Teams were being backed away from the hitching-rack, and much chatting of neighbors was everywhere. Jim Shirley was not at church today, and Jo saw Leigh Shirley going alone toward the farther end of the rack where her buggy stood, while three or four young men were rushing to untie her horse. Jo, turning to speak to some neighbors, did not notice who had outdistanced the others in this country church courtesy until she realized that the crowd was going, and down the deserted hitching line Leigh Shirley sat in her buggy talking with Thaine, who was standing beside it with his foot on the step, looking up earnestly into her face. Jo was no better pleased that Leigh's face was like a fair picture under her white hat, and she felt her own cheeks flushing as she saw how cool and poised and unhurried her little neighbor appeared. "Thank you, Thaine. All right. Don't forget, then," Jo heard her say as she gathered up the reins, and noted that it was her motion and not the young man's that cut short the interview. "Leigh is a leech when she has the chance," Jo said jokingly, as the two sat in the Aydelot buggy at last. When one has grown up from babyhood the ruling spirit in a neighborhood, her opinions are to be accepted. Thaine gave Jo a quick look but said nothing. "By the way, papa says Jim isn't very well this summer. Says he still grieves over the farm he lost. Leigh hasn't much ahead of her, nailed down to a chicken lot and a cow pasture and a garden. I wonder they don't move to town. She'd get a clerkship, maybe." Thaine only waited, and Jo ran on. "I'd never stay in the country a minute if I could get to town. I'll be glad when papa's elected treasurer, so we can live in Careyville again. Poor Leigh. Doesn't she look like a drudge?" Still Thaine was silent. "Why don't you say something?" Jo demanded, looking coquettishly at him. "About what?" he asked gravely. "About Leigh. I don't want to do all the gossiping. Tell me what you think of her." "It would take a Cyclopedia Britannica set of volumes to do that," Thaine replied. "Oh, be serious and answer my questions," Jo demanded. "'Doesn't she look like a drudge?' What kind of an answer--information or just my opinion?" "Oh, your opinion, of course," Jo said. "If she looks like a drudge, it's what she is." The young man's eyes were on his team. "I thought you liked her," Jo insisted. "I do," Thaine replied. "How much, pray?" "I haven't measured yet." Thaine Aydelot was by inheritance a handsome young fellow, and as he turned now to his companion, something in his countenance gave it a manliness not usual to his happy-go-lucky expression. But the same unpenetrable something beyond which no one could see was always on his face when Jo talked of Leigh. "How much do you like me?" The query was daringly put, but the beauty of the girl's striking face seemed to warrant anything from her lips, however daring.