"Oh Laddie!"I shouted,jumping up,"that pie is only the beginning of the good things I have brought you.I have a message,and a gift besides,Laddie!""A message and a gift?"Laddie repeated."What!More?""Truly I have a message and a gift for you,"I cried,"and Laddie--they are from the Princess!"His eyes raised to mine now,and slowly he turned Sabethany-like.
"From the Princess!"he exclaimed."A message and a gift for me,Little Sister?You never would let Leon put you up to serve me a trick?"That hurt.He should have KNOWN I wouldn't,and besides,"Leon feels just as badly about this as any of us,"I said."Have you forgotten he offered to plow,and let you do the clean,easy work?""Forgive me!I'm overanxious,"said Laddie,his arms reaching for me."Go on and tell carefully,and if you truly love me,don't make a mistake!"Crowding close,my arms around his neck,his crisp hair against my lips,I whispered my story softly,for this was such a fine and splendid secret,that not even the shining blackbirds,and the pert robins in the furrows were going to get to hear a word of it.Before I had finished Laddie was breathing as Flos does when he races her the limit.He sat motionless for a long time,while over his face slowly crept a beauty that surpassed that of Apollo in his Greek book.
"And her gift?"
It was only a breath.
"She helped me up,and she sent you this,"I answered.
Then I set my lips on his,and held them there a second,trying my level best to give him her very kiss,but of course I could only try.
"Oh,Laddie,"I cried."Her eyes were like when stars shine down in our well!Her cheeks were like mother's damask roses!She smelled like flowers,and when her lips touched mine little stickers went all over me!"Then Laddie's arms closed around me and I thought sure every bone in my body was going to be broken;when he finished there wasn't a trace of that kiss left for me.Remembering it would be all I'd ever have.It made me see what would have happened to the Princess if she had been there;and it was an awful pity for her to miss it,because he'd sober down a lot before he reached her,but I was sure as shooting that he wouldn't be so crazy as to kiss her hands again.Peter wasn't a patching to him!
That night Laddie rode to Pryors'.When he brought Flos to the gate you could see the shadow of your face on her shining flank;her mane and tail were like ravelled silk,her hoofs bright as polished horn,and her muzzle was clean as a ribbon.I broke one of those rank green sprouts from the snowball bush and brushed away the flies,so she wouldn't fret,stamp,and throw dust on herself.Then Laddie came,fresh from a tubbing,starched linen,dressed in his new riding suit,and wearing top hat and gauntlets.He looked the very handsomest I ever had seen him;and at the same time,he seemed trembling with tenderness,and bursting with power.Goodness sake!I bet the Princess took one good look and "came down"like Davy Crockett's coon.Mother was on his arm and she walked clear to the gate with him.
"LADDIE,ARE YOU SURE ENOUGH TO GO?"I heard her ask him whisper-like.
"SURE AS DEATH!"Laddie answered.
Mother looked,and she had to see how it was with him;no doubt she saw more than I did from having been through it herself,so she smiled kind of a half-sad,half-glad smile.Then she turned to her damask rose bush,the one Lucy brought her from the city,and that she was so precious about,that none of us dared touch it,and she searched all over it and carefully selected the most perfect rose.When she borrowed Laddie's knife and cut the stem as long as my arm,I knew exactly how great and solemn the occasion was;for always before about six inches had been her limit.She held it toward him,smiling bravely and beautifully,but the tears were running straight down her cheeks.
"Take it to her,"she said."I think,my son,it is very like."Laddie took her in his arms and wiped away the tears;he told her everything would come out all right about God,and the mystery,even.Then he picked me clear off the ground,and he tried to see how near he could come to cracking every bone in my body without really doing it,and he kissed me over and over.It hadn't been so easy,but I guess you'll admit that paid.Then he rode away with the damask rose waving over his heart.Mother and I stood beside the hitching rack and looked after him,with our arms tight around each other while we tried to see which one could bawl the hardest.
