"Well, sit down, suh, sit down," said Reuben, speaking timidly as if
he were not sure he had chosen the right word. "If you'll tell Delily,
honey, Mr. Jonathan will have his supper."

"On condition that you let me share yours, Mr. Merryweather," insisted
Gay, in his genial tone. "If you're going to make company of me, I shall
go hungry until to-morrow."

From a wooden safe in the corner Molly brought a plate and a cup, and
made a place for the young man at the end of the red-and-white cloth on
the table. Then she turned away, without speaking, and sat down behind
the tin coffeepot, which emitted a fragrant steam.

"Cream and sugar?" she inquired presently, meeting his eyes over the
glass lamp which stood midway between them.

Gay had been talking to Reuben about the roads--"jolly bad roads,"
he called them, "wasn't it possible to make them decent for riding?"
Looking up at the girl's question, he answered absently, "two lumps.
Cream? Yes, please, a little," and then continued to stare at her with
a vague and impersonal wonder. She was half savage, of course, with red
hands, and bad manners and dressed like a boy that had got into skirts
for a joke--but, by George, there was something about her that bit into
the fancy. Not a beauty like his Europa of the pasture (who was, when
it came to that?)--but a fascinating little beggar, with a quality of
sudden surprises that he could describe by no word except "iridescent."
He liked the high arch of her brows; but her nose wasn't good and her
lips were too thin except when she smiled. When she smiled! It was her
smile, after all, that made her seem a thing of softness and bloom born