The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wheat and Huckleberries, by Charlotte Marion (White) Vaile, Illustrated by Alice Barber Stevens

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Title: Wheat and Huckleberries

Dr. Northmore's Daughters

Author: Charlotte Marion (White) Vaile

Release Date: November 30, 2012 [eBook #41515]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEAT AND HUCKLEBERRIES***

E-text prepared by Roger Frank
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)

“MORTON FOUND TIME TO ANSWER ALL HER QUESTIONS.”

ILLUSTRATIONS

• “Morton found time to answer all her questions”
• “He leaned on the gate when he had opened it for the girls”
• “She opened the door in person”
• “Tom and Kate watched them go”
• “‘It has been delightful to see you in this lovely old home’”

CHAPTER I—HARVEST AT THE FARM

Just how Dr. Philip Northmore came to be the owner of a farm had never been quite clear to his fellow-townsmen. That he had bought it—that pretty stretch of upland five miles from Rushmore—in some settlement with a friend, who owed him more money than he could ever pay, was the open fact, but how the doctor had believed it to be a good investment for himself was the question. The opportunity to pay interest on a mortgage and make improvements on those charming acres at the expense of his modest professional income was the main part of what he got out of it. The doctor, as everybody knew, had no genius for making money.

However, he had never lamented his purchase. On the principle perhaps which makes the child who draws most heavily on parental care the object of dearest affection, this particular possession seemed to be the one on which the good doctor prided himself most. Its fine location and natural beauty were points on which he grew eloquent, and he sometimes referred to its peaceful cultivation as the employment in which he hoped to spend his own declining years, an expectation which it is safe to say none of his acquaintances shared with him.

So much for Dr.