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Page 9
"Oh no, it isn't that," protested Tom. "Only I'd rather row; that is, I
mean, you know, it's such fun rowing."
"Very well, then," said Madeline, "I sha'n't help you any more; and here
they all are tying their boats on to ours."
Sure enough, one of the other boats had fastened its chain to the stern
of theirs, and the others had fastened to that; their oarsmen were lying
off and Tom was propelling the entire flotilla.
"Oh, I can row 'em all just as easy's not," gasped the devoted youth, the
perspiration rolling down his forehead.
But this was a little too bad, and Henry soon cast off the other boats,
in spite of the protests of their occupants, who regarded Tom's brawn and
muscle as the common stock of the entire party, which no one boat had a
right to appropriate.
On reaching Hemlock Hollow, Madeline asked the poor young man for his
hat, and returned it to him adorned with evergreens, which nearly
distracted him with bashfulness and delight, and drove him to seek a
safety-valve for his excitement in superhuman activity all the rest of
the morning, arranging croquet sets, hanging swings, breaking ice,
squeezing lemons, and fetching water.
"Oh, how thirsty I am!" sighed Madeline, throwing down her croquet
mallet.
"The ice-water is not yet ready, but I know a spring a little way off
where the water is cold as ice," said Henry.
"Show it to me this instant," she cried, and they walked off together,
followed by Ida Lewis's unhappy eyes.
The distance to the spring was not great, but the way was rough, and once
or twice he had to help her over fallen trees and steep banks. Once she
slipped a little, and for, a single supreme moment he held her whole
weight in his arms. Before, they had been talking and laughing gaily, but
that made a sudden silence. He dared not look at her for some moments,
and when he did there was a slight flush tingeing her usually colourless
cheek.
His pulses were already bounding wildly, and, at this betrayal that she
had shared his consciousness at that moment, his agitation was tenfold
increased. It was the first time she had ever shown a sign of confusion
in his presence. The sensation of mastery, of power over her, which it
gave, was so utterly new that it put a sort of madness in his blood.
Without a word they came to the spring and pretended to drink. As she
turned to go back, he lightly caught her fingers in a detaining clasp,
and said, in a voice rendered harsh by suppressed emotion--
"Don't be in such a hurry. Where will you find a cooler spot?"
"Oh, it's cool enough anywhere! Let's go back," she replied, starting to
return as she spoke. She saw his excitement, and, being herself a little
confused, had no idea of allowing a scene to be precipitated just then.
She flitted on before with so light a foot that he did not overtake her
until she came to a bank too steep for her to surmount without aid. He
sprang up and extended her his hand. Assuming an expression as if she
were unconscious who was helping her, she took it, and he drew her up to
his side. Then with a sudden, audacious impulse, half hoping she would
not be angry, half reckless if she were, he clasped her closely in his
arms, and kissed her lips. She gasped, and freed herself.
"How dared you do such a thing to me?" she cried.
The big fellow stood before her, sheepish, dogged, contrite, desperate,
all in one.
"I couldn't help it," he blurted out. The plea was somehow absurdly
simple, and yet rather unanswerable. Angry as she was, she really
couldn't think of anything to say, except--
"You'd better help it," with which rather ineffective rebuke she turned
away and walked toward the picnic ground. Henry followed in a demoralized
frame. His mind was in a ferment. He could not realize what had happened.
He could scarcely believe that he had actually done it. He could not
conceive how he had dared it. And now what penalty would she inflict?
What if she should not forgive him? His soul was dissolved in fears, But,
sooth to say, the young lady's actual state of mind was by no means so
implacable as he apprehended. She had been ready to be very angry, but
the suddenness and depth of his contrition had disarmed her. It took all
the force out of her indignation to see that he actually seemed to have a
deeper sense of the enormity of his act than she herself had. And when,
after they had rejoined the party, she saw that, instead of taking part
in the sports, he kept aloof, wandering aimless and disconsolate by
himself among the pines, she took compassion on him and sent some one to
tell him she wanted him to come and push her in the swing. People had
kissed her before. She was not going to leave the first person who had
seemed to fully realize the importance of the proceeding to suffer unduly
from a susceptibility which did him so much credit. As for Henry, he
hardly believed his ears when he heard the summons to attend her. At that
the kiss which her rebuke had turned cold on his lips began to glow
afresh, and for the first time he tasted its exceeding sweetness; for her
calling to him seemed to ratify and consent to it. There were others
standing about as he came up to where Madeline sat in the swing, and he
was silent, for he could not talk of indifferent things.
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