A Little Maid of Ticonderoga

								

shore of Lake Champlain. Faith had no playmates, and when Mr.
Eldridge, of the town of Brandon, had sent word that he was coming to
see Mr. Carew on business and would bring his small daughter with
him, Faith had been overjoyed and had made many plans of what she
would do to entertain her visitor.
Faith finished her breakfast, and helped her mother clear the table
and wash the dishes, and then went up the slope to where a number of
fine pumpkins and squashes, growing among the corn, were ripening in
the early September sunshine. She looked about carefully, and selected
a yellow pumpkin. "This is about as large as my head," she said aloud,
"and I guess it is about the same color," and she ran back to the
house carrying the pumpkin, which Mrs. Carew set to bake in the brick
oven beside the fireplace.
"When it is baked may I fix the shell for a work-basket for Esther?"
asked Faith.
"Yes, indeed," answered Mrs. Carew smilingly. "Your Aunt Prissy was
greatly pleased with the one you gave her when she visited here last
autumn."
"I wish I could go to Ticonderoga and visit Aunt Prissy," said Faith.
"Why, so you shall some day. But 'tis a troublesome journey, since one
must be set across the strait," replied her mother. "But look, child!
Can it be that Mr. Eldridge has arrived at this early hour?"
"Yes, indeed. I see his little girl! Look, mother! Father has lifted
her down from the horse; and Mr. Eldridge is walking, too! Oh, mother!
See the fine hat she has on!" and Faith ran to the open door to get a
better look at the little girl who was walking so slowly up the path
to the log house.
In a moment the little girl looked up toward the open door and Faith
waved her hand.
"She didn't wave back, mother dear," exclaimed Faith, and then the
travelers were close at hand, and Mrs. Carew was greeting the tall,
grave-faced man and welcoming Esther.
"My little girl was so tired that we stopped for the night at your
neighbor Stanley's house, five miles east," said Mr. Eldridge; "and
that is why we are in good season this morning."
While Mr. Eldridge was speaking Esther held fast to her father's
hand, her large black eyes fixed on Mrs. Carew. Faith looked at her
admiringly, wishing that her own eyes were black, and that her feet
were small like Esther's, and that she had a hat with a wide scarlet
ribbon.
"Esther, this is Faith," she heard her mother say, "and she will try
and make you so happy here that you will wish to stay all winter."
The two little girls smiled shyly, and Esther let go her clasp on her
father's hand and followed Mrs. Carew into the pleasant kitchen. Faith
watched her eagerly; she wondered why Esther looked about the big room
with such a curious expression. "Almost as if she did not like it,"
thought Faith.
The little gray kitten came bouncing out from behind the big wood-box
and Esther gave a startled exclamation.
"It's just 'Bounce,'" said Faith, picking up the kitten and smoothing