Winning Her Way 



A STORY OF A CHANGE OF HEART 

 "BY EBEN E. REX FORD 



Chapter V. — ( Continued.) 



MR. PERKIA^S raised the ladder and 

 put it in place. Presently a pair 

 of bare feet came into view on 

 the upper rounds^ and shortly these grew 

 into legs, and then into a boy. Poor Joe 

 came down without looking towards the 

 door where Miss Betty stood. 



"W-w-what ha' ye b-b-be'n up to now ?" 

 demanded his father, as the descent of 

 the ladder landed him on the barn floor. 



Joe made no reply. He knew he "was 

 in for it/' and he decided to "suffer and 

 be still." 



"M-m-miss P-P-Peabody says you s-s- 

 sassed her/' stuttered Mr. Perkins. "D- 

 didn't ye know b-b-better'n to do that? 

 H-hain't I b-b-bro't ye up to t-t-treat folks 

 with respect? ^v'-now ye'r g-g-goin' to 

 ketch it." 



And poor Joe did catch it. The willow 

 switch did effective work in the hands 

 of his angry parent. Joe set his teeth 

 sharply together, and accepted his "trounc- 

 ing" in stoical silence. But he was making 

 a vow to himself to get even with Miss 

 Betty. The thought of her, as she ap- 

 peared when on the top of the old stone 

 heap, helped him to bear his punishment 

 with more fortitude than he might other- 

 wise have done. 



"T-t-there !" said Mr. Perkins, at last. 

 ^^I-I-I hope that's l-l-l'arnt ye somethin'. 

 I-I-I hope you're satisfied, M-m-miss Pea- 

 body." 



"I be," responded Miss Betty. "I've 

 enjoyed the performance real well. I 

 sh'ldn't wonder if the switch made an im- 

 pression on his back, if it didn't on his 

 mind. Good mornin', Joe," as the boy 

 sidled past her without turning his face 

 that way. "Feel kind as if 01' Bruiser'd 

 had somethin' to do with ye, don't ye ?" 



Joe did not deign to reply to this re- 

 mark of Miss Betty's, but kept on his way 

 toward the barn door. As soon as he 

 reached it he started into a run, and was 

 out of sight over the hill in next to no 

 time. His long fast made him anxious 

 to get where there was something to eat 

 as soon as possible. 



The thought of how she had "got the 

 start" on poor Joe afforded Miss Betty 

 a great deal of satisfaction all the rest of 

 the day. It almost made her feel good- 

 natured, in a grim way, toward Mary. 



Chapter Y1. 



BOB HAET made frequent visits to 

 the Peabody farm, and Mary was 

 always glad when she heard his 

 ringing whistle as he came over the hill. 



A day or two after Miss Betty's adven- 

 ture with Old Bruiser and Joe Perkins, 

 Bob presented himself at the orchard ren- 

 dezvous with one black eye and a gash on 

 his cheek. His nose was considerably 

 larger than usual, also. 



^'Why, what's happened to you?" asked 

 Mary. 



"Oh. nothin' much," answered Bob, 

 carelessly. 



"It must have been considerable," said 

 Mary, as she looked him over. "What 

 have you been doing, Bob ?" 



"Well, if you insist on knowin', I'll tell 

 you," answered Bob. "I twitted Joe Per- 

 kins about that scrape he got into with 

 Miss Betty, an' he got mad an' hit me. 

 That's what ails my eye an' my nose an' 

 the rest o' my face. How d'ye like the 

 looks of it?" 



"How does he look?" asked Mary, 

 laughing in spite of herself at Bob's bat- 

 tered visage. 



"Oh, he looks all right," answered Bob. 

 "You see, he got the best of it. I thought 



