He had pressed the side of his slight receptacle and made a yawning crack in it.
"Well, now you must gather that great leaf and patch it. Here are some pine needles. I sew with them sometimes. You do not need a thread."
Was she laughing at him?
He managed to repair the damages, and picked up the plums he had not trodden upon, that were yielding their wine-like fragrance to the air.
"Which way do you go, M'sieu?" she asked, with unconscious hauteur.
"Why—to M. Destournier's. I called on miladi, and she sent me to find you in some wood, she hardly knew where. And I have brought you safely back."
"M'sieu, I have come back many a time in safety without you."
Her voice had a suggestion of dismissal in it.
"I must present my spoils to Madame. No, I believe they are yours, you were the discoverer, you made the purple shower that I only helped gather."
She skipped up the steps lightly. How dainty her moccasined feet were! The short skirt showed the small ankles and the swell of the beautiful leg. Her figure was not a whit behind his sister's convent-trained one, but she was fearless as a deer.