"Look into Torden's cottage!" said Rosamond, aghast at the very idea. "No indeed; I ran home as fast as I could."
"And wisely too," said Andrew. "But what like was this ghostly gallant?"
"I did not see his face, but he was tall and slim, with a fair love-lock, which slipped out from under his cloak. That was all I noticed, but somehow, he made me think of young Mr. Lovel."
"What nonsense is this!" said Betty angrily. "Rosamond saw one of the village maids out curtsying with her lad. Every one knows she fears her own shadows."
Betty spoke with so much heat that we all looked at her in surprise, and a kind of undefined suspicion darted through my mind and was forgotten the next minute.
"Well, then, if I am afraid I will set up a rival cottage down at the shore, and so put Meg's into the shade," said I, laughing. "There are old Madge's grandchildren, and the Polwhele brood, and the Widow Barker's two maids. That would make a very decent school."
"Yes, a pretty return that would be to Meg for letting you help her," said Betty, who was thoroughly out of humor, as it seemed. "I ever thought she would find a cuckoo in her nest."
"Indeed, I think it would be a capital thing," said Margaret. "It is a long way for the little children to come, and they make every rain an excuse for staying away. I should hate to lose her from the school at the hamlet, too."
"There is no hurry," I replied. "I have not yet served out my apprenticeship. I am your scholar, Meg, as much as little Peggy is mine."
"Very humble, truly," said Betty sarcastically, and there the matter ended.