Lorna flashed a smile at them, and as her kinsman walked slowly away she threw her arms first round one and then the other of her new friends.
“We had a happy day—and now my letter is safe. They will take you close to the Ridd farm. And perhaps some day you will come back, or perhaps your fairy will take me to play with you.”
“Gee-whillikans, but that would be fine,” exclaimed Rose. “I wonder if she could? We would give you the time of your life, Lorna. And how you’d love riding our cow-ponies, wouldn’t she, Ruth?”
“And sitting by the fire telling stories,” added Ruth. “Oh, Lorna, we like you so much. What a pity you can’t come along now.”
Lorna shook her head. “They wouldn’t let me go—I’m their ‘queen,’ you know. But some day I will be big enough to have my own way, and then——” she smiled, tossed back her dark curls, and kissed the two sisters once more. At that moment two young men rode up on a pair of fine lively horses.
“Up with you, little maids,” they shouted, galloping close, and with a last look and wave of their hands, Rose and Ruth were swung up in front of their escorts, and large kerchiefs were tied before their eyes. Then the horses broke into a run, that carried the two girls swiftly away. They heard Lorna’s voice calling a last good-bye, and responded lustily, while the men laughed not unkindly.
Part of the way must have been very rough, for the horses struggled along slowly, and once the two men dismounted, leading their mounts, and asking the girls whether they could stay in the saddle. The indignation with which both replied that they certainly could do so, and that they weren’t afraid of any horse, greatly amused them.
“So, so—little spit-fires. Not afraid of any horse, eh? Nor afraid of any man, either?”
“Not of you, anyhow,” Ruth replied; “you are too nice and young and laughy to be cross.”
At that the two laughed harder than ever. And then there was more galloping, and suddenly a stop.