"May I have a word alone with you, Mr. Drogue?" she asked in her serious and graver way—a way as winning as her lighter mood, I thought.
So we went out to the veranda and walked a little way among the apple trees, slowly, I waiting to hear what she had for my ear alone.
Beyond, by the well, I saw my Rangers squatting cross-legged on the grass in a little circle, playing at stick-knife. Beyond them a Continental soldier paced his beat in front of the gate which closed the mainland road.
Birds sang, sunshine glimmered on the water, the sky was softly blue.
The girl had paused under a fruit tree. Now, she pulled down an apple branch and set her nose to the blossoms, breathing their fresh scent.
"Well," said I, quietly.
Her level eyes met mine across the flowering branch.
"I am sorry to disturb you," said she.
"How disturb me?"
"By obliging you to take me to Caughnawaga. It inconveniences you."