THE FIGHT FOR THE WHEAT
"What's the matter now, Hiram Strong?" demanded Miss Pringle, urging her pony nearer. "For the land's sake! is that Battick man completely crazy?"
"Oh, Hiram! what has happened?" called Sister.
She jumped over the wheel and ran to greet the young farmer. A year previous Hiram would certainly have met Sister with a hug and a kiss! But this tall, pretty, almost grown-up girl was an entirely different person from the child he had known and first remembered as the boarding-house slavey in Crawberry. She was almost a stranger to him.
"Sister! What a surprise! How nice you look!" he cried, seizing both her hands and gazing into her glowing eyes with fully as much delight as she herself displayed. "What a surprise!" he repeated.
"Oh, Hiram, I'm so glad you're glad to see me!"
"Of course I am! And Mother Atterson?"
"She is fine. And so is Mr. Camp. And Henry Pollock. And everybody!"
"How did you ever come out here without letting me know?"
"Miss Pringle did it all. I am going to stay with her. You'll have to thank her if you are glad to see me, Hiram."