Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/113

 "Good-by;" and it was time for July to make her appearance.

The few sticks which boiled the porridge had blackened into ashes upon the hearth, and the children sat hand in hand in the open doorway. A breeze was stirring. Sweet smells came on its wings from the woods. It was the warmest evening yet, and the first upon which the fire had been suffered to go utterly out.

By and by they saw July coming. She had taken off her hat for coolness, and was fanning herself with the broad brim. It was made of the leaves of some foreign tree, and shaded her bright, sunburnt face like a green roof. Thekla privately thought that it must have been taken off a good many times before, or July wouldn't be so brown.

"Well, I'm glad to get here," she said, seating herself and flapping the hat to and fro: "it's almost too warm for long walks. Not that I can afford to sit still in any case: I'm too active