She grew silent and avoided company. She sang no more at her work, and
she avoided Peter, and kept out of his way. She often compared Robert
with him now, and loved to let her mind linger on that one mad moment of
delirious joy a year ago, when he had crushed her to his breast, and
cried to her to be his. Thus womanhood dawned for her, and its great
responsibilities frightened her.
Robert, on the other hand, spent a week nursing his injured foot, but
apart from the week's idle time, he suffered very little. He felt sore
at losing the race, but was able now to look upon it as an unfortunate
accident. But that smile which he had seen on the face of Mysie made him
strangely happy, and it helped him to get over his disappointment. He
was impatient to be out upon the moor again. He would wait for Mysie
some night, he concluded, and tell her calmly that he wanted her to
marry him.
His mother's prospects were fairly good now. The youngest boy would soon
be working; besides, two other brothers were at work, while Jennie, his
eldest sister, was in service, and Annie, the younger one, was helping
in the house. He waited, night after night, after his injured foot was
better--lingering on the moor by the path which Mysie must travel.
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