had not meant to ask that question--she was wondering when
they would start. That was what she meant to ask and she was glad that
she had swerved. Breakfast was eaten in the usual silence by the boy and
the man--June and the step-mother serving it, and waiting on the lord
that was and the lord that was to be--and then the two females sat down.

"Hurry up, June," said the old man, wiping his mouth and beard with the
back of his hand. "Clear away the dishes an' git ready. Hale said he
would meet us at the Pine an' hour by sun, fer I told him I had to git
back to work. Hurry up, now!"

June hurried up. She was too excited to eat anything, so she began
to wash the dishes while her step-mother ate. Then she went into the
living-room to pack her things and it didn't take long. She wrapped the
doll Hale had given her in an extra petticoat, wound one pair of yarn
stockings around a pair of coarse shoes, tied them up into one bundle
and she was ready. Her father appeared with the sorrel horse, caught up
his saddle from the porch, threw it on and stretched the blanket behind
it as a pillion for June to ride on.

"Let's go!" he said. There is little or no demonstrativeness in the
domestic relations of mountaineers. The kiss of courtship is the only
one known. There were no good-bys--only that short "Let's go!"

June sprang behind her father from the porch. The step-mother handed her
the bundle which she clutched in her lap, and they simply rode away, the
step-mother and Bub silently gazing after them. But June saw the boy's
mouth working, and when she turned the thicket at the creek, she looked
back at the two quiet figures, and a keen pain cut her heart. She
shut her mouth closely, gripped her bundle more tightly and the tears
streamed down her face, but the man did not know. They climbed in
silence. Sometimes her father dismounted where the path was steep, but
June sat on the horse to hold the bundle and thus they mounted through
the mist and chill of the morning. A shout greeted them from the top of
the little spur whence the big Pine was visible, and up there they found
Hale waiting. He had reached the Pine earlier than they and was coming
down to meet them.

"Hello, little girl," called Hale cheerily, "you didn't fail me, did
you?"

June shook her head and smiled. Her face was blue and her little legs,
dangling under the bundle, were shrinking from the cold. Her bonnet had
fallen to the back of her neck, and he saw tha