"D'ye mind when I bate ye?" Anna asked with a smile.
"Yes, I remember you solemnly promised Jamie you would punish me and when he went down to Barney's you took a long straw and lashed me fearfully with it!"
The town clock struck ten.
Mary, who had sat silent all evening, kissed us all good night and went to bed.
I was at the point of departure for the New World. Jamie wanted to know what I was going to do. I outlined an ambition, but its outworking was a problem. It was beyond his ken. He could not take in the scope of it. Anna could, for she had it from the day she first felt the movement of life in me. It was unpretentious—nothing the world would call great.
"Och, maan, but that wud be th' proud day fur Anna if ye cud do it."
When the town clock struck eleven, Anna trembled.
"Yer cowld, Anna," he said. "I'll put on a few more turf."
"There's plenty on, dear; I'm not cold in my body."
"Acushla, m' oul hide's like a buffalo's or I'd see that ye want 'im t' yerself. I'm off t' bed!"