Page:Saxe Holm's Stories, Series Two.djvu/210

200 wonder if we should love Ally any less if she did n't have that stone?" I said to myself, as I pondered her words and looks.

The thaw was rapid and general. Not for years had such a body of snow disappeared so quickly. The river rose alarmingly; even little pools became dangerous. A large part of the village was under water. One feeble old man was actually drowned at the foot of his own garden, and for a few hours there was great cause for alarm; but the waters fell as fast as they had risen; a high wind rose and blew steadily for three days, and at the end of a week the whole country lay bare and dry, with a tender green tint everywhere struggling through the brown. Dr. Miller had not forgotten the trip to Black Ledge. While the freshet was at its height he ran in one morning to say, "Boys, if this lasts we can go to Black Ledge by Saturday. The snow 'll be all gone."

"And me, too?" said Ally. "Will you take me?"

"No, indeed, Pussy," said the Doctor. "It will be too wet and muddy."

"But you can't find Stonie's friends without me," said Ally. "I know you can't. Don't you know, Mr. Will, you could n't see Stonie, look all you could, and there he was right in plain sight all the time. Don't you remember?"

True, so it was. Again a vague distrust and fear