And Sidney went upstairs and put away a single white carnation very carefully . In the second place , Mrs. Hill was saying to her eldest son , `` I liked that Miss Seeley very much . She seemed a very sweet girl . '' And , finally , Agnes Walters and Edna Hayden were discussing the matter in great mystification in their room . `` I ca n't understand it at all , '' said Agnes slowly . `` Sid Hill took her to the prom and he must have sent her those carnations too . She could never have afforded them herself . And did you see the fuss his people made over her ? I heard Beatrice telling her that she was coming to call on her tomorrow , and Mrs. Hill said she must look upon ` Beechlawn ' as her second home while she was at Payzant . If the Hills are going to take her up we 'll have to be nice to her . '' `` I suppose , '' said Edna conclusively , `` the truth of the matter is that Sid Hill meant to ask her anyway . I dare say he asked her long ago , and she would know our invitation was a fraud . So the joke is on ourselves , after all . '' But , as you and I know , that , with the exception of the last sentence , was not the truth of the matter at all . The Penningtons ' Girl Winslow had been fishing -- or pretending to -- all the morning , and he was desperately thirsty . He boarded with the Beckwiths on the Riverside East Shore , but he was nearer Riverside West , and he knew the Penningtons well . He had often been there for bait and milk and had listened times out of mind to Mrs. Pennington 's dismal tales of her tribulations with hired girls . She never could get along with them , and they left , on an average , after a fortnight 's trial . She was on the lookout for one now , he knew , and would likely be cross , but he thought she would give him a drink . He rowed his skiff into the shore and tied it to a fir that hung out from the bank .
A winding little footpath led up to the Pennington farmhouse , which crested the hill about three hundred yards XXXXX the shore .
If as at for from in of on over that