CHAPTER XVIII
Mary Brings Evil Tidings
MARY VANCE, whom Mrs. Elliott had sent up to the manse on an errand, came tripping down Rainbow Valley on her way to Ingleside where she was to spend the afternoon with Nan and Di as a Saturday treat. Nan and Di had been picking spruce gum with Faith and Una in the manse woods and the four of them were now sitting on a fallen pine by the brook, all, it must be admitted, chewing rather vigorously. The Ingleside twins were not allowed to chew spruce gum anywhere but in the seclusion of Rainbow Valley, but Faith and Una were quite unrestricted by such rules of etiquette and cheerfully chewed it everywhere, at home and abroad, to the very proper horror of the Glen. Faith had been seen chewing it in church one day; but Jerry had realized the enormity of that, and had given her such an older-brotherly scolding that she never did it again.
"I was so hungry I just felt as if I had to chew something," she protested. "You know well enough what breakfast was like, Jerry Meredith. I couldn't eat scorched porridge and my stomach just felt so queer and empty. The gum helped a lot—and I didn't
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