And his manner of assisting Winsome to gather her flowers for her wedding bouquet was, when you come to think of it, admirably adapted for keeping the shoulders back.
"Meg waked me this morning," said Winsome suddenly.
"She did, did she?" remarked Ralph ineffectively, with a quick envy of Meg. Then it occurred to him that he had no need to envy Meg. And Winsome blushed for no reason at all.
Then she became suddenly practical, as the protective instinct teaches women to be on these occasions.
"You have not seen your study," she said.
"No," said Ralph, "but I have heard enough about it. It has occupied sixteen pages in the last three letters."
Ralph considered the study a good thing, but he had his views upon the composition of love-letters.
"You are an ungrateful boy," said Winsome sternly, "and I shall see that you get no more letters—not any more!"
"I shall never want any, little woman," cried Ralph joyously, "for
I shall have you!"
It was a blessing that at this moment they were passing under the dense shade of the great oaks at the foot of the orchard. Winsome had thought for five minutes that it would happen about there. It happened.