She sat down and nursed him again to fill in the time till his father should come and dress. This time he seemed sleepy, and Elizabeth sang happily to him, kissing his pink palm and satisfying the maternal instinct in her by softly stroking his plump body. He had never looked so fair to her in all the months that she had had him. John was long in coming and she fell into a dreamy state of maternal comfort as she rocked, and forgot the hour and the place and the dinner that would soon be waiting at Aunt Susan’s, till the baby went to sleep in her arms.
When Jack was at last soundly asleep she placed him on the bed, covering him with a piece of white mosquito netting to keep the flies from disturbing him, and, rearranging dress and ribbons, went into the sitting room to see what time it was. An exclamation of dismay escaped her. It was but ten minutes to twelve o’clock! She had dreamed much longer than she had been aware. In a fever of hurry she ran back to the bedroom and laid out John’s best suit. That had pleasant associations also. But what could be keeping him so long when it was time to go? As soon as everything was in order she ran to the barn to see what the trouble was. John came out as she neared the barn door, talking to Jake, who followed leisurely.
“Are you ready to dress?” she asked hastily, vexed at the signs of loitering.
“Dress? Why—what? Oh, I forgot. I told you I didn’t want to go,” he said impatiently.
“Well, you’re going to take me if it is late,” she said firmly. “Aunt Susan was told that we’d come, and she has dinner waiting this minute. Jake, put the horses in the wagon while Mr. Hunter dresses, and be as quick about it as you can.”
“The horses—th’ horses are in th’ pasture, Lizzie,” Jake said hesitantly. “I didn’t know an’—an’—I—an’ we turned ’em out an hour ago.”
Jake Ransom saw the colour die out of the young face and understood exactly what had happened. He saw her turn without a look at her husband and start to the house, bowed and broken and without hope. Jake understood that a trick had been played on her, for he had been slow about turning the horses out and John had untied and led the team used for driving to the pasture gate himself.
“I don’t know whether I kin ketch ’em ’r not, but I’ll try,” he called after her.
Elizabeth turned back hopefully, but John said
“Now look here, Elizabeth, those horses have been playing like mad for half an hour, and you could no more catch them than you could fly.” Turning to Jake, “I’ll take Mrs. Hunter next Sunday if she’s just got to go. A man wants to rest when Sunday comes,” he added under his breath.