CHAPTER XIV.
A BIG THING As the widowed rector's only daughter, Dot's occupations were many and various, and it was in consequence no difficult matter to be too deeply engrossed in these occupations to have any time to spare for intercourse with the rector's pupil.
Her brother had gone back to college, and there was therefore no excuse for the said pupil to linger when his studies were over, though he invented many that would not have borne a very close investigation.
But his ingenuity was all to no purpose.

Dot could be ingenious too, and she evaded him so adroitly that at the end of a week he had abandoned his efforts.
He went about with a certain sternness in those days, but it was not the sternness of the vanquished, rather the dogged patience of the man who is quite sure of ultimate success.

Dot, peeping from the kitchen window to see him ride away, marked this on more than one occasion and strengthened her defences in consequence.

She had not the remotest intention of seeing Bertie alone again for many a month, if ever.

His persistence had scared her badly on that night at Baronmead.