Carley drew a long deep breath before she called Glenn. This meeting

would be momentous and she felt no absolute surety of herself.

Manifestly he was surprised to hear her call, and, dropping his sack

and implement, he hurried across the tilled ground, sending up puffs of

dust. He vaulted the rude fence of poles, and upon sight of her

called out lustily. How big and virile he looked! Yet he was gaunt and

strained. It struck Carley that he had not looked so upon her arrival at

Oak Creek. Had she worried him? The query gave her a pang.

"Sir Tiller of the Fields," said Carley, gayly, "see, your dinner! I

brought it and I am going to share it."

"You old darling!" he replied, and gave her an embrace that left her

cheek moist with the sweat of his. He smelled of dust and earth and his

body was hot. "I wish to God it could be true for always!"

His loving, bearish onslaught and his words quite silenced Carley. How

at critical moments he always said the thing that hurt her or inhibited

her! She essayed a smile as she drew back from him.

"It's sure good of you," he said, taking the basket. "I was thinking I'd

be through work sooner today, and was sorry I had not made a date with

you. Come, we'll find a place to sit."

Whereupon he led her back under the trees to a half-sunny, half-shady

bench of rock overhanging the stream. Great pines overshadowed a still,

eddying pool. A number of brown butterflies hovered over the water, and

small trout floated like spotted feathers just under the surface. Drowsy

summer enfolded the sylvan scene.

Glenn knelt at the edge of the brook, and, plunging his hands in, he

splashed like a huge dog and bathed his hot face and head, and then

turned to Carley with gay words and laughter, while he wiped himself dry

with a large red scarf. Carley was not proof against the virility of him

then, and at the moment, no matter what it was that had made him the man

he looked, she loved it.

"I'll sit in the sun," he said, designating a place. "When you're hot

you mustn't rest in the shade, unless you've coat or sweater. But you

sit here in the shade."

"Glenn, that'll put us too far apart," complained Carley. "I'll sit in

the sun with you."

The delightful simplicity and happiness of the ensuing hour was

something Carley believed she would never forget.




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