40 FOREST FANCIES 



fire had burned out, and an empty caldron 

 hung over the ashes; but near by, in a puz- 

 zling row, stood shining cans of golden sirup. 



''Done from start to finish I" he exclaimed. 



Farmer Brier could not account for this, yet 

 did not deny what he could not explain. He 

 simply accepted facts, and went home to his 

 breakfast. 



A rainy day came into the midst of the sir- 

 up-making, when only Farmer Brier and 

 Uncle Isaac worked in the sugar bush, but in 

 the afternoon they covered up caldron and ket- 

 tle and left the grove to the beating rain. 



Nani, hidden all the morning in a hollow 

 tree, now strolled lonesomely through the 

 maple grove. Sometimes she peeped through 

 the trees on the edge of the wood at the snug 

 farmhouse nestled under the hill, and by- 

 and-by she sat down on a sheltered log to watch 

 Dick and Dotty May romping on the porch. 

 She could see Farmer Brier and Uncle Isaac 

 at work, and hear Aunt Miranda call to the 

 hungry fowls. Another figure, too, she saw 

 through the veil of rain, a comfortable, moth- 



