Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp | Page 7

head, dear," said Nan.
"You know, I'm a famous 'massagist.' Come do, dear."
"If you like, honey."
Thus it was that, a little later, when Mr. Sherwood came home with feet
that dragged more than usual on this evening, he opened the door upon
a very beautiful picture indeed.
His wife's hair was "a glory of womanhood," for it made a tent all about
her, falling quite to the floor as she sat in her low chair. Out of this
canopy she looked up at the brawny, serious man, roguishly.
"Am I not a lazy, luxurious person, Papa Sherwood?" she demanded.
"Nan is becoming a practical maid, and I presume I put upon the child
dreadfully, she is good-natured, like you, Robert."
"Aye, I know our Nan gets all her good qualities from me, Jessie," said
her husband. "If she favored you she would, of course, be a very hateful
child."
He kissed his wife tenderly. As Nan said, he always "cleaned up" at the
mills and "came home kissable."
"I ought to be just next door to an angel, if I absorbed the virtues of
both my parents," declared Nan briskly, beginning to braid the
wonderful hair which she had already brushed. "I often think of that."
Her father poked her tentatively under the shoulder blades with a blunt
forefinger, making her squirm.
"I don't feel the wings sprouting yet, Nancy," he said, in his dry way.
"I hope not, yet!" exclaimed the girl. "I'd have to have a new winter
coat if you did, and I know we can't afford that just now."
"You never said a truer word, Nan," replied Mr. Sherwood, his voice
dropping to a less cheerful level, as he went away to change his coat
and light the hanging lamp in the dining room where the supper table
was already set.
Mother and daughter looked at each other rather ruefully.
"Oh, dear me!" whispered Nan. "I never do open my mouth but I put
my foot in it!"
"Goodness!" returned her mother, much amused. "That is an acrobatic
feat that I never believed you capable of, honey."
"We-ell! I reminded Papa Sherwood of our hard luck instead of being
bright and cheerful like you."
"We will give him a nice supper, honey, and make him forget his

troubles. Time enough to call to order the ways and means committee
afterward." Her husband came back into the kitchen as Nan finished
arranging the hair. "Come, Papa Sherwood!" cried the little lady. "Hot
biscuit; the last of the honey; sweet pickles; sliced cold ham; and a
beautiful big plum cake that our Nan made this morning before school
time, her own self. You MUST smile at all those dainties."
And the husband and father smiled. They all made an effort to help
each other. But they knew that with the loss of his work would
doubtless come the loss of the home. During the years that had elapsed,
Mr. Sherwood had paid in part for the cottage; but now the property
was deteriorating instead of advancing in value. He could not increase
the mortgage upon it. Prompt payment of interest half-yearly was
demanded. And how could he meet these payments, not counting living
expenses, when his income was entirely cut off?
Mr. Sherwood was forty-five years old, an age at which it is difficult
for a man to take up a new trade, or to obtain new employment at his
old one.

Chapter III
"FISHING"
Nan told of Bess Harley's desire to have her chum accompany her to
Lakeview Hall the following autumn, as a good joke.
"I hope I'll be in some good situation by that time," she said to her
mother, confidentially, "helping, at least, to support myself instead of
being a burden upon father and you."
"It's very unselfish of you to propose that, honey," replied her mother.
"But, perhaps, such a sacrifice as the curtailment of your education will
not be required of you."
"But, my DEAR!" gasped Nan. "I couldn't go to Lakeview Hall. It
would cost, why! a pile!"
"I don't know how much a pile is, translated into coin of the realm,
honey," responded Mrs. Sherwood with her low, sweet laugh. "But the
only thing we can give our dear daughter, your father and I, is an
education. That you MUST have to enable you to support yourself
properly when your father can do no more for you."
"But I s'pose I've already had as much education as most girls in

Tillbury get. So many of them go into the mills and factories at my age.
If they can get along, I suppose I can."
"Hush!" begged her mother quickly. "Don't speak of such a thing. I
couldn't bear to have you obliged to undertake your own support in any