A Lover in Homespun | Page 7

the time she had been
talking to his brother, and how in that way he had tried to get her to
notice the generous vacant space at his side. There was nothing to be
done now but to let Katie misunderstand him: to let her know the true
state of his feelings would be treachery to Zotique.
In a low voice he admitted Zotique's superiority over him also in the
capacity of politeness.

It is wonderful how cruel maidens can be at times. In a tone in which
there was just the slightest shade of reproach, Katie told him that she
really had expected him to show her a little more attention, considering
how very long they had been friends. Perhaps, however, his lack of
attention had been due to his feeling unwell; she had seen how he had
hardly eaten anything. Ill-health would account, too, for the tremendous
covering of salt he had put over his meat.
Poor Vital! This was dreadful; she had misunderstood him in
everything. She would never know that his prodigality with the salt had
been due to the perversity of his heart in longing for what it would now
never possess. Manfully he stuck to the thankless part he had to play,
and admitted that ill-health had something to do with his strange
behavior.
The trees were beginning to assume gigantic shapes and to get mixed
up with the horizon, and his eyes were aching. He was suffering keenly.
Finally his eyes rested on the ground. A new trouble had arisen and was
torturing him: he thought it was his duty to congratulate her on her
engagement with his brother. If he wished her happiness without
waiting for her to tell him about the engagement, she perhaps would
see that he was not quite so impolite as she had thought him. It was
hard to commence. Distressfully his hand caressed the rough fence.
Katie glanced at him stealthily: the troubled look on his face smote her
to the heart. She was ashamed of her cruelty.
Trying to piece his barren English so it would not offend, Vital finally
told her how glad he was that she was going to be his brother's wife. He
dwelt upon Zotique's manliness, and how he was quite sure she would
never be sorry that she had chosen him.
She gazed at him in amazement. "Marry Zotique?" she queried, aghast.
He thought her surprise was due to his knowledge of the engagement,
so he hastened, with much delicacy, to explain that he had not meant to
listen. Zotique, of course, had been very much in earnest and had
spoken a little loudly to her as they passed the birch tree; that was how

he came to know so soon.
As Katie noted Vital's innate tact and delicacy, and saw how bravely he
was suffering, and knew that it was all due to her cruelty, her lips began
to tremble pitifully, and her eyes filled with tears. She tried hard not to
break down, but her heart reproached her so fiercely that there was no
use struggling, and so resting her arms on the fence she buried her face
in them, and burst into remorseful tears.
Had the earth yawned and swallowed the trees in the distance, Vital's
consternation could not have been greater. Had Katie laughed, he
would not have been surprised; but to break into such heart-rending
sobs! He was by her side in an instant, his sensitive face all aglow with
sympathy. Laying his hand lightly on her arm, he told her how sorry he
was for having caused her such bitter grief. He should have known
better, and not have mentioned her engagement until she had first told
him of it. He only now realized how embarrassing his conversation
must have been to her.
Instead of diminishing her sorrow, these kindly words caused Katie's
shoulders to heave still more quickly, and made the sobs more bitter.
Miserably Vital stood by her side, utterly at a loss to know what to do;
everything he had done and said had given her pain. For the first time
in his life he wished he never had been born.
He did not again attempt to speak, but stood quietly at her side. At last
the sobs ceased, and then with downcast eyes Katie stepped to his side
and slipped her arm hesitatingly through his. The touch of her hand
thrilled him. Thinking that she wanted him to take her back to the
house, and was too angry to speak to him, he turned, and with the moon
full in their faces they began silently to walk toward the house. As they
neared it, the sounds of the violin and the merry-making grew more
distinct. He thought of the happiness awaiting her there,