Carrying a basket, therefore, of red and luscious fruit, Jane went through the pine grove along the path that led to the Castle Manor. Under the trees was a green light which she breasted as one breasts the cool waters of the sea. Her breath came quickly. In a few short weeks she would be far away from this sweet and silent spot, with its sacred memories.
Leaving the grove, she passed the field where the scarecrow reigned.
She leaned on the fence. With the coming of spring, the scarecrow had been decked in gay attire. He wore a pink shirt of Evans’ and a pair of white trousers. His hat was of straw, and as he danced in the warm south breeze he had an air of care-free jauntiness.
Jane found herself resenting his jaunty air. She felt that she had liked him better in his days of appealing loneliness. She had resented, in like manner, the change in Evans. He, too, had an air of making a world for himself. She had no part in it, apparently. She was, in effect, the Peri at the gate!
And she wanted to be in his world. Evans’ world. She didn’t want to be left out. Yet she had chosen. And Evans had accepted her decision. She had not thought it would be so hard to have him—accept.
His interests seemed now to include everything but Jane. He was doing many things for the boys of Sherwood, there was his work in town, the added responsibility he had assumed in the affairs of the farm.
“She’s such an old darling, Jane. Doing it with her duchess air. But she’s not strong. I’m trying to make her let things go a bit. But she’s so proud of her success. I wish you could see her showing Edith Towne and her fashionable friends about the dairy. With tea on the lawn afterward. You must come over and join in the fun, Jane.”
“I am coming,” Jane had told him, “but my days have been so filled.”
He had known who had filled them. But he had ignored that, and had gone on with his subject. “The idea I have now is to keep bees and sell honey. The boys and I have some books on bee culture. They are quite crazy about it.”
It was always now the boys and himself. His mother and himself. And once it had been himself and Jane!