The fright I had taken that night in Glen Doone satisfied
me for a long time thereafter; and I took good care
not to venture even in the fields and woods of the
outer farm, without John Fry for company. John
was greatly surprised and pleased at the value I now
set upon him; until, what betwixt the desire to vaunt
and the longing to talk things over, I gradually laid
bare to him nearly all that had befallen me; except,
indeed, about Lorna, whom a sort of shame kept me from
mentioning. Not that I did not think of her,
and wish very often to see her again; but of course
I was only a boy as yet, and therefore inclined to
despise young girls, as being unable to do anything,
and only meant to listen to orders. And when
I got along with the other boys, that was how we always
spoke of them, if we deigned to speak at all, as beings
of a lower order, only good enough to run errands
for us, and to nurse boy-babies.
And yet my sister Annie was in truth a great deal
more to me than all the boys of the parish, and of
Brendon, and Countisbury, put together; although at
the time I never dreamed it, and would have laughed
if told so. Annie was of a pleasing face, and
very gentle manner, almost like a lady some people
said; but without any airs whatever, only trying to
give satisfaction. And if she failed, she would
go and weep, without letting any one know it, believing
the fault to be all her own, when mostly it was of
others. But if she succeeded in pleasing you,
it was beautiful to see her smile, and stroke her
soft chin in a way of her own, which she always used
when taking note how to do the right thing again for
you. And then her cheeks had a bright clear pink,
and her eyes were as blue as the sky in spring, and
she stood as upright as a young apple-tree, and no
one could help but smile at her, and pat her brown
curls approvingly; whereupon she always curtseyed.
For she never tried to look away when honest people
gazed at her; and even in the court-yard she would
come and help to take your saddle, and tell (without
your asking her) what there was for dinner.
And afterwards she grew up to be a very comely maiden,
tall, and with a well-built neck, and very fair white
shoulders, under a bright cloud of curling hair.
Alas! poor Annie, like most of the gentle maidens—but
tush, I am not come to that yet; and for the present
she seemed to me little to look at, after the beauty
of Lorna Doone.
