Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER m. THE ORCHARD. Next morning, when breakfast was over, Miss Wealthy made a little speech, giving the two girls the freedom of the place. " You will find your own way about, my dears," she said. " I -will only give you some general directions. The orchard is to the right, beyond the garden. There is a pleasant seat there under one of the apple- trees, where you may like to sit. Beyond that are the woods. On the other side of the house is the barnyard, and the road goes by to the village. You will find plenty of flowers all about, and I hope you will amuse yourselves." " Oh, indeed we shall, Cousin Wealthy! " cried Hildegarde. " It is delight enough just to breathe this delicious air and look at the river." They were sitting on the piazza, from which the lawn sloped down to a great hedge of Norway fir, just beyond which flowed the broad blue stream of the Kennebec. " How about the river, Cousin Wealthy ? " asked Hildegarde, timidly. " I thought I saw a boat-house through the trees. Could we go out to row ? " Miss Wealthy seemed a little flurried by the question. " My dear," she said, and hesitated, — " my dear, have you — do your parents allow you to go on the water? Can you swim ? " " Oh, yes," said Hildegarde, " I can swim very well, Cousin Wealthy, — at least, Papa says I can ; and I can row and paddle and sail." " Oh, not sail! " cried Miss Wealthy, with an odd little catch in her breath, — "not sail, my dear ! I could not — I could not think of that for a moment. But there is a row- boat," she added, after a pause, — "a boat which Jeremiah uses. If Jeremiah thinks she is perfectly safe, you can go out, if you feel quite sure your parents would wish it." " Oh, I am very sure," said Hildegarde ; " for I asked Papa, almost the last thing befor... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.