And the girl who loved him so deeply and so silently detected the pain in his voice. She looked up at him with a smile.
"To some schoolmates. She liked some of the girls very much."
Then Earle was quite at ease. He sat for some time watching the sunlit scene, and the busy fingers among the scarlet fruit. At last, while the bees hummed drowsily, they heard the clock strike nine; and the sound seemed to die away over the flowers.
"Nine," said Mrs. Brace, laughingly. "Mattie, you may be sure that Doris does not want to stain her fingers with the fruit. Go and tell her she need not touch it."
Earle felt deeply grateful toward the woman. It was all very well, but even he did not like the idea of those sweet white hands all crimsoned with ripe fruit.
"Tell her from me, Mattie," he added, "that the whole world will be dark and cold until I see her."
Mattie hastened away with a low laugh on her lips at the extravagant words. She was absent some little time, and kindly Mrs. Brace, seeing that Earle looked anxious, entertained him in her simple fashion with many little anecdotes about Doris, her beauty and wit as a child, her pretty, imperious fashion of managing Mark.
When Mattie returned she did not look anxious but surprised.
"See how we have all misjudged Doris," she said; "she must have been up and out for some time."
"Out!" repeated Earle.