VALLEY

254 RAINBOW VALLEYgoodmackerel catch if he had not so sent the firstfruits of the season.Lida was a mite of ten and looked younger, becauseshe was such a small, wizened little creature. Tonight,as she sidled boldly enough upto the mansegirls, she looked as if she had never been warm sinceshe was born. Her face was purple and her pale-blue,bold little eyes were red and watery. She wore a tatteredprint dress and a ragged woollen comforter, tiedacross her thin shoulders and under her arms.She hadwalked the three miles from the harbour mouth barefooted,over a road where there was still snow andslush and mud. Her feet and legs were as purple asher face. But Lida did not mind this much. She wasused to being cold, and she had been going barefootedfor a month already, like all the other swarming youngThere was no self-pity infry of the fishing village.her heart as she sat down on the tombstone andat Faith and Una. Faith and Unagrinned cheerfullygrinned cheerfully back. They knew Lida slightly,having met her once or twice the preceding summerwhen they had gone down the harbour with theBlythes."Hello!" said Lida, "ain't this a fierce kind of anight? 'Taint fit for a dog to be out,"Then why are you out?" asked Faith."Pa made me bring you up some herring," returnedLida.is it?"She shivered, coughed, and stuck out her bare