"Yes, it was, and hold your silly head quiet, miss--'perfectly charming,' he said, 'and I'm half jealous of old Magnus already.'"
The blue eyes in the glass were gleaming with delight, but the mouth said, "Well, of course, I should have been dreadfully vexed if I had heard him say that, but still it isn't my fault----"
"Fiddlesticks!" said Aunt Margret with a sniff of contempt. "Just take a cranky old woman's advice, my precious, and don't make trouble between two brothers."
Then the shining face in the glass became serious and thoughtful, and Thora said:
"How can you say such uncomfortable things, Aunt Margret? Merely because I am going to ride with Oscar to the sheep-gathering----"
"Oh, a little brook can start a big river. But what's the use of talking--a beast can be broken, but not a wilful woman."
Then seeing that the tears were in Thora's eyes Aunt Margret gave the girl's hair a softer smoothing, and said:
"Magnus may not be as clever as his brother, Thora, but he is twenty times as solid and steady, and he is just as able to take care of a girl, and quite as likely to make her happy. Besides, dear, it's all settled and done, and the made road is easiest to travel, you know. Your marriage with Magnus has been arranged between your father and the Governor; they have set their hearts on it, the contract is ready, and if anything should happen now----"
But Thora, who had been listening with head aslant to sounds outside the house, suddenly leapt to her feet, saying, "I do believe that's Silvertop's step."
There was a clatter of hoofs on the cobbles of the street, and at the next moment a silvery male voice under the window was crying,