrow at his feet.

"But why couldn't you just make holes in the ground and put
the seed in?"

"F