"No."
"I was afeared you'd change your mind about marryin' Jack."
"When I promised I meant it. I didn't make it on conditions."
"But, lass, promises can be broke," he said, with the sonorous roll in his voice.
"I never yet broke one of mine."
"Wal, I hev. Not often, mebbe, but I hev.... An', lass, it's reasonable. Thar's times when a man jest can't live up to what he swore by. An' fer a girl--why, I can see how easy she'd change an' grow overnight. It's only fair fer me to say that no matter what you think you owe me you couldn't be blamed now fer dislikin' Jack."
"Dad, if by marrying Jack I can help him to be a better son to you, and more of a man, I'll be glad," she replied.
"Lass, I'm beginnin' to see how big an' fine you are," replied Belllounds, with strong feeling. "An' it's worryin' me.... My neighbors hev always accused me of seein' only my son. Only Buster Jack! I was blind an' deaf as to him!... Wal, I'm not so damn blind as I used to be. The scales are droppin' off my ole eyes.... But I've got one hope left as far as Jack's concerned. Thet's marryin' him to you. An' I'm stickin' to it."
"So will I stick to it, dad," she replied. "I'll go through with October first!"
Columbine broke off, vouchsafing no more, and soon left the breakfast-table, to take up the work she had laid out to do. And she accomplished it, though many times her hands dropped idle and her eyes peered out of her window at the drab slides of the old mountain.