Then Kate thought of Him. She capitalized him in her thought, for
after nineteen years of Bates men Robert Gray would seem a deified
creature to their women. She reviewed the scene at the crossing
log, while her face flushed with pleasure. If she had remained at
home and had gone after the blackberries, as it was sure as fate
that she would have done, then she would have met him first, and
he would have courted her instead of Nancy Ellen. Suddenly Kate
shook herself savagely and sat straight. "Why, you big fool!" she
said. "Nancy Ellen went to the berry patch in a pink dress,
wearing a sunbonnet to match, and carrying a blue bowl. Think of
the picture she made! But if I had gone, I'd have been in a
ragged old dirt-coloured gingham, Father's boots, and his old
straw hat jammed down to my ears; I'd have been hot and in a surly
temper, rebelling because I had the berries to pick. He would
have taken one look at me, jumped the fence, and run to Lang's for
dear life. Better cut that idea right out!"
So Kate "cut that idea out" at once, but the operation was
painful, because when one turns mental surgeon and operates on the
ugly spots in one's disposition, there is no anaesthetic, nor is
the work done with skilful hands, so the wounds are numerous and
leave ugly scars; but Kate was ruthless. She resolved never to
think of that brook scene again. In life, as she had lived it,
she would not have profited by having been first at the berry
patch. Yet she had a right to think of Robert Gray's face, grave
in concern for her, his offers to help, the influence he would
have in her favour with Nancy Ellen. Of course if he was forced
to postpone his wedding he would not be pleased; but it was
impossible that the fears which were tormenting Nancy Ellen would
materialize into action on his part. No sane man loved a woman as
beautiful as her sister and cast her aside because of a few
months' enforced waiting, the cause of which he so very well knew;
but it would make both of them unhappy and change their beautiful
plans, after he even had found and purchased the house. Still
Nancy Ellen said that her father was making it a point of honour
that a Bates should teach the school, because he had signed the
contract for Kate to take the place Nancy Ellen had intended to
fill, and then changed her plans. He had sworn that a Bates
should teach the school. Well, Hiram had taken the county
examination, as all pupils of the past ten years had when they
finished the country schools. It was a test required to prove
whether they had done their work well. Hiram held a certificate
for a year, given him by the County Superintendent, when he passed
the examinations. He had never used it. He could teach; he was
Nancy Ellen's twin. School did not begin until the first of
November. He could hire help with his corn if he could not finish
alone. He could arise earlier than usual and do his feeding and
milking; he could clean the stables, haul wood on Saturday and
Sunday, if he must, for the Bates family looked on Sunday more as
a day of rest for the horses and physical man than as one of
religious observances. They always worked if there was anything
to be gained by it. Six months being the term, he would be free
by the first of May; surely the money would be an attraction,
while Nancy Ellen could coach him on any new methods she had
learned at Normal. Kate sprang to her feet, ran across the
street, and entering the hall, hurried to her room. She found
Mrs. Holt there in the act of closing her closet door. Kate
looked at her with astonished eyes.