A Daughter of the Land

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.