“We wanted John Herrick to come over and see what we had done,” Tim said one day, “but somehow he doesn’t do it, though he is always asking about the work. A lot of the things we have done were his suggestion. Those sliding shutters on the porch were his special idea. There couldn’t be anything better to keep out the rain and snow.”
“Snow?” echoed Nancy, who was standing beside him to admire his work as he loved to have her do. “Why, we are only going to be here for the summer!”
“It can snow any day it wants to in these mountains,” Tim returned. “There’s more in January than in June, to be sure, but you may wake up any morning and find the ground white. It can snow just as easy as rain hereabouts.”
Beatrice had been watching Tim’s helper keenly from day to day with a growing suspicion lurking in her mind. Besides giving assistance with the building he came to the house daily with the milk and eggs that Hester supplied. One morning when she was astir early she saw him meet Christina on the path below the house and watched him take from her the basket in which she was bringing their marketing. In the thin quiet air their voices came up to her window more clearly than they seemed to realize.
“Isn’t it too heavy?” he questioned. “And you’re looking pale and tired. That—that Thorvik has been abusing you again. I’d like to get my hands on him.”
“No, no,” cried Christina in terror, “you must not let him or any one in the village see you. You promised John Herrick you would not go near the town until he found out how things stood for you. He said it was safer and easier that no one at all should know you were here. Thorvik does not harm me; it is only the—the things he says about my good friends.”
“I can’t stand by and see him make you miserable,” protested the boy hotly.
“You promised,” repeated Christina obstinately. “You can’t break the word you gave.”
“Then some day I will be giving John Herrick his promise back again,” he returned, his voice rising louder. “Thorvik will find——”
Christina, glancing anxiously at the windows, warned him to silence. They went together into the kitchen, leaving Beatrice to ponder what she had heard.