There was spring in the world and spring in Jane Lavinia 's heart ; but a chill came with the thought of Aunt Rebecca , who considered tidies and afghans nicer than her pictures . `` But I 'm going , anyway , '' said Jane Lavinia decidedly . `` If Aunt Rebecca wo n't give me the money , I 'll find some other way . I 'm not afraid of any amount of work . After what Mr. Stephens said , I believe I could work twenty hours out of the twenty-four . I 'd be content to live on a crust and sleep in a garret -- yes , and wear sailor hats with stiff bows and blue roses the year round . '' Jane Lavinia sighed in luxurious renunciation . Oh , it was good to be alive -- to be a girl of seventeen , with wonderful ambitions and all the world before her ! The years of the future sparkled and gleamed alluringly . Jane Lavinia , with her head on the window sill , looked out into the sunset splendour and dreamed . Athwart her dreams , rending in twain their frail , rose-tinted fabric , came Aunt Rebecca 's voice from the kitchen below , `` Jane Lavinia ! Jane Lavinia ! Ai n't you going for the cows tonight ? '' Jane Lavinia started up guiltily ; she had forgotten all about the cows . She slipped off her muslin dress and hurried into her print ; but with all her haste it took time , and Aunt Rebecca was grimmer than ever when Jane Lavinia ran downstairs . `` It 'll be dark before we get the cows milked . I s ` pose you 've been day-dreaming again up there . I do wish , Jane Lavinia , that you had more sense . '' Jane Lavinia made no response . At any other time she would have gone out with a lump in her throat ; but now , after what Mr. Stephens had said , Aunt Rebecca 's words had no power to hurt her .
`` XXXXX milking I 'll ask her about it , '' she said to herself , as she went blithely down the sloping yard , across the little mossy bridge over the brook , and up the lane on the hill beyond , where the ferns grew thickly and the grass was beset with tiny blue-eyes like purple stars .
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