"To face the world!" echoed the Squire. "I wonder what you mean by that! How well you look! I was not sure that you and Aunt Bee were home, or I should have hurried back yesterday."
"Rona does look well, and so do you, Denzil. I don't think I ever saw you look better," said Miss Rawson, handing him his tea. "We got home the day before yesterday. The heat in London and Paris was too great for us to wish to stay there."
"And what do you mean by facing the world?" persisted Denzil, sitting down luxuriously, tossing his straw hat upon the grass, and lifting his dazzled eyes once more upon the princess of Thule who stood before him.
"I mean," said Rona, turning with composure and once more seating herself, "that, owing to you, I have a first-rate education and the means to earn my living. I am ready to begin, as soon as possible. I want to repay you all that my schooling has cost you."
Her manner in speaking was one of perfect simplicity. There were no protestations, no asseverations. Yet her gratitude and her independent pride were both apparent, and both, coming from her, seemed subtly wonderful.
Miss Rawson looked up in surprise. Strange as it may seem, this idea had not occurred to her. She was not a modern woman, and had no idea of woman's vocations. She had fancied that Rona would be abundantly content to remain at Normansgrave until Denzil married her or David fetched her away. So had Denzil. He gazed at her in perplexity, in wonder, in vast admiration. He might have known she would show this fine spirit.
"Surely," she said, earnestly, "you did not think that I was a sort of bottomless gulf, swallowing all your money and kindness with no hope of returning it? I can work, and I wish to work. I could not live here as a pauper, dependent on your charity, could I?"
"What do you propose to do?" asked Denzil.
"To write stories for the magazines. There was a girl at Rennes whose elder sister earned about a hundred and fifty pounds a year in that way."
"But, my dear child," said Aunt Bee, "how do you know that you have the capacity to write stories?"