Out of Step a Novel

in somewhat breathless, but in spite of her red face and her flying hair there was an air of importance about her. She swung her bag of school-books on to the end of the kitchen table with a thump. Ill bet a dollar you cant guess what I know she exclaimed. Her mother was kneading bread dough at the other end of the table. She paused in that operation to look admiringly at her daughter, who was sixteen and a bright light in the high-school in the village, two miles away. This daughter was not, however, in spite of her advancement in the teens, much burdened with dignity, for she leaned half her length on the table that she might reach a dish of dried apples which Mrs. Scudder had just been picking over. The girl put her white young teeth into a thick piece of the fruit then she threw the bit across the room into the sink. I do believe, she cried, that dried apple is the chewingest thing on the face of the earth. You neednt waste them apples, if they be tough, said her mother, with more admiration than reproof in her manner. Oh, I guess we shant fail if we do lose a few, responded the girl, sitting down and resting her arms on the table. She glanced towards the dining-room where the table was set. I do hope youve got something good for supper, and a lot of it. Im as hungry as a thousand bears. 6 Veyre goin to have thickened toast n rhubarb pie, her mother answered. oh, goody B want a boiled egg with my toast. I tell you what, mother, a girl cant go to high - school and cram, and then walk two miles home without something to build up the tissues. She cant do it. Corn, commonly called Nely, gave her little schoolgirl laugh as she finished this speech. Her mother smiled more admiringly than ever. IVhat be tissues she asked. Oh, something we have inside of us, and that have to be built up all the time, replied the girl. Is that so We didnt have no tissues inside of us when I went to school, said Mrs. Scudder. Of course not. They were not invented then. But, I say, mother, you cant guess what I know, returning to her first remark. Youre gittin to know so many things, Nely, that I dont see how I can even give a guess, said the mother, with proud humility. Oh, tisnt anything I learned at school, disclaimed Nely, but who do you spose is going to be our first assistant Miss Riddles got to go away. Now, who do you thinks going to take her place Mrs. Scudder paused in her painstaking working of the dough. Somebody I know she asked...