"Old stick, indeed! That's the alpenstock Knight cut for me and Sandy carved,—I've sawed off about six inches of it, though it broke my heart to do it. It's one of my dearest treasures and I'm going to take it to Woodford if I have to carry it all the way!" Blue Bonnet declared vigorously.
"I don't see anything so wonderful about it," Sarah returned. "There are plenty of old sticks just like it to be had around Woodford."
Blue Bonnet lifted indignant eyes. "As if any old Woodford stick could mean as much as this one. Why, this has the initials of every one in both camps carved on it, and every inch of it represents a good time. You've no sentiment, Sarah."
"I certainly haven't enough sentiment to make me rumple my best white dress with a clumsy old stick," Sarah replied.
"I reckon it ought to have gone in with my shoes, but it's too late now. How you do fuss over that riding-skirt, Sarah!"
"Well, if you want to know it, I've a lot of sentiment about that skirt. I wish I could take Comanche along, too."
Here Blue Bonnet amazed Sarah by jumping up and giving her a hug. "Oh, Sarah, I do love you for saying that! If you had been reconciled to riding that same old poke you had last year I'd have been so—disgusted. Won't the livery-man in Woodford open his eyes when Miss Blake demands a 'horse with some go in him'—! The inhabitants of the town will get a few thrills too, I reckon."
"Do you think it will be proper for us to ride there the way we ride here?" Sarah asked eagerly.
"Astride? We'll make it proper! It's the only humane way, Uncle says—a side-saddle is a downright cruelty. And I don't see why a parson's daughter shouldn't set the fashion."
"Then Ruth will get a chance to wear her riding-skirt after all—her heart will be stronger after a while. I've hated to ride when she couldn't, but she has insisted upon our going."
