When the chain was finished she swung it lightly in her hand, notwithstanding the fact that each link held one of her heart secrets interwoven in the form of a wish, as she fashioned the frail necklace.
She paused for a moment upon the brow of the steep hill behind her father’s farm, and pushing the gingham sunbonnet back from her face, took her usual evening glance over the surrounding country.
“Same old hills! Same old trees!” she whispered irritably. “And always that hideous old Poor Farm staring one in the face! Oh, I’m just sick of country life and a horrid farm! Why couldn’t I have been born something besides a farmer’s daughter?”
The view which Marion gazed upon was not altogether unlovely, but the hills were steep and the pastures were scorched and the Poor Farm, always a blot upon the peaceful picture, stood out with aggressive ugliness in the keen glow of sunset.
Just over the brow of a low hill rose a curling line of smoke. It came from the chimney of the little station where the Boston and New York Express stopped morning and evening, the only connecting link between them and civilization.
Marion Marlowe was seventeen and superbly handsome. Her twin sister was fairer, more childish and a trifle smaller, but both were far more beautiful than most country maidens.
As Marion spoke, her gray eyes darkened until they were almost black, and the ungainly sunbonnet could not begin to cover her hair, which was long and silky and a rich, ripe chestnut.
Turning her back upon the Poor Farm, which always offended her, Marion suddenly gave vent to her mood in a most extraordinary manner.
Posing on the very crest of the hill with her shoulders thrown back haughtily, she began singing a quaint air which was full of solemn melody, and as she sang her eyes glistened and her cheeks grew even redder, for Marion loved the sound of her beautiful voice—she knew well that she was a magnificent singer, and might readily be forgiven for glorying in her superb natural endowments.
“And to think it should all be wasted here!” she muttered as she finished.