"I dunno why I feel so upset all the time lately," she said one afternoon to Ray as, returning from the berry field, they halted on top of the ridge to scan the lake below. "Some o' the time I feel so happy I want to sing, 'n' then I feel jes' t'other way, 'n' like cryin'. When the good spell is on, everything looks so purty, 'n' when I come on to a bunch o' posies, then I feel I must go right down on my knees 'n' kiss 'em. When I was at Tim's Place, I never thought about anything 'cept to get my work done 'n' keep from gettin' cussed 'n' licked. I was scart, too, most o' the time, 'n' kept feelin' suthin awful was goin' to happen to me. Now that's 'most gone, but I feel a heartache in place on't. I allus hev a spell o' feelin' so every mornin' when I wake up 'n' hear the birds singin'. They 'fect me so that I'm near cryin' 'fore I git up. You 'n' Mis' Frisbie 'n' everybody's been so good to me, I guess it's made me silly. Then thar's 'nother thing worries me, an' that's goin' to the settlement whar you folks is from. I feel I kin sorter earn my keepin' here, but I s'pose I can't thar, 'n' that bothers me. If only you 'n' all the rest was goin' to stay here all the time 'n' I could work some, same as I do now, an' be with you odd spells 'n' evenin's, I'd be so happy. It 'ud be jest like the spot Old Tomah said we're goin' to when we die. He used to tell how 'twas summer thar all the time, with game plenty, berries ripe, flowers growin', too, all the year 'round, 'n' birds singin'. He believed thar was two places somewhar: one for white folks and one fer Injuns; that when we died we turned into spites, stayed 'round till we got revenge for everything bad done us, or got a chance to pay up what good we owed for." "I don't know where we go to when we quit this world, and neither does anybody else, I believe," Ray answered philosophically, and scarce understanding Chip's mood. "I believe, as Old Cy does, that the time to be happy is when we are young and can be; that when we are ready to leave this world is time enough for another one. As to your worrying about your going to Greenvale," he added confidently, and encircling Chip's waist with one arm, "why, you've got me to look out for you, and then Angie won't begrudge you your keep, so don't think about that." And then this young optimist, quite content with what the gods had provided in this maid of sweet lip and appealing eye, assured her she had everything to make her happy, including himself for companion; that all her moody spells were merely memories of Tim's Place, best forgotten, and much more of equally tender and silly import. Not for one instant did he realize the growing independence and self-reliance of this wilderness waif, or how the first feeling that she was a burden upon these kind people would chafe and vex her defiant nature, until she would scorn even love, to escape it.