"Nor yet little!" roared Tommy.
"Yes, he is," insisted Grizel, "and I was not harrying nests. He came with me here because he wanted to."
"Just for the once," he said, hastily.
"This is the sixth time," said Grizel, and then she marched out of the Den. Tommy and Elspeth followed slowly, and not a word did either say until they were in front of Aaron's house. Then by the light in the window Tommy saw that Elspeth was crying softly, and he felt miserable.
"I was just teaching her to fight," he said humbly.
"You looked like it!" she replied, with the scorn that comes occasionally to the sweetest lady.
He tried to comfort her in various tender ways, but none of them sufficed this time, "You'll marry her as soon as you're a man," she insisted, and she would not let this tragic picture go. It was a case for his biggest efforts, and he opened his mouth to threaten instant self-destruction unless she became happy at once. But he had threatened this too frequently of late, even shown himself drawing the knife across his throat.
As usual the right idea came to him at the right moment. "If you just kent how I did it for your sake," he said, with gentle dignity, "you wouldna blame me; you would think me noble."
She would not help him with a question, and after waiting for it he proceeded. "If you just kent wha she is! And I thought she was dead! What a start it gave me when I found out it was her!"
"Wha is she?" cried Elspeth, with a sudden shiver.