vine-shaded veranda of Aunt Celia's lodging. Kitty's head was on my
shoulder. There is something very queer about that; when Kitty's head is
on my shoulder, I am not capable of any consecutive train of thought.
When she puts it there I see stars, then myriads of stars, then, oh! I
can't begin to enumerate the steps by which ecstasy mounts to delirium;
but, at all events, any operation which demands exclusive use of the
intellect is beyond me at these times. Still, I gathered my stray wits
together, and said:
'Kitty!'
'Yes, Jack?'
'Now that nothing but death or marriage can separate us, I have
something to confess to you.'
'Yes,' she said serenely, 'I know what you are going to say. He was a
cow.'
I lifted her head from my shoulder sternly, and gazed into her
childlike, candid eyes.
'You mountain of deceit! How long have you known about it?'
[Illustration: "Lor', miss!" said Farmer Hendry, "he haven't been
pastured there for three weeks"]
'Ever since the first. Oh, Jack, stop looking at me in that way! Not the
very first, not when I--not when you--not when we--no, not then, but the
next morning, I said to Farmer Hendry, "I wish you would keep your
savage bull chained up while we are here; Aunt Celia is awfully afraid
of them, especially those that go mad, like yours!" "Lor', miss!" said
Farmer Hendry, "he haven't been pastured here for three weeks. I keep
him six mile away. There ben't nothing but gentle cows in the home
medder." But I didn't think that you knew, you secretive person! I dare
say you planned the whole thing in advance, in order to take advantage
of my fright!'
'Never! I am incapable of such an unnecessary subterfuge! Besides,
Kitty, I could not have made an accomplice of a cow, you know.'
'Then,' she said, with great dignity, 'if you had been a gentleman and a
man of honour, you would have cried, "Unhand me, girl! You are clinging
to me under a misunderstanding!"'
_She_
Chester, _August 8_,
The Grosvenor.
Jack and I are going over this same ground next summer on our wedding
journey. We shall sail for home next week, and we haven't half done
justice to the cathedrals. After the first two, we saw nothing but each
other on a general background of architecture. I hope my mind is
improved, but oh, I am so hazy about all the facts I have read since I
knew Jack! Winchester and Salisbury stand out superbly in my memory.
They acquired their ground before it was occupied with other matters. I
shall never forget, for instance, that Winchester has the longest spire
and Salisbury the highest nave of all the English cathedrals. And I
shall never forget so long as I live that Jane Austen and Isaac Newt--
Oh dear! was it Isaac Newton or Izaak Walton that was buried in
Winchester and Salisbury? To think that that interesting fact should
have slipped from my mind, after all the trouble I took with it! But I
know that it was Isaac somebody, and that he was buried in--well, he was
buried in one of those two places. I am not certain which, but I can ask
Jack; he is sure to know.
THE END
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
A Selection of Gift-Books
PUBLISHED BY
GAY AND BIRD,
22 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, LONDON.
_The books in this list can be seen at the chief Booksellers, but in any
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HOLIDAY EDITION. Illustrated by Charles E. Brock. Price 6s.
PENELOPE'S ENGLISH EXPERIENCES.
By KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN.
HOLIDAY EDITION. Uniform with the above and illustrated by Charles E.
Brock. Price 6s.
PENELOPE'S EXPERIENCES IN SCOTLAND.
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=Penelope's Irish Experiences.=
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Being Conversations with various American Girls and One Man. By
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An Intimate Account of its People, its Home Life, and its Places of
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Sentimental Rambles in the Eleven Provinces of the Netherlands. By Dr.
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LONDON: GAY and BIRD, 22 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND.
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End of Project Gutenberg's A Cathedral Courtship, by Kate Douglas Wiggin