She thought for a moment and said:—
"No, I'll see you from here."
He went down to the reedy tarn, and at his approach several snipe got up, and they flew above his head uttering sharp cries. His fishing-rod was a long hazel stick, and he threw the frog as far as he could into the lake. In doing this he roused some wild ducks; a mallard and two ducks got up, and they flew towards the larger lake. Margaret watched them; they flew in a line with an old castle; and they had not disappeared from view when Bryden came towards her, and he and she drove the cows home together that evening.
They had not met very often when she said, "James, you had better not come here so often calling to me."
"Don't you wish me to come?"
"Yes, I wish you to come well enough, but keeping company is not the custom of the country, and I don't want to be talked about."
"Are you afraid the priest would speak against us from the altar?"
"He has spoken against keeping company, but it is not so much what the priest says, for there is no harm in talking."
"But if you are going to be married there is no harm in walking out together."
"Well, not so much, but marriages are made differently in these parts; there is not much courting here."