But how everyone did toil at it! Threshing under the very best conditions is the hardest farm work there is. It is not such tedious work as the making of the crop—the plowing and raking, rolling and seeding, and the cultivation of it, or of the mowing and binding; but for out and out bone-breaking labor, and in the hottest part of the year, threshing takes the palm. It must be hurried, too, for there is always another grain ranch to go to. And the season, too, is that when other work on the farm is urgent.
Mr. Bronson came himself to Sunnyside to watch Hiram's wheat and oats threshed. Besides, he was particularly interested in the yield of Battick's new wheat.
Lettie came up with him from Plympton and remained over night at Miss Pringle's, with Sister. She seemed unfeignedly glad to see Sister again, and the two girls raced about together all day, watching the toiling threshing crew, and riding the empty wagons back to the field.
"One seemed," Orrin said to Hiram Strong, "as big a kid as the other."
In the evening, however, after the boys had eaten supper and washed at the bunkhouse, they strolled over to Miss Pringle's, and the girls met them with their most grown-up manner. Indeed, Lettie flirted with Orrin in a way that actually amazed Hiram. He was glad that Sister was not addicted to such manners. And yet, of course, Lettie meant no harm and Orrin Post seemed to understand. Hiram wondered if he had been used to the kind of society in which Lettie had learned to behave in this way.
Of course, Orrin was quite "grown-up." Lettie looked upon him as fair game, without doubt. She would not have considered for a moment treating Hiram in this way.
Sister did not attempt to copy the more sophisticated Lettie. Yet she seemed to approve fully of the daughter of the owner of Sunnyside Farm.
"Lettie is so much nicer than I used to think her," Sister said gently to Hiram. "She is so kind."
"Yes?"
"She wants me to go back to Plympton with her and stay a while before I go home."