Jack said little, but an undercurrent of friction began to develop between him and Warren though to do him justice Warren was more than ordinarily thoughtful and ready to make every allowance for Jack's inexperience. But naturally the issuing of orders fell to him and he was made responsible for the volume of work accomplished each day. Mr. Hildreth permitted no excuses for failure in tasks set and though extremely just he had a shrewd and accurate knowledge of the time required for each chore and the amount of finished work to be turned out each hour. Jack and Richard "hit it off together" very well, too well, in fact; they began to "fool," to skylark and, insensibly, waste time. When Warren interfered it was in the role of kill-joy, a character he did not fancy. When, on his return from driving a load of tomatoes to the cannery one afternoon, instead of finding filled crates ready for a second trip, he discovered that neither boy had picked a tomato and that they had broken several crates and mashed a quantity of ripe tomatoes in good-natured tussling. Warren spoke sharply and to the point. He sent Jack to one end of a row and Richard to the other and kept them separated the remainder of the afternoon. The team was another grievance. Jack was sure he could be trusted to drive Solomon and his mate to the cannery and back and this hauling afforded a welcome break in a monotonous day. But Mr. Hildreth flatly refused to allow Jack to handle the horses and either he or Warren made the twice a day trip to the Center. "I'll quit to-morrow," said Jack desperately, night after night. And in the morning he would decide to stick it out another day. Twice he went to sleep in his chair on the porch of the little white house, waking to find that Mrs. Hildreth and the girls had gone to bed and left Doctor Hugh, reading quietly under the lamp, to keep him company. "Nothing to be ashamed of," said the doctor when Jack stammered his apology. "After a day of honest toil, Nature's going to exact her toll. You'll be as hard as nails, Jack, if you keep this up." The girls soon accepted the idea that Jack was not free to go about with them and made their plans without including him. Rosemary went nearly every day to see Miss Clinton, on some pretext or other, and Shirley often accompanied her. Rosemary was rapidly learning to knit the blocks for a bedspread with which she intended to surprise her mother. Sarah gave most of her time and attention to Bony, but she also visited the Gays though, in the excitement and pleasure of having Doctor Hugh at their beck and call, it is to be regretted that the Gay family were left more to themselves than Rosemary or her sisters intended.