But I
guess it ain't to be. However, this company will help us pay some of
the claims. We'll do the best we can, Sandy."
"That's what we will!"
Alice wondered what secret trouble could be worrying the farmer and
his son. Mrs. Apgar, too, had an anxious look on her face, but she
tried to make her visitors feel at home.
CHAPTER IV
A QUEER PROPOSAL
Oak Farm was a most delightful place. Ruth and Alice agreed to this
even before the first meal was served. They stood at the window of
their room--a large one with two beds--and gazed across the green
meadows, off to the greener woodland and then to the distant hills
which girt the valley holding Oak Farm in its clasp.
The hills were purple now with the coming of night--a deep purple
like the depth of a woodland violet--and their tops were shrouded in
mist.
At the foot of the hills ran a little river, and now it looked like
some ribbon of silver, twining in and out amid the green carpet of
the fields.
"Oh, isn't it beautiful--just beautiful!" sighed Ruth.
"Do you mean the odor of that fried chicken?" asked Alice, with a
frank laugh, as she let down her hair, preparatory to putting it up
again, in the general process of "dressing." "It is delightful; but I
would hardly call it 'beautiful.
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