But as April passed on Phillis began to grow a little silent again; and it became a habit with her to coax Laddie to take long walks with her, when Nan and Dulce were otherwise engaged. The exercise seemed to quiet her restlessness; and the spring sights and sounds, the budding hedgerows, and the twittering of the birds as they built their nests, and the fresh leafy green, unsoiled by summer heat and dust, seemed to refresh her flagging spirits.
It was the 1st of May, when one afternoon she called to Laddie, who was lying drowsily in the sunny porch. Nan, who was busily engaged in training the creeper round the pillars of the veranda, looked up in a little surprise:
“Are you going out again, Phil? And neither Dulce nor I 370 can come with you. Mrs. Mayne has some friends coming to five-o’clock tea, and she wants us to go over for an hour. It is so dull for you, dear, always to walk alone.”
“Oh no; I shall not be dull, Nannie,” returned Phillis, with an unsteady smile, for her spirits were a little fluctuating that afternoon. “I am restless, and want a good walk: so I shall just go to Sandy Lane, and be back in time to make tea for mother.” And then she waved her hand, and whistled to Laddie as she unlatched the little gate. It was a long walk. But, as usual, the quiet and the sweet air refreshed her, and by the time she reached Sandy Lane her eyes were brilliant with exercise, and a pretty pink tinge of color was in her cheeks. It is May-day,—the 1st of May. I wonder how soon he will come, she thought, as she leaned on the little gate where poor Dick had leaned that day.
There were footsteps approaching, but they made no sound over the sandy ruts. A tall man, with a fair beard and a clerical felt hat, was walking quickly up the road that leads from Oldfield; and as he walked his eyes were scanning the path before him, as though he were looking for some one. At the sight of the girl leaning against the gate his face brightened, and he slackened his steps a little, that he might not startle her. She was looking out across the country with a far-off, dreamy expression, and did not turn her head as he approached. It was Laddie who saw him first, and jumped up with a joyous bark to welcome him; and then she looked round, and for a moment her eyes grew wide and misty, for she thought it was a continuation of her dream.
“Laddie saw me first,” he said, stepping up quietly to her side,—for he still feared to startle her,—and his voice was very gentle. “Phillis, you must not look so surprised! Surely you expected me? It is the 1st of May!”
“Oh, I knew that,” she said; and then she turned away from him. But he had not dropped her hand, but was holding it very quietly and firmly. “But I could not tell the day; and––”
“Did you think I should wait an hour beyond the time you fixed?” he answered, very calmly. “May is your favorite month; and what could be more beautiful than May-day for the purpose I have in hand! Phillis, you will not go back from your promise now? You said you would listen to me in May.”
There was no answer to this; but, as Archie looked in her face, he read no repulse there. And so, in that quiet lane, with Laddie lying at their feet, he told all he had to tell.
“Are you sure you can trust me now, Phillis?” he asked, rather wistfully, when he had finished. “You know what I am, dear—a man with many faults.”