XXVI. A PICNIC IN THE GLEN 324 XXVII. A DOUBLE INHERITANCE IN A SINGLE DAY 333 XXVIII. ONE WONDERFUL AUTUMN DAY 345 XXIX. CONCLUSION 363 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "She pulled a book from her pocket and began to read" _Frontispiece_ 12 "'Take care! You'll drop sperm on the rug, tipping that candlestick so!'" 68 "'Then I'm glad, glad that you are to have Pepita'" 173 "She so gently manipulated the swollen ankle and bound it with the lotions" 262 "He began to gather up the coins" 334 REELS AND SPINDLES. CHAPTER I. A BYWAY OF THE ARDSLEY. The white burro had a will of her own. So, distinctly, had her mistress. As had often happened, these two wills conflicted. For the pair had come to a point where three ways met. Pepita wanted to ascend the hill, by a path she knew, to stable and supper. Amy wished to follow a descending road, which she did not know, into the depths of the forest. Neither inclined toward the safe middle course, straight onward through the village, now picturesque in the coloring of a late September day. "No, Pepita. You must obey me. If I'm not firm this time, you'll act worse the next. To the right, amiable beastie!" Both firmness and sarcasm were wasted. The burro rigidly planted her forefeet in the dust and sorrowfully dropped her head. Amy tugged at the bridle. "Pepita! To--the--right! Go on. In your native Californian--_Vamos!_" The "Californian" budged not, but posed, an image of dejection. The happiness of life had departed; the tale of her woe seemed pictured in every hair of her thickly coated body; she was a broken-hearted donkey. Amy Kaye was neither broken-hearted nor broken-spirited, and she was wholly comfortable. Her saddle was soft and fitted well. The air was delightful. She pulled a book from her pocket and began to read. In five minutes she was so absorbed that she had forgotten Pepita's little mannerisms. After a while the "Californian" moved her head just enough to gain a corner-wise glimpse of a calm and unresponsive face beneath a scarlet Tam; and evidently realizing that she had become a mere support to the maid who owned her, uttered her protest. "Bra-a-ay! Ah-umph! Ah-umph--umph--mph--ph--h!" Amy read on. Pepita changed her tactics. She began to double herself together in a fashion disconcerting to most riders; whereupon Amy simply drew her own limbs up out of harm's way and waited for the burro's anatomy to settle itself in a heap on the ground. "All right, honey." Then she resumed her book, and the beast her meditations. Thus they remained until the rumble of an approaching wagon caused the now submissive animal to rise and move aside out of the road.