e no one else?"

"No," Helen answered; "that is, we keep no servant, and my young arms
are stronger than the others."

"And mine are stronger still," Mark laughingly rejoined, as he put Helen
aside and plied the dasher himself, in spite of her protestations that
he would certainly ruin his clothes.

"Tie that apron around me, then," he said, with the utmost nonchalance,
and Helen obeyed, tying her check apron around the young man's neck, who
felt her hands as they touched his hair and knew that they were brushing
queer fancies into his brain, fancies which made him wonder what his
mother would think of Helen, or what she would say if she knew just how
he was occupied that morning, absolutely churning cream until it turned
to butter, for Mark persisted until the task was done, standing by while
Helen gathered up the golden lumps, and admiring her plump, round arms
quite as much as he had done her neck.

She would be a belle like her sister, though of a different stamp, he
thought, as he again bent down his head while she removed the apron and
disclosed more than one big spot upon his broadcloth. Mark assured her
that it did not matter; his coat was nearly worn out; and anyway he
never should regret that he had churned once in his life, or forget
it either; and then he asked if Helen would be in New York the coming
winter, talking of the pleasure it would be to meet her there until
Helen herself began to feel what she never before had felt, a desire to
visit Katy in her own home.

"Remember if you come that I am your debtor for numerous hospitalities,"
he said, when he at last bade her good-by, and sprang into the covered
buggy, which Uncle Ephraim had brought out in honor of Katy's arrival.

* * * * *

Old Whitey was hitched at a safe distance from all possible harm. Uncle
Ephraim had returned from the store nearby, laden with the six pounds
of crush sugar and the two pounds of real old Java, he had been
commissioned to purchase with a view to Katy's taste, and now upon the
platform at West Silverton, he stood with Mark Ray, waiting for the
arrival of the train just appearing in view across the level plain.

"It's fifteen months since she went away," he said, and Mark saw that
the old man's form trembled with the excitement of meeting her again,
while his eyes scanned eagerly every window and door of the cars now
slowly stopping before him. "There, there," and he laid his hand
nerv