“I have been down at the linn,” said Violet; “it is always so pretty there.”
“But you need not have forgotten your dinner, my dear; your mother does not like it; and I thought you were tired after your drive to Castleton,” said Mr Pringle, in slightly reproachful tones.
“I am not tired, papa; I was a little--troubled in my mind. Papa, must we go on the election day, and put ourselves up again, against Val? Oh papa, why? might we not stay at home at least? That is what I was thinking of. Valentine never did any harm to us, papa.”
“Has not he?” said Mr Pringle, fiercely. “You are a goose, Vi, and know nothing about it; you had better not speak of what you don’t understand.”
“Why shouldn’t I understand?” said Violet, roused. “I am just as able to understand as anyone. The only harm Val has done is by being born, and how could he help that? But papa, dear,” said the girl, twining her arm suddenly within his, and leaning on him closely--“that was not what I was thinking of. Down at the linn, where we used to be so much together, how could I help thinking? Val was always so----” Vi paused, with injudicious words on her lips which she stopped just in time--“nice to me,” she added, with a quick breath of fright at her own temerity. “Even the boys were never so good to me; they never took me out into the woods to play truant. Oh papa, if you could only know how delightful it was!”
“He might have broken your neck,” said the obdurate father. “I owe him something for the fright he gave us that day.”
“What fright did he give you? Mamma has told me since she was not a bit frightened. It was the very sweetest--no, almost the very sweetest,” said Violet, a little thrill of tremulous happiness going through her heart, which told of a sweeter still--“day of my life. He took as much care of me as if I had been--his sister; more than the boys ever take. Oh papa! and to sit up yonder against him, as if we were not friends with Val. He is the only one who does not blame you a bit,” said Violet, unused to secrets, and betraying herself once more.
“He! you have seen him, then? It is very kind of him certainly not to blame me,” said Mr Pringle, with a smile.
“He says, of course you must stick to your party,” said Violet. “I just met him--for a moment--in the wood. He was not angry, though I should have been angry in his place. He said it was very hard to see mamma and me over there, but that of course we could not help it; and that he was sure you would not really harm him even if you could.”