I know very well
I deserve it!"
John Hewitt _had_ intended to be cross--very cross indeed; but
with Joy's kitten-blue eyes fixed trustfully on his he found it
difficult even to be stern. He made an attempt, nevertheless.
"Don't you know that a little girl like you isn't old enough to be
engaged to be married?" he told her severely. He sat down on a heap
of brown and scarlet leaves, the better to show Joy the error of her
ways. "What made you think of it at all?"
Joy smiled. She was quite at ease now, with the curious feeling of
ease and happiness he always gave her, and she answered him calmly,
drawing a heavy copper plait forward over each shoulder.
"It's these that have made you think so all along. I'm nineteen."
John sat back a little, with both hands clasped over one gray-clad
knee, and looked at her again in the light of that.
"It's hard to realize, I know," she said apologetically. She lifted
the wonderful braids and bound them crownwise around her head, tying
the ends together behind as if they were pieces of ribbon, and
tucking them under with a comb, from behind one ear. She anchored
them in front with the other comb, and smiled flashingly at him
again. "Now it seems real, doesn't it? And now I'll tell you all
about it--that is, if you have the time."
He looked again at the lovely, earnest little face under the crown
of hair, and nodded gravely. She was not like any girl he had ever
known.
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