you couldn't see it. You broke loose from him to run tearing along the
road, to jump water-courses, to climb trees and grin down at him through
the branches. Then he would wake up from his sulking. Sometimes he would
be pleased and sometimes he wouldn't. The engagement happened just after
he had not been pleased at all.

She could still hear his voice saying "What do you _do_ it for?" and her
own answering.

"You must do _something_."

"You needn't dance jigs on the parapets of bridges."

They slid through the gap into the fields. In the narrow path he stopped
suddenly and turned.

"How can a child like _you_ care for a man like _me_?" Mocking her
sing-song.

He stooped and kissed her. She shut her eyes so as not to see the
puffiness.

"Will you marry me, Mary?"


VII.

After the engagement, the quarrel. It lasted all the way up the
schoolhouse lane.