“Was Mr. Farquhar with you?” asked Jemima, a dull light coming into her eyes.

“Yes; we told him this morning that mamma wanted us to take some old linen to the lame man at Scaurside Farm, and that we meant to coax Mrs. Denbigh to let us go into the wood and gather strawberries,” said Elizabeth.

“I thought he would make some excuse and come,” said the quick-witted Mary, as eager and thoughtless an observer of one love-affair as of another, and quite forgetting that, not many weeks ago, she had fancied an attachment between him and Jemima.

“Did you?  I did not,” replied Elizabeth.  “At least I never thought about it.  I was quite startled when I heard his horse’s feet behind us on the road.”

“He said he was going to the farm, and could take our basket.  Was it not kind of him?” Jemima did not answer, so Mary continued—­

“You know it’s a great pull up to the farm, and we were so hot already.  The road was quite white and baked; it hurt my eyes terribly.  I was so glad when Mrs. Denbigh said we might turn into the wood.  The light was quite green there, the branches are so thick overhead.”

“And there are whole beds of wild strawberries,” said Elizabeth, taking up the tale now Mary was out of breath.  Mary fanned herself with her bonnet, while Elizabeth went on—­

“You know where the grey rock crops out, don’t you, Jemima?  Well, there was a complete carpet of strawberry-runners.  So pretty!  And we could hardly step without treading the little bright scarlet berries under foot.”

“We did so wish for Leonard,” put in Mary.

“Yes! but Mrs. Denbigh gathered a great many for him.  And Mr. Farquhar gave her all his.”

“I thought you said he bad gone on to Dawson’s farm,” said Jemima.

“Oh yes! he just went up there; and then he left his horse there, like a wise man, and came to us in the pretty, cool, green wood.  O Jemima! it was so pretty-little flecks of light coming down here and there through the leaves, and quivering on the ground.  You must go with us to-morrow.”

“Yes,” said Mary, “we’re going again to-morrow.  We could not gather nearly all the strawberries.”

“And Leonard is to go too, to-morrow.”

“Yes! we thought of such a capital plan.  That’s to say, Mr. Farquhar thought of it—­we wanted to carry Leonard up the hill in a king’s cushion, but Mrs. Denbigh would not hear of it.”

“She said it would tire us so; and yet she wanted him to gather strawberries!”

“And so,” interrupted Mary, for by this time the two girls were almost speaking together, “Mr. Farquhar is to bring him up before him on his horse.”

“You’ll go with us, won’t you, dear Jemima?” asked Elizabeth:  “it will be at——­”

“No!  I can’t go,” said Jemima abruptly.  “Don’t ask me—­I can’t.”

The little girls were hushed into silence by her manner; for whatever she might be to those above her in age and position, to those below her Jemima was almost invariably gentle She felt that they were wondering at her.