Rewards and Fairies - Penn State University

Marklake Witches
WHEN DAN TOOK up boat-building, Una coaxed Mrs Vincey,
the farmer’s wife at Little Lindens, to teach her to milk. Mrs
Vincey milks in the pasture in summer, which is different
from milking in the shed, because the cows are not tied up,
and until they know you they will not stand still. After three
weeks Una could milk Red Cow or Kitty Shorthorn quite
dry, without her wrists aching, and then she allowed Dan to
look. But milking did not amuse him, and it was pleasanter
for Una to be alone in the quiet pastures with quiet-spoken
Mrs Vincey. So, evening after evening, she slipped across to
Little Lindens, took her stool from the fern-clump beside the
fallen oak, and went to work, her pail between her knees, and
her head pressed hard into the cow’s flank. As often as not,
Mrs Vincey would be milking cross Pansy at the other end of
the pasture, and would not come near till it was time to strain
and pour off.
Once, in the middle of a milking, Kitty Shorthorn boxed
Una’s ear with her tail.
‘You old pig!’ said Una, nearly crying, for a cow’s tail can hurt.
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‘Why didn’t you tie it down, child?’ said a voice behind her.
‘I meant to, but the flies are so bad I let her off—and this is
what she’s done!’ Una looked round, expecting Puck, and
saw a curly-haired girl, not much taller than herself, but older,
dressed in a curious high-waisted, lavender-coloured ridinghabit,
with a high hunched collar and a deep cape and a belt
fastened with a steel clasp. She wore a yellow velvet cap and
tan gauntlets, and carried a real hunting-crop. Her cheeks were
pale except for two pretty pink patches in the middle, and she
talked with little gasps at the end of her sentences, as though
she had been running.
‘You don’t milk so badly, child,’ she said, and when she
smiled her teeth showed small and even and pearly.
‘Can you milk?’ Una asked, and then flushed, for she heard
Puck’s chuckle.
He stepped out of the fern and sat down, holding Kitty
Short-horn’s tail. ‘There isn’t much,’ he said, ‘that Miss Philadelphia
doesn’t know about milk—or, for that matter, butter
and eggs. She’s a great housewife.’
‘Oh,’ said Una. ‘I’m sorry I can’t shake hands. Mine are all
milky; but Mrs Vincey is going to teach me butter-making