"Why? Why?" her longings and desires cried.
"Because! Because!" was the stern response, and the _woman_ in
Nella-Rose thrilled and throbbed and trembled, while the girlish spirit
pleaded for the excitement of joy and sweetness that was making the
grim stretches of her narrow existence radiant and full of meaning.
On she went doggedly. The dimples disappeared; the mouth fell into the
pathetic, drooping lines that by and by, unless something saved
Nella-Rose, would become permanent and mark her as a hill-woman--one to
whom soul visions were denied.
CHAPTER VI
Wisdom had all but conquered Nella-Rose's folly when she came in sight
of Calvin Merrivale's store. But--who knows?--perhaps the girl's story
had been written long since, and she was not entirely free. Be that as
it may, she paused, for no reason whatever as far as she could tell, and
carefully took one dozen eggs from the basket and hid them under some
bushes by the road! Having done this she went forward so blithely and
lightly that one might have thought her load had been considerably
eased. She appeared before Calvin Merrivale, presently, like a
refreshing apparition from vacancy. It was high noon and Merrivale was
dozing in a chair by the rusty stove, in which a fire, prepared against
the evening chill, was already burning.
"How-de, Mister Merrivale?" Calvin sprang to his feet.
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