The old mill, the quaint house where she dwelt, and especially the long pond, now sprinkled thickly with lilies, became a Mecca for these newcomers, and not a pleasant day passed but from two to a dozen of them came trooping about and around it. They peered into the mill, exclaimed over the great dripping wheel, and almost shouted at the sight of the white blossoms on the pond.
One day a bevy of laughing and chattering girls with one gallant in white flannels approached the mill while Chip in calico was kneeling beside a flower-bed. She looked up at once and saw her erstwhile admirer at Peaceful Valley, Mr. Goodnow. One instant only their eyes met, his to turn quickly away, and then Chip, coloring at the slight, rose and entered the house. Once safe in this asylum, womanlike, she hastened to peep out at the arrivals. They halted for only a glance about and then, their protector (?) still in the lead, vanished behind the mill.
The next afternoon, just as Chip was returning from the village store, she met Mr. Goodnow again, this time alone.
With a bow and smile he raised his hat and halted.
“Why, Miss Raymond,” he exclaimed eagerly, “I am so glad to meet you again. Are you visiting here, and when did you leave Peaceful Valley?”
“I am living here now,” returned Chip, coolly, continuing on her way, “where you saw me yesterday.”
“Oh, yes,” he answered, not the least abashed, “and you must pardon me for not recognizing you then. It’s been a year, you know, since I saw you, and you have changed so in that time.”
“Of course,” responded Chip, her eyes snapping, “you couldn’t remember me so long. Why don’t you tell the truth and say you didn’t dare know me before those ladies?”
“Why, Miss Raymond, you wrong me; but I admire your frankness–it is so unusual among your charming sex!”
“Then you did know me,” she returned sarcastically, “I knew well enough, and if they were with you now, you wouldn’t know me. I’m no fool, if I do wear calico.”