"You odious child!" Hester, ashamed of her life to have been trapped into eavesdropping, and yet doubting her ears, strode past the edge of the rick and into full view.
Nuncey drew back with a cry.
"Hester Marvin!"
Hester's eyes travelled past her and rested on Archelaus. He, rigid at attention, caught and held there spellbound, merely rolled a pair of agonized eyes.
"Nuncey! Archelaus! What on earth are you two doing?"
"Learnin' him to be a Volunteer, be sure!" answered Nuncey, her face the colour of a peony. After an instant she dropped her eyes, her cheeks confessing the truth.
"But—but why?" Hester stared from one to the other.
"If he'd only be like other men!" protested Nuncey.
Hester ran to her with a happy laugh. "But you wouldn't wish him like other men!"
"I do, and I don't." Nuncey eluded her embrace, having caught the sound of ribald laughter on the other side of the rick. Darting around, she was in time to catch Master Calvin two cuffs, right and left, upon the ears. He broke for the gate and she pursued, but presently returned breathless.