"And you are not tired?" asked the doctor. [Illustration: Her eyes had a remote expression as if she had been awakened from a dream.--Page 136.] "No, no, I am not tired. Why should I be? This was my work for to-day. If I had been tired, I could not have done it." The doctor looked at her curiously. "You believe, then, you are given strength for each day's task?" Phoebe did not reply. She was not accustomed to conversation and it was impossible to find words in which to express herself. She turned her dark beautiful eyes on him with a gaze that was almost disconcerting while searching her mind for an answer. The doctor put his question in a different way. "When it's your day's work to take a long walk across the mountain in the hot sun, what keeps you from getting tired?" "I sing," answered Phoebe, and settled back in the seat between Elinor and Ben, her brown hands folded loosely in her lap. The ride over to meet the new maid was intended to be something in the nature of a picnic, and they had made an early start in order to eat lunch in the woods after the first stage of the journey. And now, as the sun crept up toward the meridian, their appetites began to clamor for food. About that time, too, they came near to the road which led to the Antlers, where Phoebe hoped to sell some of her baskets. She lifted the big basket into her lap and touched Billie on the shoulder as a dumb signal to stop. "But we are not going to let you go, Phoebe," exclaimed Billie. "You must lunch with us in the woods. Then we'll have time I think to drop you at the Antlers and stop for you again on the way back." "I do not see why Miss Phoebe needs to visit the inn at all," put in Dr. Hume. "I wanted to get presents for my nieces and nephews. I will buy the basketful and that will save me no end of trouble searching for things in the village." Phoebe thoughtfully considered these generous and hospitable propositions before she replied with great seriousness of tone and manner: "Thank you, but it is too much; I cannot accept. It is too much." "But it is not, Phoebe," protested Billie. "We want you. We like to have you with us." "And I want the baskets, too," went on the doctor. "It will save me a hot, stupid journey to the village." Phoebe looked from one to the other. Her pride was struggling with her yearning to be with these new and wonderful friends. "We won't take 'No'," cried Billie. "We are depending on you to show us a good place for our picnic and you can guide us over the last of the road to the station. You see, we have a reason for asking you. We want your help."