ad, his stick
was forgotten. He descended upon her as might a hungry lion upon its
prey. He roared--in fact, he bellowed.

"Katrina Prentiss, get back over that fence. Climb back over that gate;
you're trespassing. Didn't you see the signs? Are you blind? Can't you
read? What do you mean by coming in here where you don't belong? Climb
back there and go home at once!"

Katrina, unprepared for battle and aware of being at a disadvantage,
swallowed hard and obeyed. She climbed back over the gate. Once upon
solid earth, however, and she glared as fiercely at Grandfather McBride
as he stared ferociously at her.

"I'm not a child," she said furiously, when he stopped to breathe, "to
be ordered about and sent home and insulted. I have never been so
treated in my life and I give you fair warning, Grandfather, that I'll
stand it no longer. After this I'll do as I please." Whereupon Katrina,
having woman-like, in the act of obedience, said her say, retreated with
dignity and dispatch. Behind her, Mr. McBride waved his recovered stick
over the gate and shouted, but she did not turn nor attempt an answer.

He came home within an hour, slowly, leaning heavily upon his stick.
John followed with the empty wheelbarrow. They parted at the barn and
Mr. McBride went at once to his room and shut the door. Katrina, sitting
at her own window, looked thoughtfully into space and swung a key upon
her forefinger. After a time she stood up, smoothed her hair and pinned
on her wide, rose-laden hat. Then she went down the hall quietly,
stopped before Mr. McBride's door, and listened a moment. A gentle snore
proclaimed Mr. McBride's occupation. Katrina fitted the key into the
lock and turned it, took it out again and slipped it beneath a corner of
the rug, listened a further moment and then walked down the stairs, out
through the back garden, and, with a final glance behind her, turned
once more into the green and deserted lane.

It must be confessed that Katrina started upon her quest in a spirit far
removed from that of your single-minded explorer. She was urged by a
variety of causes. Among them was a determination to disobey Grandfather
McBride, to serve him with his own medicine, to pay him in his own coin,
and to do it as quickly and as frankly as possible. Her rapidly
increasing curiosity concerning the region he guarded with so much
mystery counted as well, but the paramount force--for Katrina was young
enough to take her responsibility