"He will not come again. Not yet."
"It is nothing to me," said Peter indifferently.
"Indeed?" she retorted. "I thought you asked why I sing in the dark."
Peter kept his eyes sullenly fixed on the ground, making no answer.
She shut the gate.
"Do you really want to know why I sing in the dark?"
Peter's silence covered a wish to kill this creature. There was a long silence; and when at last he looked up, her eyes were again mischievously playing him. On meeting his look of resentment and dislike, she inconsequently asked:
"Have you found a piece of cherry-coloured ribbon?"
Peter flung up his hands, and turned away into the garden. She had no need to see that he was cursing her in the shelter of the trees. She went towards the house crooning the song which was now intolerable to Peter.