The sun had just risen the next morning, and its long, red streamers were kindling iridescent fires in the jewels of dew on the dying grass of the fields. White mists, like tenderly caressing clouds, hung along the rocky sides of the mountains. Ann Boyd, her eyes heavy from unwonted loss of sleep, was at the barn feeding her horses when she saw Virginia coming across the meadows. "She wants her shawl, poor thing!" Ann mused. "I'll go get it."
She went back into the house and brought it out just as the beautiful girl reached the barn-yard fence and stood there wordless, timid, and staring. "You see, I kept my word," the elder woman said, with an effort at a smile. "Here is your shawl." Virginia reached out for it. She said nothing, simply folding the shawl on her arm and staring into Ann's eyes with a woe-begone expression. She had lost her usual color, and there were black rings round her wonderful eyes that gave them more depth and seeming mystery than ever.
"I hope your mother wasn't awake last night when you got back," Ann said.
"No, she wasn't—she was sound asleep," Virginia said, without change of expression. It was as if, in her utter depression, she had lost all individuality.
"Then she don't know," Ann put in.
"No, she don't suspect, Mrs. Boyd. If she did, she'd die, and so would I."
"Well, I don't see as she is likely to know—ever, as long as she lives," Ann said, in a crude attempt at comfort-giving.
"I fancied you'd want her to know," said the girl, looking at Ann frankly. "After I thought it over, I came to the conclusion that maybe you did it all so you could tell her. I see no other reason for—for you being so—so good to—to me."
"Well, I don't know as I've been good to anybody." Ann's color was rising in spite of her cold exterior. "But we won't talk about that. Though I'll tell you one thing, child, and that is that I'll never tell this to a living soul. Nobody but you and me an' that trifling scamp will ever know it. Now, will that do you any good? It's the same, you see, as if it had never really taken place."
"But it did take place!" Virginia said, despondently.