Along the margin of the brook which separated the fields of the Putnam place from Dr. Sanford's possessions, the wild roses grew in profusion, and left so many of their scarlet hips behind them, that the birds had not been able to devour the half. Patty moved along among the leafless shrubs, her cloak catching upon the briers, and her fingers suffering not unfrequently from the same sharp cause, while she gathered the rose-hips for which she had come. The brook, which was quite free from ice, and somewhat swollen by rain, gurgled and murmured past her. The drops shook down upon her from the dripping branches, so that by the time she reached Black-Clear Eddy her cloak was pretty thoroughly wet. She had not been here since the night she threw her ring into the pool. Remembering how clear was the water, she leaned over to see if she could discover the trinket. Looking carefully for some time, she fancied that her eye caught the gleam of gold. Kneeling upon the wet margin of the brook, she bent down, and assured herself that she indeed saw the ring lodged in a tuft of water-grass. Instantly she longed to recover it. She began to bare her arm, and then paused, laughing at her own folly. The pool was something like eight feet deep, and there seemed no way for her to get possession of the ring but by the use of a hook and line. She ruthlessly sacrificed her handkerchief, tearing it into strips; and, fastening a bent hair-pin to the end of this improvised line, with a pebble for a sinker, she began to angle. "'Simple Simon went a-fishing,'" she sang to herself, "'For to catch a whale: All the water that he had Was'"-- "In Black-Clear Eddy apparently," the voice of Tom Putnam said close behind her. So absorbed had she been, that she had not heard him approach. She sprang up quickly, and faced him. "I wish you a Merry Christmas!" he continued, before she could speak. "Thank you!" she answered. "I wish you many. How came you here?" "In the simplest way in the world. I walked." "But people do not usually go strolling about wet fields in such weather as this." "Oh! you mean to ask why I came here. I was going over to pay your grandmother her pension for the month--and to see you." "I am flattered," Patty said, "by even so secondary a remembrance." She turned her face towards home, and began slowly to walk in that direction, as if expecting him to follow. Every time she encountered her lover, she found it more difficult to retain her self-possession. So completely was she now occupied in schooling herself, that to Putnam she seemed absent and distant. "Wait," he said, as she turned from him. "You are leaving your rosebuds." "Thank you!" she returned, taking them from him. Their hands touched, and both were conscious of a thrill. "What have I done to offend you?" he burst out. "Why do you avoid me, Patty?" "Do I?" she asked, fixing her eyes upon the faded grass.