He caught hold of Mary as she came in from the spring house, but she
dodged him. This MacGillivray man was a new and quite special
cavalier. He was no country boy from a neighbouring farm, but a
prosperous young merchant from Port Stewart, a town some dozen miles
away on the lake shore. Driving through the country one bright day in
early spring, he had met Mary on her way to school, and had never got
over the sight. Since then he had driven out all the way to Orchard
Glen many a night for a repetition of the vision.
"Will you finish for me, Christine?" Mary whispered in a panic. "I'm
not fixed up yet, and he's coming up the lane."
Christina promised and hurried her away. It didn't matter, she
reflected, whether she was dressed in her best or her milking apron.
There was no MacGillivray's man or MacKenzie's man, Highland or
Lowland, coming over the hills to see her. And then she suddenly
remembered with dismay the flowers that must be still lying under the
bushes at the stile!
She hurried through her work, threw off her apron, smoothed her hair,
and ran down the path to the grove. The evening shadows had full
possession now, and there were no splashes of gold on the undergrowth.
The veeries were ringing their bells in the tree tops and a cat bird
was fairly spilling out music of a dozen delightful varieties from a
hidden corner behind a basswood bush. Christina ran down the path and
parted the undergrowth. The basket was gone! She searched in every
corner. And then she remembered that on her way out to the milking she
had seen Gavin driving home from town. He had taken the basket back,
lest she should not find it! She turned and went slowly back up the
path, feeling ashamed and a little relieved. He would never know that
she had seen it, and yet it seemed too bad not to thank him for such a
beautiful gift!
She hastened back to help Grandpa to bed. Grandpa always sang his
evening hymn just before he went to sleep, and as he lived in the
belief that every one was as deaf as himself, it was well to get the
performance over before the house was filled with company.