258 STRAY -AW AYS 



them any lip, or if " — he pressed her to his side 

 and kissed her — " they cot ye lettin' in a friend some 

 Sunday evening." 



Kate's head remained on her companion's shoulder, 

 her heart was still beating heavily, and she looked out 

 from a delicious trance upon the sweet grass and the 

 embroidered hawthorn branches. How well it was 

 worth the hours last night when she stayed up to 

 finish turning her Sunday skirt, while her whole future 

 was bounded by the question whether she could get 

 out next day. After all, as Joe said, there might be 

 worse than Mrs. McKenzie. The girl at No. 16 

 only got one evening in the fortnight, and had all the 

 washing to do. 



" Ye say she'll not give ye leave to go out next 

 Sunday ? Well, supposing now if some one was to 

 drop round next Sunday evening when the family 

 was at church, they wouldn't find a new girl opening 

 the door ? " 



" Well, maybe not," she replied, with the upward 

 look at him that is known to every nation and class 

 upon earth. 



His arm came closer round her, and the present 

 moment rushed in upon her, shutting out past and 

 future. To the passer-by she was merely a clumsy girl, 

 with a large head, sprawling on the shoulder of a 

 dingy artisan, yet love and its dreadfulness were 

 there expressed, a fire struck from the heart of life, 

 to burn itself out in slow despairs, or mild regrets, 

 or in some sudden agony or extinction of death, such 

 as it is best not to foresee. 



A clock intoned its tale of the four quarters, and 

 boomed forth the hours in a baritone as gloomy as 

 the bay of a bloodhound. Joe stretched himself and 

 got up; his face looked more pasty than ever as he 

 stood under the yellow cascade of laburnum. 



