People will talk; boys are such crazy things;

But he's a dear boy though he is so green.'

So, hurriedly, she slipped her apron strings,

And dabbed her hair, and wiped her fingers clean,

And came to greet him languid as a queen,

Looking as sweet, as fair, as pure, as sad,

As when she drove her loving husband mad.

'Poor boy,' she said, 'Poor boy, how hot you are.'

She laid a cool hand to his sweating face.

'How kind to come. Have you been running far?