'And then I have him all to myself, without any tiresome boys,' she
would say to her mother. 'It is just like another honeymoon.'

Geraldine's one grievance was that she was not strong enough to share
her husband's excursions. She had to stay with her mother and Michael
when he and Audrey and Dr. Ross took one of their long scrambling or
fishing expeditions. Geraldine used to manifest a wifely impatience on
these occasions that was very pretty and becoming; and she and Michael,
who seemed to share her feelings, would stroll to the little bridge of
an evening to meet the returning party. Somehow Michael was always the
first to see them and to raise the friendly halloo, that generally sent
the small black cattle scampering down the croft.

'See the conquering hero comes!' Mr. Harcourt would respond, opening his
rush basket to display the silvery trout. Dr. Ross's pockets would be
full of mosses and specimens and fragments of rock, and Audrey brought
up the rear with both hands laden with wild-flowers and grasses.

'Have you been dull, my darling?' Mr. Harcourt would say as Geraldine
walked beside him. She seemed to have eyes and ears for no one else--and
was that any wonder, when he had been absent from her since early
morning? 'We have had a grand day, Jerry; we have tramped I do not know
how many miles--Dr. Ross says fifteen; we have been arguing about it all
the way home. I am as hungry as a hunter. I feel like Esau--a bowl of
red lentils would not have a chance with me. I always had a sneaking
sort of liking for Esau. What have you got for supper, little woman?'

'Salmon-steaks and broiled fowl,' was Geraldine's answer--'your
favourite dishes, Percy. I am so glad you are hungry.'

'Faith, that I am; the Trojan heroes were nothing to me! I will have a
wash first, and get off these boots--should you know them for
boots?--and then you shall see, my dear.'

And it may be doubted whether those two ever enjoyed a meal more than
those salmon-steaks and broiled fowl that Jean Scott first cooked and
then carried in bare-armed, setting down the dishes with a triumphant
bang on the small rickety table.

'Now we will have a drop of the cratur and a pipe,' Mr. Harcourt would
say. 'Wrap yourself in my rug, and we will sit in the porch, for really
this cabin stifles me after the moors. What have you and your mother
been talking about? Let me have the whole budget, Jerry.'

Was there a happier woman in the world than Geraldi