Mollie nodded her head and frowned. “Now you speak of it, Bab, I believe I have noticed that she seems depressed at times. I think she is tired out and needs a complete change. She had a long letter from Cousin Betty in St. Paul yesterday, asking her to make a visit. I think mother should accept. You and I are certainly big enough to look after ourselves until school commences. Let’s beg her to go.”
“All right, Mollie, we will,” said her older sister, “but if the family funds are even lower than usual, where is the money to come from for such an expensive trip? Just the same, I shall question mother, and find out what’s the matter.”
Bab was walking on bravely, trying to forget her horror of snakes.
“I am sure,” she thought, “that I can feel my feet trembling inside my boots; I am so afraid of stepping on one of the wretched little pests.”
It had rained the day before, and the ground under the thick tangle of trees and underbrush being unusually marshy, the girls had to pick their way carefully. Mollie walked ahead while they were talking. Barbara jumping from the twisted root of one tree to another half a yard away, felt something writhe and wriggle under her foot. Without stopping to look down, she shrieked—“A snake! a snake!”—and ran blindly forward. Before Mollie had time to look around, Barbara caught her foot under a root and tumbled headlong into the wet mud.
“Bab,” cried Mollie, “you certainly have gone and done it this time! How wet and muddy you are!”
She picked up a stick and raked in the leaves near her sister.
“See, here’s what you have made such a fuss about, a tiny garter snake, that couldn’t hurt a thing. You’ve crushed the thing with your heel.”
Mollie turned suddenly. “Barbara, what is the matter with you?” she asked, as she caught a glimpse of her sister’s face. “Why don’t you get up? Can I help you?” She leaned over her sister.
Poor Bab’s face was white as a sheet, and she was trembling.