Once more a flood of moonlight and a night or two when "Old Fiddlestrings" wandered up and down the road playing the "Serenade" and then the first of September was blazoned¹ on the calendar and on the fields of Rainbow Hill. The summer was virtually over.  
Jack² went away hilariously³ for a brief fishing trip with his father before the Eastshore schools should open; and to the delight of his mother and sisters, Doctor Hugh came out to stay till they were ready to go back with him, a matter of ten days or so, for school would be in session by the middle of the month.
 
Finding Sarah in a sad state from violent crying on his arrival the day of Bony's departure, Doctor Hugh was soon in possession of the Gays' story; and he not only succeeded in persuading Louisa and Alec to accept the money Sarah's sacrifice had obtained, but he also managed to give them a more wholesome⁴ outlook on the world in general. Although Alec and Louisa were naturally reluctant to accept Sarah's money, when they were finally persuaded, their relief was plain. Now they had enough cash in hand to meet the dreaded⁵ interest payment. Alec insisted that the money from Sarah was to be regarded as a loan and Doctor Hugh agreed to this.
 
"All right," said Sarah when this arrangement was explained to her, "but I don't want to see Bony—not ever any more."
 
Alec had told her that the pig would probably be brought to the farm to spend the winter and had offered to drive to Eastshore some day and bring her back to see her pet. Sarah's refusal was unmistakable; the parting once made, she was not minded to harrow her feelings again.
 
Rosemary found Louisa a diligent⁶ pupil and the knitted spread was soon under way. Louisa's pet ambition was to buy a good flock of hens and raise chickens. The money earned from the spread, or spreads she might make, she confided⁷ to Rosemary, was to be saved toward this venture.
 
"We haven't had our picnic yet," said Doctor Hugh one morning at the breakfast table. "We must have one before we go back to town. Let's ask the Gays and the Hildreths and Warren and Richard—next week will be a good time."
 
And then for a few days a round of emergency calls kept him so busy he forgot that such things as picnics were ever held.
 
Bringing the car around a few mornings later, intending to take his mother and Winnie in to look at the remodeled house, he found Sarah and Shirley placidly⁸ seated behind the wheel when he came out from breakfast.
 
"You can't go this time—there isn't room," he informed them pleasantly. "Hop⁹ out—here come Mother and Winnie."
 
"You said we could go next time and this is next time," insisted Sarah.
 
There were tears of disappointment in Shirley's eyes, but she climbed out of the car in response to a second look from Doctor Hugh. Sarah, however, clung to the wheel and had to be lifted out bodily.
 
"You're too old to act like this," said her brother sternly. "It is important that Mother and Winnie go with me this morning—they were going yesterday and then I had to put them off to go in to the hospital; suppose Mother scowled¹⁰ the way you do, Sarah, when things didn't go to suit her."
 
Rosemary came out to see them off and Mrs. Willis and Winnie waved as though nothing had happened. Doctor Hugh suddenly swooped¹¹ down upon Sarah, lifted her high in his arms and kissed her. With another swift kiss for Shirley, he was back in the car before the angry Sarah could recover from her astonishment¹². The car rolled down the road and left her standing¹³ glaring after it.
 
Sarah was exceedingly put out and she did not attempt to disguise her state of mind. Rosemary, finding it impossible to win her to a more reasonable point of view, went indoors to finish the odds¹⁴ and ends of work Winnie had had to leave undone¹⁵. This left Shirley to Sarah, and Sarah was like the disgruntled sailor who deliberately¹⁶ incites¹⁷ mutiny.
 
"I want to be bad!" she told Shirley passionately¹⁸. "Let's think of something awful and go do it!"
 
Shirley could not think of anything, unfortunately, that is unfortunately from Sarah's point of view.
 
"I know!" cried that small sinner, after a moment's thought. "We can go in the tool house."
 
Sarah had remembered what Warren had said when they first came to the farm—that the tool house was forbidden ground. He had also warned them against going into the windmill.
 
"Come on, Shirley," cried the naughty Sarah. "We'll look at the old tools—we won't hurt 'em."
 
She found she had reckoned without the canny¹⁹ Mr. Hildreth, when she reached the tool house. It was securely locked and no amount of tampering²⁰ could make any impression on the stout²¹ padlock.
 
"Come on, we'll go up in the windmill," said Sarah, not to be balked²².
 
She would have found it hard to explain what satisfaction disobeying Mr. Hildreth and Warren gave her, when her anger was really directed toward her brother. However, she may have reasoned that doing something she knew was wrong was one sure way to plague Doctor Hugh.
 
Shirley obediently trotted²³ after her sister to the graceful²⁴ red shingled²⁵ tower that enclosed the iron framework of the windmill. Alas²⁶, for once in his busy life, Mr. Hildreth had inspected the pump and left the door unlocked. Sarah had merely to open it and fold it back and the interior of the mill was revealed to her.
 
"We'll play it's a robbers' cave, Shirley," suggested Sarah. "It's nice and dark."
 
She was minded to climb the enticing²⁷ iron ladder, but fearful lest Shirley develop an obstinate²⁸ streak²⁹ and refuse, she had decided³⁰ to begin with a milder amusement.
 
"I'll be the robber chief, Shirley," she went on—Sarah had a fondness for such plays and her brother often said that she would have had a wonderful time as a boy. "I'll be the robber chief," she repeated, "and you drag in the loot."
 
"What's loot?" asked Shirley hopefully, having a vague idea that it was something one ate.
 
"Loot is what we steal from the noble lords and ladies," Sarah asserted with a faint memory of old firelight stories.
 
"But where do we get it?" the literal-minded Shirley demanded.
 
"Oh, we go out and hunt for it," said Sarah. "Don't let anybody see you—remember we're robbers."
 
And she opened the windmill door cautiously and peered out.
 
There was no one in sight and the two little girls crept out and sped to the nearest tree with a delicious sense of excitement. If they had turned around and seen someone chasing them, they would not have been surprised.
 
"Take a stone," said Sarah. "Take a stone for loot. A little one, Shirley—that one by your foot."
 
Shirley picked it up and dropped it immediately with a little cry.
 
"Did you drop it on your foot?" asked Sarah.
 
"What's the matter?"
 
"Horrid³¹, nasty little bugs³² under that," Shirley announced, pointing with a dainty pink forefinger³³ at the stone sh............