She wanted Compton to tempt her; but that young gentleman, having a strong sense of filial duty, omitted so to do.
When she saw he would not persuade her, she dispensed. “Come along,” said she, “if it is only for five minutes.”
She took his hand, and away they scampered. He showed her the cowslips, the violets, and all the treasures of the meadow; but it was all hurry, and skurry, and excitement; no time to look at anything above half a minute, for fear of being found out: and so, at last, back to the gate, beaming with stolen pleasure, glowing and sparkling with heat and excitement.
The cunning thing made him replace the gate, and then, after saying she must go for about an hour, marched demurely back to the house.
After one or two of these hasty trips, impunity gave her a sense of security, and, the weather getting warm, she used to sit in the meadow with her beau and weave wreaths of cowslips, and place them in her black hair, and for Comp-ton she made coronets of bluebells, and adorned his golden head.
And sometimes, for a little while, she would nestle to him, and lean her head, with all the feminine grace of a mature woman, on his shoulder.
Said she, “A boy's shoulder does very nice for a girl to put her nose on.”
One day the aspiring girl asked him what was that forest.
“That is Bassett's wood.”
“I will go there with you some day, when papa is out.”