"
"Certainly, certainly," said both the agent and the farmer's wife; and
the woman added, nervously, "just make yourself at home, Mr. Goodrich;
you'll find the girl out there somewhere. Dinner will be ready in about
an hour."
Leisurely crossing the road, Adam paused at the orchard gate, to watch
some fine young shoats that were running about with their mother nearby.
From the pigs, his gaze wandered about the farm buildings, the fields,
and the garden. Turning at last to enter the orchard, he saw a young
woman, clad in the homely every-day dress of a country girl; her face
hidden beneath a large sun-bonnet of blue gingham. She was gathering
apple blossoms. Something in her manner or figure struck him as being
familiar, and with his hand on the gate, he paused again. As he stood
watching her all unconscious of his presence, she sprang lightly from
the ground in an effort to reach a tempting spray of blossoms, and at
her violent movement the sun-bonnet dropped from her head, while a
wealth of brown hair fell in a rippling mass to her waist. Then as she
half turned, he saw her face distinctly, and with a start of surprise
and astonishment, knew her as his daughter.
Under the first impulse of a father's love at seeing his child again,
Adam stepped forward; but with the gate half open, he checked himself
and then drew back, while the old haughty pride, that dominant key in
his character, hardened his heart again; and when he at last pushed
open the gate once more, his love was fairly hidden.
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