[Illustration: “Tell me more; it is so long since we talked together”] THE STORY OF WAITSTILL BAXTER By Kate Douglas Wiggin With illustrations by H. M. Brett Copyright 1913, by Kate Douglas Riggs All Rights Reserved Published October 1913 TO MY HUSBAND CONTENTS SPRING I. SACO WATER II. THE SISTERS III. DEACON BAXTER'S WIVES IV. SOMETHING OF A HERO V. PATIENCE AND IMPATIENCE VI. A KISS VII. WHAT DREAMS MAY COME SUMMER VIII. THE JOINER'S SHOP IX. CEPHAS SPEAKS X. ON TORY HILL XI. A JUNE SUNDAY XII. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER XIII. HAYING TIME XIV. UNCLE BART DISCOURSES XV. IVORY'S MOTHER XVI. LOCKED OUT AUTUMN XVII. A BRACE OF LOVERS XVIII. A STATE O' MAINE PROPHET XIX. AT THE BRICK STORE XX. THE ROD THAT BLOSSOMED XXI. LOIS BURIES HER DEAD XXII. HARVEST-TIME XXIII. AUNT ABBY'S WINDOW XXIV. PHOEBE TRIUMPHS XXV. LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM WINTER XXVI. A WEDDING-RING XXVII. THE CONFESSIONAL XXVIII. PATTY IS SHOWN THE DOOR XXIX. WAITSTILL SPEAKS HER MIND XXX. A CLASH OF WILLS XXXI. SENTRY DUTY XXXII. THE HOUSE OF AARON XXXIII. AARON'S ROD XXXIV. THE DEACON'S WATERLOO XXXV. TWO HEAVENS THE STORY OF WAITSTILL BAXTER SPRING I. SACO WATER FAR, far up, in the bosom of New Hampshire's granite hills, the Saco has its birth. As the mountain rill gathers strength it takes “Through Bartlett's vales its tuneful way, Or hides in Conway's fragrant brakes Retreating from the glare of day.” Now it leaves the mountains and flows through “green Fryeburg's woods and farms.” In the course of its frequent turns and twists and bends, it meets with many another stream, and sends it, fuller and stronger, along its rejoicing way. When it has journeyed more than a hundred miles and is nearing the ocean, it greets the Great Ossipee River and accepts its crystal tribute. Then, in its turn, the Little Ossipee joins forces, and the river, now a splendid stream, flows onward to Bonny Eagle, to Moderation and to Salmon Falls, where it dashes over the dam like a young Niagara and hurtles, in a foamy torrent, through the ragged defile cut between lofty banks of solid rock. Widening out placidly for a moment's rest in the sunny reaches near Pleasant Point, it gathers itself for a new plunge at Union Falls, after which it speedily merges itself in the bay and is fresh water no more. At one of the falls on the Saco, the two little hamlets of Edgewood and Riverboro nestle together at the bridge and make one village. The stream is a wonder of beauty just here; a mirror of placid loveliness above the dam, a tawny, roaring wonder at the fall, and a mad, white-flecked torrent as it dashes on its way to the ocean.