There were so many dear delights along the golden road to give us pleasure--the earth dappled with new blossom, the dance of shadows in the fields, the rustling, rain-wet ways of the woods, the faint fragrance in meadow lanes, liltings of birds and croon of bees in the old orchard, windy pipings on the hills, sunset behind the pines, limpid dews filling primrose cups, crescent moons through darklings boughs, soft nights alight with blinking stars.

We enjoyed all these boons, unthinkingly and light-heartedly, as children do.

And besides these, there was the absorbing little drama of human life which was being enacted all around us, and in which each of us played a satisfying part--the gay preparations for Aunt Olivia's mid-June wedding, the excitement of practising for the concert with which our school-teacher, Mr.Perkins, had elected to close the school year, and Cecily's troubles with Cyrus Brisk, which furnished unholy mirth for the rest of us, though Cecily could not see the funny side of it at all.
Matters went from bad to worse in the case of the irrepressible Cyrus.
He continued to shower Cecily with notes, the spelling of which showed no improvement; he worried the life out of her by constantly threatening to fight Willy Fraser--although, as Felicity sarcastically pointed out, he never did it.
"But I'm always afraid he will," said Cecily, "and it would be such a DISGRACE to have two boys fighting over me in school." "You must have encouraged Cyrus a little in the beginning or he'd never have been so persevering," said Felicity unjustly.
"I never did!" cried outraged Cecily.

"You know very well, Felicity King, that I hated Cyrus Brisk ever since the very first time I saw his big, fat, red face.

So there!" "Felicity is just jealous because Cyrus didn't take a notion to her instead of you, Sis," said Dan.
"Talk sense!" snapped Felicity.
"If I did you wouldn't understand me, sweet little sister," rejoined aggravating Dan.
Finally Cyrus crowned his iniquities by stealing the denied lock of Cecily's hair.