"Now go! If anything gets after you that such a big girl as you really wouldn't be ashamed to be afraid of, climb on a fence and call.
I'll be listening, and I'll come flying.

Now I must hurry.

Father will think it's going to take me the remainder of the day to find the bolts he wants." We went down the front walk between the rows of hollyhocks and tasselled lady-slippers, out the gate, and followed the road.

Laddie held one of my hands tight, and in the other I gripped the letter in my pocket.

So long as Laddie could see me, and the lane lay between open fields, I wasn't afraid.