"She's a dear old soul!" he said joyfully.
"I believe you gave her a kiss," Elizabeth declared.
"I gave her a hug. She said things I liked!"
Elizabeth, guessing what the things might have been, swerved away from the subject, and murmured how pretty the country looked. There had been a snow-storm the night before, and the fields were glistening, unbroken sheets of white; the road David chose was followed by a brook, that ran chuckling between the agate strips of ice along its banks; here and there a dipping branch had been caught and was held in a tinkling crystal prison, and here and there the ice conquered the current, and the water could be heard gurgling and complaining under its snowy covering. David thought that all the world was beautiful,—now that Mrs. Todd had bidden him use his eyes!
"Remember when we used to sled down this hill, Elizabeth?"
She turned her cool, glowing face toward him and nodded. "Indeed I do!
And you used to haul my sled up to the top again."
"I don't think I have forgotten anything we did."
Instantly she veered away from personalities. "Isn't it a pity Blair dislikes Mercer so much? Nannie is dreadfully lonely without him."
"She has you; I don't see how she can be lonely."
"Oh, I don't count for anything compared to Blair." Her breath carried quickly. The starry light was in her eyes, but he did not see it. He was not daring to look at her.