Unhappy Days

"Now what?" asked Millie, who was in the room with Mrs. Reist and
Amanda.

"I've been appointed to a place in the bank at Lancaster."

"Good! I'm so glad, Martin!" cried the girl with genuine interest and
joy. "It's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"Yes. But I would never have landed it so soon if it hadn't been for
Mr. Souders, Isabel's father. He's influential in the city and he
helped me along. Now it's up to me to make good."

"You'll do that, I'm sure you will!" came the spontaneous reply.

Martin looked at the bright, friendly face of Amanda. "Why," he
thought, "how pleased she is! She's a great little pal." For a moment
the renewed friendliness of childhood days was awakened in him.

"Say, Amanda," he said, "we haven't had a good tramp for ages. I've
been so busy with school"--he flushed, thinking of the city girl to
whom he had been giving so much of his time--"and--well, I've been at
it pretty hard for a while. Now I'll just keep on with my
correspondence work but I'll have a little more time. Shall we take a
tramp Sunday afternoon?"

"If you want to," the girl responded, her heart pounding with pleasure.

Amanda dressed her prettiest for that winter tramp. She remembered
Queen Esther, who had put on royal apparel to win the favor of the
king. The country girl, always making the most of her good features and
coloring, was simply, yet becomingly dressed when she met Martin in the
Reist sitting-room. In her brown suit, little brown hat pulled over her
red hair, a brown woolly scarf thrown over her shoulders, she looked
like a creature of the woodland she loved.