Part 22 (2/2)

She looked down to thrust the stem of the clover through the silver arrow that fastened her belt, and waited with an expectant smile to hear what Limerick or nonsense jingle he had found that made him think of her. It was neither. With eyes fixed on the little symbol he was outlining on the bark of the tree, he recited as if he were reading the words from it:

”Love, be true to her; Life, be dear to her; Health, stay close to her; Joy, draw near to her; Fortune, find what your gifts Can do for her.

Search your treasure-house Through and through for her.

Follow her steps The wide world over; You must! for here is The four-leaved clover.”

”Why, Rob, that is _lovely_!” she exclaimed, looking up at him, surprised and pleased. ”I'm glad you put that clovah on the tree, for every time I look at it, it will remind me of yoah wish, and--”

The letter she had been carrying fluttered to the ground. He stooped to pick it up and return it to her.

”That's the lettah you are to mail for me,” she said, giving it back to him. ”Don't forget it, for it's impawtant.”

The address was uppermost, in her clear, plain hand, and she held it toward him, so that he saw she intended him to read it.

”Hm! Writing to Alex Shelby, are you?” he said, with his usual brotherly frankness, and a sniff that plainly showed his disapproval.

”It's just a note to tell him that I can't ride with him Thursday,” she answered, turning away.

”Did you tell him the reason?” he demanded, continuing to dig into the tree.

”Of co'se not! How could I without making Bernice appeah ridiculous?”

”But what will he think of you, if you don't?”

”Oh, I don't know! I've worried ovah it until I'm neahly gray.”

Then she looked up, wondering at his silence and the grave intentness with which he was regarding her.

”Oh, Rob, don't tell me, aftah all, that you think it was silly of me! I thought you'd like it! It was only the friendly thing to do, wasn't it?”

He gave a final dig with his knife, then turned to look down into her wistful eyes. ”Lloyd Sherman,” he said, slowly, ”you're one girl whose friends.h.i.+p means something. You don't measure up very high on this old locust, but when it comes to doing the square thing--when it's a question of _honor_, you measure up like a man!”

Somehow the unwonted tenderness of his tone, the grave approval of his smile, touched her in a way she had not believed possible. The tears sprang to her eyes. There was a little tremor in her voice that she tried to hide with a laugh.

”Oh, Rob! I'm so glad! Nothing could make me happier than to have you think that!”

They started on down to the gate together. The only sound in all the late afternoon suns.h.i.+ne was the soft rustling of the leaves overhead.

How many times the old locusts had watched their yearly partings! As they reached the gate, Rob balanced the letter on his palm an instant.

Evidently he had been thinking of it all the way. ”Yes,” he said, as if to himself, ”that proves a right to the third leaf.” Then he dropped the letter in his pocket.

Lloyd looked up, almost shyly. ”Rob, I want to tell you something. Even after that letter was written I was tempted not to send it. I was sitting with it in my hand, hesitating, when I heard yoah whistle in the hall, and then it came ovah me like a flash, all you'd said, both in jest and earnest, about friends.h.i.+p and what it should count for. Well, it was the old test, like jumping off the roof and climbing the chimney. I used to say 'Bobby expects it of me, so I'll do it or die.'

It was that way this time. So if I have found the third leaf, Rob, it was _you_ who showed me where to look for it.”

Then it was that the old locusts, watching and nodding overhead, sent a long whispering sigh from one to another. They knew now that the two children who had romped and raced in their shadows, who had laughed and sung around their feet through so many summers, were outgrowing that childhood at last. For the boy, instead of answering ”Oh, pshaw!” in bluff, boyish fas.h.i.+on, as he would have done in other summers gone, impulsively thrust out his hands to clasp both of hers.

That was their good-by. Then the Little Colonel, tall and slender like Elaine, the Lily Maid, turned and walked back toward the house. She was so happy in the thought that she had found the golden leaf, that she did not think to look behind her, so she did not see what the locusts saw--Rob standing there watching her, till she pa.s.sed out of sight between the white pillars. But the grim old family sentinels, who were always watching, nodded knowingly and went on whispering together.

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