“Yes,” answered May, while Willie and Hal grinned responsively.
“I am so glad to have met you,” continued John, looking extremely happy to have done so, “as I was just going to post—” and then he paused and looked again at the boys.
Upon this Hal, who was the youngest, though the sharpest of the two, administered a sharp kick at his brother’s ankle.
“I say, Will,” he said, “I saw some awful jolly blackberries at the other side of the hedge; let’s go in for some?”
Will took the hint, and the two boys ran together to the stile, so as to get to the other side of the hedge, and John Temple and May were alone.
“I was on my way to post a letter to you, May,” John said; “now I will give it to you—here it is.”
He drew out his letter, and put it into May’s hand as he spoke, but he still held her hand fast.
“It is to ask you to meet me, May,” he said. “To meet me, and tell me what your answer to my last letter is to be.”
May’s face flushed, and her breath came sharp; she remembered John’s last letter only too well.