Allison turned toward him, his eyes again quizzical. "I suppose so," he admitted. "In the general course of things it'll come, no doubt, but----" The boy interrupted him, shaking his head. "It's goin' to come before mornin'," he stated inflectionlessly, "and it's comin' to stay fer a spell, too!" And Allison did not try to hide his broad grin of amusement. "You think so, do you, sonny?" he dismissed the matter not unkindly. "Well, at that, your guess when it comes to the weather, is about as good as the next man's." Once more the boy shook his head. "I ain't guessin'," he finished unabashed. "Ner I ain't thinkin' it will. It'll jest be rainin', come sun-up, and it'll be good for 'til Wednesday, fer sure!" Caleb, watching the boy's face, was on the point of offering to wager two bits with Allison that the prophecy held good, but Sarah's well-known attitude toward the vice of gambling checked him in the rash offer. Besides, he wondered how he could make sound anything but foolish an offer to back the certainty of a weather forecast which was based upon nothing but the unassuming and quiet finality of the prophet. Barbara Allison insisted upon joining the excursion down to the mill that morning; she developed a sudden and unshakable resolve to be one of the party, and after his remonstrances had finally brought stormy tears to her eyes, Allison surrendered in perplexity to her whim. "All right, then," he gave in. "If you want to come as much as all that, but--but you--now run along, then, with Stephen." On the way down the hill he voiced his perplexity to Caleb. "When it comes to dealing with men," he said, "I pride myself upon being able to go back, rather incisively, to first motives. But the other sex is beyond me! She's always turned up her dainty nose at the noise and dirt before, and--and now she's ready to cry because I suggest that she wait with Miss Sarah until we return!" Caleb's eyes rested upon the oddly matched little couple ahead in the road. The boy was carrying his battered hat in his hand, but Barbara walked with small head up, without a single glance for her escort. Caleb, noting that Steve's head was forward-thrust, knew that his eyes must be fastened hungrily upon the town in the valley; and he understood the reason for the disdainful tilt of the little girl's chin. For even at the age of ten Barbara Allison was not accustomed to inattention. Caleb smiled, rather covertly for him. "I never knew but one woman whose motives were absolutely transparent," he mused. "And she--she was the most uninteresting, unsuccessful female person I ever did know."