Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/156

 ter past four; and as Charlotte walked up the street to her aunt's house, it gave her a pleasant sense of content to see the people whom she knew so well.

"I wonder what they'll say about the championship," she thought. "Here comes Mr. Evans. I wonder if he'll want to stop."

But Mr. Evans, the ice man, passed right on with a friendly "Hello Charlotte."

"And here comes Deacon Kingsley, as busy as ever," she thought. "Surely he'll say something."

But all the busy deacon had to say was a busy "How do you do, Charlotte?"

She began to think it over. "I suppose it's because they take me as a matter of course," she said to herself, "just the same as I take them. For all I know, Mr. Evans may be the best fox hunter in Windham County, and Deacon Kingsley, the champion checker