第47章

"But I don't want to go back, Ros.If I do I'll have to go clear round by Myrick's, two mile out of my way.""You should have thought of that before you brought that crowd with you.I won't have this Lane made a public nuisance by any one.

Zeb, I'm ashamed of you."

Zeb turned to his passengers."There!" he whined, "I told you so, Tim.I said you hadn't ought to act that way.""Aw, what are you givin' us!" sneered Hallet."You thought 'twas as funny as anybody, Zeb Kendrick.Look here, Ros Paine! Ithought you was down on them Coltons.We fellers are only havin' a little fun with 'em for bein' so stuck-up and hoggish.Can't you take a joke?""Not your kind.Go back, Zeb."

"But--but can't I use the Lane NO more?" pleaded the driver."Iwon't fetch 'em here agin."

"We'll see about that.You can't use it this time.Now go."Zeb reluctantly spoke to his horse and the wagon began to move.

Hallet swore a string of oaths.

"I'm on to you, Paine!" he yelled."You're standin' in with 'em, after all.You wait till I see Captain Jed."In three strides I was abreast the cart-tail.

"See him then," said I."And tell him that if any one uses this Lane for the purpose of wilfully annoying those living near it I'll not only forbid his using it, but I'll prosecute him for trespass.

I mean that.Stop! I advise you not to say another word."I did not intend to prosecute Jim, he was not worth it, but Ishould have thoroughly enjoyed dragging him out of that wagon and silencing him by primitive methods.My anger had not cooled to any extent.He did not speak to me again, though I heard him muttering as the cart moved off.I remained where I was until I saw it turn into the Lower Road.Then I once more started for home.

I was very much annoyed and disturbed.Evidently this sort of thing had been going on for some time and I had just discovered it.

It placed me in a miserable light.When Colton had declared, as he had in both our interviews, that the Lane was a nuisance I had loftily denied the assertion.Now those idiots in the village were doing their best to prove me a liar.I should have expected such behavior from Hallet and his friends, but for Captain Dean to tacitly approve their conduct was unexpected and provoking.Well, I had made my position plain, at all events.But I knew that Tim would distort my words and that the idea of my "standing in" with the Coltons, while professing independence, would be revived.Iwas destined to be detested and misunderstood by both sides.Yes, Dorinda was right in saying that I might find sitting on the fence uncomfortable.It was all of that.

I entered the grove and was striding on, head down, busy with these and similar reflections, when some one said: "Good morning, Mr.

Paine."

I stopped short, came out of the day dream in which I had been giving Captain Jed my opinion of his followers' behavior, looked up, and saw Miss Colton in the path before me.

She was dressed in white, a light, simple summer gown.Her straw hat was simple also, expensive simplicity doubtless, but without a trace of the horticultural exhibits with which Olinda Cahoon, our Denboro milliner, was wont to deck the creations she prepared for customers.Matilda Dean would have sniffed at the hat and gown;they were not nearly as elaborate as those Nellie, her daughter, wore on Sundays.But Matilda or Nellie at their grandest could not have appeared as well dressed as this girl, no matter what she wore.Just now she looked, as Lute or Dorinda might have said, "as if she came out of a band box.""Good morning," she said, again.She was perfectly self-possessed.

Remembrance of our transit of Mullet's cranberry brook did not seem to embarrass her in the least.Nellie Dean would have giggled and blushed, but she did not.

_I_ was embarrassed, I admit it, but I had sufficient presence of mind to remove my hat.

"Good morning," said I.There flashed through my mind the thought that if she had been in that grove for any length of time she must have overheard my lively interview with Kendrick and Tim Hallet.Iwondered if she had.

Her next remark settled that question.

"I suppose," she said, soberly, but with the same twinkle in her eye which I had observed once or twice in her father's, "that Ishould apologize for being here, on your property, Mr.Paine.Ijudge that you don't like trespassers."

I was more nettled at Zeb and his crowd than ever."So you saw that performance," I said."I'm sorry.""I saw a little of it, and I'm afraid I heard the rest.I was walking here by the bluff and I could not help seeing and hearing.""Humph! Well, I hope you understand, Miss Colton, that I did not know, until just now, this sort of thing was going on."She smiled."Oh, I understand that," she said."You made that quite plain.Even those people in the wagon understood it, Ishould imagine."

"I hope they did."

"I did not know you could be so fierce, Mr.Paine.I had not expected it.You almost frightened me.You were so very--well, mild and long-suffering on the other occasions when we met.""I am not always so mild, Miss Colton.However, if I had known you were within hearing I might not have been quite so emphatic.""Then I am glad you didn't know.I think those ruffians were treated as they deserved.""Not half as they deserved.I shall watch from now on and if there are any more attempts at annoying you or your people I shall do more than talk.""Thank you.They have been troublesome--of late.I am sure we are very much obliged to you, all of us.""Not at all."

"Oh yes, we are.Not only for this, but for--all the rest.For your help the other night especially; I want to thank you for that.""It was nothing," I answered, awkwardly.

"Nothing! You are not very complimentary, Mr.Paine.""I mean--that is, I--"

"You may consider rescuing shipwrecked young ladies, afloat and ashore, nothing--perhaps you do it so often that it is of little consequence to you; but I am not so modest.I estimate my safety as worth something, even if you do not.""I did not mean that, of course, Miss Colton.You know I did not.