She put the crock down and came close to him and took hold of his arm.
"What ails you?" she said again, peering up into his face and smiling at
him.

He looked at her with sulky eyes. "You're making fun of me," he said.

She shook his arm and pushed him. "G'long with you!" she said. "A big
lump of a fella like you, actin' the chile!..." She picked up the crock
and handed it to him. "Here," she said, "carry that into the house, will
you, an' ask me aunt Kate to give you the full of it with yella male,
an' then hurry back. I'll be up in the hayloft," she added, moving off.

3

He laid the crock of yellow meal down on a wooden box in the barn, and
then climbed up the ladder to the hayloft.

"Wheesht," she said, holding up her hand. "There's a hen sittin' here,
an' I don't want her disturbed!" He climbed into the loft as quietly as
he could. "They'll soon be out now," she went on, "the lovely wee
things!... What did you come here for, the day?"

"To see you!" he answered.

"Then that was a lie about comin' to see my Uncle Matt?"

He nodded his head.

"I thought as much. Sit down here by the side of me!"

He sat down on the hay where she bade him. "Are you angry with me?" he
asked, making a wisp of hay.

"What would I be angry for?"

He did not know. Last night, perhaps, when he had kissed her?

"Oh, that!" she said. "Sure, that's nothin'!"

"Nothing?"

Why, then, had she left him so suddenly? She must have known how much he
had to say to her....

"Look at the time it was!" she exclaimed. "An' me havin' to get up at
five an' let the cows out.... _You_ weren't up at no five, I'll bet!" He
had risen at eight. "Eight!" she exclaimed. "That's no hour of the day
to be risin'. If you were married to me, I'd make you skip long before
that hour!"

Married to her!...

"Sheila," he whispered, taking hold of her arm.

"Well?" she said, thrusting a hay-stalk into his hair.

"I love you, Sheila!" he whispered, coming closer to her.

"Do you, indeed?" she answered.

"I do, Sheila, I do...."

He raised himself so that he was kneeling in front of her. His shyness
had left him now, and the words were pouring rapidly out of his mouth.

"The minute I saw you in the door of the schoolroom that night, I was in
love with you. I was, indeed!"

"Were you?"

"Yes. I couldn't help it, Sheila, and the worst of it was I didn't know
what to say to you. And then, last night ... when we were walking up the
'loanie' tog