The sort I want is one
that grows prettier and prettier the more you love and trust her, and
always looks best when she is busiest doing something for somebody. Yes,
she has black hair, black as the night; and you see the whiteness of her
face in the darkest night. And her eyes, they are blue, oh, as blue as
bits of the very sky at midnight! and they shine and flash so--just like
yours, and nobody else's, my darling."
But here they heard footsteps on the stair--those of Mrs. Macintosh,
hurrying up to surprise them. They guessed that her husband had just
left her, and that she was in a wild fury; simultaneously they rose and
fled. Hector would have led the way quietly out by the front door; but
Annie turning the other way to pass through the kitchen, Hector at once
turned and followed her. But he had hardly got up with her before she
was safe in her mother's house, and the door shut behind them. There
Hector bade her goodnight, and, hastening home, found all the lights
out, and heard his father and mother talking in their own room; but what
they said he never knew.
The next morning Annie had hardly done dressing when she heard a knock
at the street-door.
"That'll be Hector, mother," she said. "I'm thinking he'll be come to
have a word with you."
"Annie!" exclaimed her mother, in rebuke of the liberty she took. "But
if you mean young Mr. Macintosh, what on earth can he want with me?"
"Bide a minute, mother," answered Annie, "and he'll tell you himself.
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