The clamour of the children was subduedby the
delivery of sundry presents from town.
Therefore she tarried a little longer at thefence,
patting the noses of the smoking horses.
Lucy whispered her suspicions to Clara,and that
worthy whispered back: Im wise.
I love it here, answered Clara swiftly, with a
flash of passion. Marriage was the consummation of their hopes,
dreams,endeavours.
Well, as for Mertie, he neednt have worried about
her.
For that matter, Lucy didnot forget any of the
Denmeades. She had to live, to breathe, to move; and this wilderness called
toprimitive emotions.
Why, a child could seethrough that hombre! But
citylife, multitudes of people, the social codes had all palled upon
her.
Then he proceeded to fill more buckets, which he
carried away asbefore. Lucy whispered her suspicions to Clara,and that worthy
whispered back: Im wise. Assuredly she was going to find outsomething about herself
when she could think it out. Presently Lucy returned to hertent and unfinished
tasks. Only the great pineshad not changed, yet their needle foliage had a tinge of
brown.
Henever chopped down a bee tree in his life. Sam
let out a frantic yell, and dropping theaxe he plunged directly toward his admiring
comrades. Mertie was just a crazy country girl whod been badly influenced, wenton
Lucy.
Bert, however,had donned blue-jeans
overalls.
He shore was hoppin when last I seen him, replied
Edd.
Then the humiliation of it roused her ire. How
comfortingthe dusky halls of the woodland!
Girls, put on whatever you fetched along an be
ready toduck into this brush. She had remembered what joy a giftbrought to them, one
and all.
Shrieking, she ran away from Sam as though he were
a pestilence.
I never thought Mertie would get a storm. The visit
toFelix had clarified in mind all the perplexing doubts and dreads aboutthe
past.
Aw, shes tame as home bees, interposed
Edd.
And you should have seen himlooking at me when I
was with Joe.
When she did present herself to the family on the
porch the wildexcitement had subsided. Though Lucy went out at once, she was too
late to be present when theyoung couple confessed.
While in Felix she hadanticipated it and prepared
her employers for complaints of this nature.
How grotesque helooked with that home-made hood
over his head! Edd, youre as bad as a cowboy, said Clara, producing a veil. An some
kind of veil or net to keep fromgettin stung. He was at the dance we went to
inSeptember.
Sam strode toward the sycamore and Bertfollowed.
Assuredly she was going to find outsomething about herself when she could think it
out. Istuck to that wild-bee hunter I did, Clara.
It was only the ghosts ofthe past that haunted the
black midnight hour.