f little Hi's pranks and Randy said,
with a bright twinkle in her eyes,

"At least, you and Jemima will be amused this winter."

"I guess we shall be in more ways than one," assented Belinda, "for I'm
pretty sure that Grandma Babson and that small boy will be enemies from
the start."

Belinda's habitually jolly face wore such a comical look of anxiety that
Randy refrained from laughing, and to change the subject asked for a
schoolmate whom she had not recently seen. "Where is Molly Wilson?" she
questioned.

"Oh, Molly is so hard at work now it's only once in a while that I see
her. Her baby sister is ill, and Molly has no time for anything but
helping around home. Her mother says that she intends to have her go back
to school if she can spare her, but whatever do you suppose Molly meant?

"She said to me, 'Belinda, even if mother can spare me, I may not go to
school. You can't think how anxious I am to be at work at my lessons
again, but I'm afraid I shan't look fit and father's had such a hard
summer, the farm hasn't paid for working it, he says, that I couldn't ask
him for anything for myself if I never had it.'

"And oh, I never thought, Randy, I promised Molly I would not tell what
she said. I didn't mean to. Whatever made me forget?"

"Never mind," said Randy, an odd little smile showing the dimples at the
corners of her mouth.

"I will not tell a single girl you may be very sure, but you and I who
know it will be extra kind to Molly."

"Indeed we will," assented Belinda. "I'll go over this afternoon and see
if I can help her. The baby is a sweet little thing and she likes me, so
perhaps I shall be some help. Oh, there's Jemima calling at the bars, I
guess ma wants me. My! I wonder if some of our company has arrived?

"Remember not to tell what I told you," cried Belinda to Randy, who stood
looking after her friend, as she ran across the pasture to join Jemima.

They turned to wave their hands to Randy, who responded, then, as they
disappeared behind a clump of trees, she turned her eyes toward the sunny
valley and with her hands loosely clasped seemed to be watching the
shimmering sunlight on the winding river below.

She had long been standing thus when a gentle whinny made her turn to
offer the caress for which old Snowfoot was hinting.

The horse laid a shaggy head against Randy's shoulder and edged nearer as
the girl patted her nose, then walking over to a large rock she stood
close beside it an