If Elnora won't take these things, so help me, I'll tell her what she is
worth, and loan her the money and she can pay me back when she comes of
age. I am going to have it out with Kate Comstock in the morning. Here
we are! You open up what you got while I put away the horses, and then
I'll show you."

When Wesley came from the barn Margaret had four pieces of crisp
gingham, a pale blue, a pink, a gray with green stripes and a rich brown
and blue plaid. On each of them lay a yard and a half of wide ribbon to
match. There were handkerchiefs and a brown leather belt. In her hands
she held a wide-brimmed tan straw hat, having a high crown banded with
velvet strips each of which fastened with a tiny gold buckle.

"It looks kind of bare now," she explained. "It had three quills on it
here."

"Did you have them taken off?" asked Wesley.

"Yes, I did. The price was two and a half for the hat, and those things
were a dollar and a half apiece. I couldn't pay that."

"It does seem considerable," admitted Wesley, "but will it look right
without them?"

"No, it won't!" said Margaret. "It's going to have quills on it. Do you
remember those beautiful peacock wing feathers that Phoebe Simms gave
me? Three of them go on just where those came off, and nobody will ever
know the difference. They match the hat to a moral, and they are just
a little longer and richer than the ones that I had taken off. I was
wondering whether I better sew them on to-night while I remember how