He noticed that her speech had changed with entering the house, but somehow the “genteel English” did not seem so unnatural now. He supposed he would have to learn to speak it, too, presently. “But she is the best woman in the world,” Christina continued, patting her hair, “and she’ll be delighted about you going into your uncle’s business. I think it was splendid of you managing your aunt so well.” Macgregor smiled faintly. “I doobt it was her that managed me,” he said. “But, Christina, I’ll no’ let her be sorry――nor――nor you either.” “Oh, I’m sure you’ll get on quickly,” she said, gravely, bending to unbutton her long coat. “I intend to dae that,” he cried, uplifted by her words. “Gi’e me a year or twa, an’ I’ll show ye!” She slipped out of the coat, and stood for a moment, faintly smiling, in her best frock, a simple thing of pale grey lustre relieved with white, her best black shoes, her best thread stockings, her heavy yellow plait over her left shoulder. The boy caught his breath. “Just a minute,” she said, and left the room to put away her coat and hat. Macgregor half turned in his chair, threw his arms upon the back and pressed his brow to his wrist. So she found him on her return. “Sore head, Mac?” she asked gently, recovering from her surprise, and going close to him. “Let me gang,” he whispered; “I――I’ll never be guid enough.” The slight sound of a key in the outer door reached the girl’s ears. She gave her eyes an impatient little rub. She laid a hand on his shoulder. “Cheer up!” she said, almost roughly, and stooping quickly, she touched her lips to his hair, so lightly, so tenderly, that he was not aware. Transcriber’s Note Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Dialect, inconsistent hyphenation, obsolete words and misspellings were left unchanged. The following were adjusted: … unmoved, “an’ [added apostrophe], if … … “He’s growin’ up, Lizzie.” [added missing close quote] … … it doesna matter.” [deleted close quote] I’ll awa’ hame.” … End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Courtin' Christina, by J. J. Bell