When the work of the household was in hand she shook off the glamour of the new-found emotion.
In the morning when the men came down for breakfast, and again in the evening when they came in for supper, the girl busied herself in her duties with the ardor of one having no thought behind them and no feeling in which they did not share.

But when the quieter hours of the day left her free for other thoughts, she would stand and look long into the face of the poor invalid to whom she had become nurse and foster-child in one; or walk, without knowing why, to the window neuk, and put her hand on the old wheel, that now rested quiet and unused beneath it, while she looked towards the south through eyes that saw nothing that was there.
She was standing so one morning a fortnight or more after Ralph's departure from Wythburn, when Willy came into the kitchen, and, before she was conscious of his presence, sat in the seat of the little alcove within which she stood.
He took the hand that lay disengaged by her side and told her in a word or two of his love.

He had loved her long in silence.

He had loved her before she became the blessing she now was to him and to his; to-day he loved her more than ever before.
It was a simple story, and it came with the accent of sincerity in every word.
He thought perhaps she loved him in return--he had sometimes thought so--was he wrong?
There was a pause between them.

Regaining some momentary composure, the girl turned her eyes once more aside and looked through the neuk window towards the south.