ng strenuously to keep the sky clear of
clouds, and a time of it she was having. A hard-working, tidy body she
was, this April afternoon, but she did not go about her work
systematically. For no sooner had she swept her great floor a clear,
gleaming blue, than, with a careless flourish of her broom, she
scattered great rolling heaps of down all over it, and had to go
frantically to work and brush them together again. Nevertheless, the
wind and the clouds, and indeed the whole world, seemed to be having a
grand time. The trees swung giddily before the gale, the bare, brown
fields were smiling and tidy, and as clean as a floor, and the little
streams by the roadside leaped and laughed at the sunlight. Only the
birds seemed to be in trouble. A gasping robin clung for a moment to
an unsteady perch in a lashing elm, and tried his poor little best to
get out a few notes. But the frolicsome wind slapped him in the face,
and choked him, and he fled before it to the shelter of the woods.
Everywhere was tremendous rush and bustle and glad hurry, for was not
all the world preparing for the arrival of Summer? She might come any
day now, and the earth must be tidied and swept and washed and dried,
to make ready for the glorious paraphernalia of green carpets and
curtains, and flower cushions, and endless bric-a-brac, that grand lady
was sure to bring.

Even Gilbert felt the joy of the spring day, and behaved quite
cheerfully for a young man who had had his heart broken only the winter
before. The two had not driven together since the day they had
witnessed Sandy McQuarry's Waterloo, and they recalled it with
laughter, and discussed, with even more merriment, the wonderful
sequel. For since Sandy had fulfilled his wager, and come back to
Elmbrook church, and had apparently decided to go softly all the rest
of his days, the gossips had noticed patent signs of a strong
inclination on his part to go even deeper in his humility, and make a
life treaty with his conqueror, and Elmbrook was all agog over the
unbelievable prospect. Since that last drive Elsie Cameron had dropped
some of her reserve, and Gilbert felt they were on a friendly footing.
He was not so afraid of her now, since he had done his duty, and he
found her a most pleasant comrade. They talked of many things, grave
and gay. They exchanged reminiscences of schooldays, for they were
both Canadian born and country bred, and had a wholesome, happy past to
recall.