“Yes, it is hard,” said Mollie, slowly.
“Hard! It’s deadly. A fellow might as well be dead as be tied up here, week after week, grinding his life away. I’m just sick of it.” And he threw himself on a big bale of hay.
“Oh, Frank! I’m so sorry,” said Mollie, softly.
“It’s no use being sorry, Mollie,” he answered, with a hard laugh. “A fellow has to go through it, I suppose—for a while, at any rate. But you don’t know how hard it is, Mollie, when a fellow hates the very thought of the work he’s tied to, and is always longing for something else he knows he’d be better at. What’s the use of throwing your life away in those paddocks, when there’s something else you’re dying to get at and know you’ll be a success at it? You know that there’s hundreds of people just fit for this kind of work, and could do it better than I can——”
“Oh, Frank! I am sorry; I always thought you didn’t like this,” said Mollie, “but you’re always so cheerful and so bright, and——”
“It’s the least I can do, Mollie, and I shouldn’t grumble now. I’d be a real cad if I were not grateful to you all. You mustn’t think I’m not grateful.”
“I know you are,” answered Mollie, warmly, “and I’d like you to tell me more,” she went on, hesitatingly, “if—if you would.”
For the first time in his life Frank poured out his heart and told her all his dreams and wishes.
“And I’m saving up for it this ever so long. And you know, Mollie,” he concluded, “my father was a ne’er-do-well, and if I go on up here without my heart in my work I suppose people will put me down the same, and all the time I’m out of my sphere. I’m sixteen now, Mollie, and it’s time I was at it; but here I am, and there seems no chance. Look here,” he cried, “as soon as we get rain and things are a little better I’ll tell Uncle all about it.”
The stars had come out one by one as they talked, and now the sky was a mass of flickering points, as Mollie, with a sad heart, gazed into the twinkling depths, wondering what on earth she could do to help her loved Frank, and suddenly there flashed into her mind the thought of that wonderful letter.