"My goodness! I'm glad you asked me that while the men are at the
barn," said Kate. "Mr. Jardine hasn't said a word about it
himself, so please be careful what you say before him."
Agatha looked at Kate in wonder.
"You amaze me," she said. "Why, he regards you as if he would
devour you. He hasn't proposed for your hand, you say? Surely
you're not giving him proper encouragement!"
"She isn't giving him any, further than allowing him to be
around," said Nancy Ellen.
"Do enlighten me!" cried the surprised Agatha. "How astonishing!
Why, Kate, my dear, there is a just and proper amount of
encouragement that MUST be given any self-respecting youth, before
he makes his declarations. You surely know that."
"No, I do not know it!" said Kate. "I thought it was a man's
place to speak up loud and plain and say what he had to propose."
"Oh, dear!" wailed Agatha, wringing her thin hands, her face a
mirror of distress. "Oh, dear, I very much fear you will lose
him. Why, Katherine, after a man has been to see you a certain
number of times, and evidenced enough interest in you, my dear,
there are a thousand strictly womanly ways in which you can lend
his enterprise a little, only a faint amount of encouragement,
just enough to allow him to recognize that he is not -- not -- er
-- repulsive to you."
"But how many times must he come, and how much interest must he
evince?" asked Kate.
"I can scarcely name an exact number," said Agatha. "That is
personal. You must decide for yourself what is the psychological
moment at which he is to be taken. Have you even signified to him
that you -- that you -- that you could be induced, even to
CONTEMPLATE marriage?"
"Oh, yes," said Kate, heartily. "I told his mother that it was
the height of my ambition to marry by the time I'm twenty. I told
her I wanted a man as tall as I am, two hundred acres of land, and
at least twelve babies."
Agatha collapsed suddenly. She turned her shocked face toward
Nancy Ellen.
"Great Day of Rest!" she cried. "No wonder the man doesn't
propose!"
When the men returned from their stroll, Agatha and Susan served
them with delicious frozen custard and Angel's food cake. Then
they resumed their drive, passing Hiram's place last. At the
corner Robert hesitated and turned to ask: "Shall we go ahead,
Kate?"
"Certainly," said Kate. "I want Mr. Jardine to see where I was
born and spent my time of legal servitude. I suppose we daren't
stop. I doubt if Mother would want to see me, and I haven't the
slightest doubt that Father would NOT; but he has no jurisdiction
over the road. It's the shortest way -- and besides, I want to
see the lilac bush and the cabbage roses."