While he was yet at some distance Hiram saw the burned ruins of the farmhouse on the hill and the barns and other outbuildings. All the arable land of Sunnyside seemed to lie on the south side of the road; and the slope of the fields was toward that same point of the compass. The higher land on his right was heavily timbered clear to the summit of the hill. As he mounted the incline he obtained a pretty clear idea of what the acres he expected to farm looked like. Hiram Strong was deeply interested in his calling. Every young fellow must, if he would get on in the world and really amount to anything. As he had told Yancey Battick the evening before, Hiram's father had been a good farmer, and he had not only given his son knowledge, but had instilled into his mind the principle of thoroughness, as well. As Hiram looked, searching the fields to the far-distant line of the forest-bounded farm, he wondered what would be his fortune here. Would he be able to show a profit for Mr. Bronson on the ledger, as he had for Mother Atterson? As to his own contract, Hiram was on a straight salary, and whether he made little or much for his employer his own income would not be affected. But money was not the only thing that Hiram Strong saw in the bargain. He was after a reputation. Moreover, he desired to learn something from his experience--whatever it might be--here at Sunnyside. He reached the plain at the top of the rise at last. The outlook all about was promising, save in one direction where there was a piece of burned timber. The nearest house was a white painted cottage with green blinds on the other side of the road and a few rods beyond the burned timber lot. "That must be Miss Pringle's," Hiram thought, and on the heels of this mental decision he beheld to his surprise a woman with a shawl thrown hastily over her head running out of this small dwelling and out of the yard, approaching the main gate of the Sunnyside place, evidently in a state of exaggerated excitement. "Say, young man!" she shouted while still some distance away, "I want to know why you've kept this whole neighborhood in a stir-up all this blessed night? Where have you been? And you as dry as a bone right now!" CHAPTER V THE TERRIBLE MISS PRINGLE The woman so excitedly approaching Sunnyside was a buxom person with every sign of an assertive and determined character. This first speech addressed to Hiram made him feel that he must somehow be in the wrong--that he had done something to shock Miss Pringle and the neighborhood in general. Hiram took off his hat as Miss Pringle came near. But he did not offer his hand, for he was not at all sure that her greeting was intended to be a friendly one. "I suppose you are Mr. Strong?" the woman gasped, rather out of breath when she arrived. "Yes, ma'am," replied Hiram. "Well, for the land's sake, where have you been?"