h to which some rays of autumn colour still hung, which at first
Jock supposed to mean botany, and was semi-respectful of, until she took
off her hat and arranged them in it, when he was immediately
contemptuous, saying to himself that it was just like a girl. All the
same, it was interesting to watch her as she skipped and skimmed along
with an air of enjoyment and delight in her freedom, which it was
impossible not to sympathise with. She sang, not loudly, but almost
under her breath, for pure pleasure, it seemed, but sometimes would
break off and whistle, at which Jock was much shocked at first, but
gradually got reconciled to, it was so clear and sweet. After awhile,
however, he made an incautious step upon the brushwood, and the crashing
of the branches betrayed him. She stopped suddenly with her head to the
wind like a fine hound, and caught him with her keen eyes. Then there
occurred a little incident which had a very strange effect--an effect he
was too young to understand--upon Jock. She stood perfectly still, with
her face towards the bushes in which he was, her head thrown high, her
nostrils a little dilated, a flush of sudden energy and courage on her
face. She did not know who he was or what he wanted watching her from
behind the covert. He might be a tramp, a violent beggar, for anything
she knew. These things are more tragic where Bice came from, and it was
likely enough that she took him for a brigand. It was a quick sense of
alarm that sprang over her, stringing all her nerves, and bringing the
colour to her cheeks. She never flinched or attempted to flee, but stood
at bay, with a high valour and proud scorn of her pursuer. Her attitude,
the flush which made her fair in a moment, the expanded nostrils, the
fulness which her panting breath of alarm gave to her breast, made an
impression upon the boy which was ineffable and beyond words. It was his
first consciousness that there was something in the world--not boy, or
man, or sister, something which he did not understand, which feared yet
confronted him, startled but defiant. He too paused for a moment, gazing
at her, getting up his courage. Then he came slowly out from under the
shade of the bushes and went towards her. There were a few yards of the
open park to traverse before he reached her, so that he thought it
necessary to relieve her anxiety before they met. He called out to her,
"Don't be afraid, it is only me." For a moment more that fine poise
las