The Heart of Monadnock
83
V
This morning the Mountain-Lover had work to do, for proofs must be read, corrected, and sent off in the noon mail. It was not till after midday dinner, therefore, that he could take his joyous way aloft.
Which way to day of a hundred allurements? He had rather thought of the enticing Parker trail leading from the main road below the house, for he dearly loved those crisp pastures with their roughly jutting rocks and intimate details; but after sitting still all the morning—at real work, he remarked to himself—his muscles clamored for use. He wandered up the Sidefoot, consequently, to take any offshoot of it that called him. The call came from the steep and slippery Hedgehog path where it leaves
