This week, before he must go, he would be her pupil and her slave.

The holiday week he would be her lover.

In the spring he would propose, and in the fall he would marry her, and live on the income from her land ever afterward.
It was a glowing prospect; so glowing that he seriously considered stopping school at once so that her could be at the courting part of his campaign three times a day and every evening.

He was afraid to leave for fear people of the village would tell the truth about him.
He again studied Kate carefully and decided that during the week that was coming, by deft and energetic work he could so win her approval that he could make her think that she knew him better than outsiders did.

So the siege began.
Kate had decided to try making him work, to see if he would, or was accustomed to it.