Now it chanced that on a certain afternoon he was pulling leisurely up stream towards a place where the current was slack, and where he occasionally moored the wherry to an old landing in order to rest himself and talk more at his ease. Mamie of course was seated in the stern, leaning back comfortably amongst her cushions and holding the tiller-ropes daintily between the thumb and finger of each hand. She could steer very well when it was necessary, and she could even row well enough to make some headway against the stream, but George had been accustomed to being alone in a boat, and gave her very little to do when he was rowing.
Mamie watched him idly, as his hands shot out towards her, crossed as he drew them steadily back and turned at the wrist to feather the oar as they touched his chest. Then her gaze wandered down stream towards the other shore, and she tried to make out the roof of the Fearings’ house above the trees.
“George,” she said suddenly, “will you be angry?”
“I am never angry,” answered her cousin. “What are you going to do now? If you mean to jump out of the boat I will have a line ready.”
“No. I am not going to jump out of the boat. But I am so afraid you will be angry, after all. It is something I want to ask you. I am sure you will not like it!”
“One way of not making me angry would be not to ask the question,” observed George, with a quiet smile.
“But I want to ask you so much!” exclaimed the young girl, with an imploring look that made George’s smile turn into a laugh. He had laughed more than once lately, in a very natural manner.
“Out with it, Mamie!” he cried, pulling his sculls briskly through the water. “I shall not be very angry, I daresay, and I have fallen out of the habit of eating little girls. What is it?”
“Why do you never go and see the Fearings, George? You used to be there so much.”
George’s expression changed, though he continued to row with the same even stroke. His face grew very grave and he unconsciously glanced across the river toward the place at which Mamie had looked.