Henry C. Rowland

“ His tact in resuming his work while she was satisfying her hunger, and his offering the remains of the luncheon to Mac, as if to assure her that he really was not inconvenienced by the loss of his meal, touched Ailsa. An American girl would have perceived immediately that the young man was of a class far above his occupation, but Ailsa had been given to understand that the native-born American held himself to be the equal of any, and tried to live up to these standards. ”

“ You must remember that my audiences pass quickly in trains, so I try to concentrate on the more striking features—such as the carmine cheeks of the milkmaid.”
“Why have you made that cow in the background sitting down like a dog?” asked the girl.
“She is not sitting down,” said the artist. “She is getting up. What are you laughing at?”
“'Tis plain you are from the town,” said Ailsa. “A cow does not get up that way. She gets up hind end first.”
The sign painter's eyes opened wide, and Ailsa observed that they were of a very attractive shade of blue. ”

“ But the darkness was not far away, and she struggled to her feet, and started to make her way along the edge of the morass, or creek, or whatever it might be, for she realized that once the darkness overtook her she would have to spend the night in the dreary place. ”

“ Presently she raised her head, and looked around. The shadows were lengthening, and she realized that it was getting late. The thought occurred that when she did not return somebody would come to look for her; and, seized with a sudden panic, she got up, and turned directly into the woods.
She knew that the railroad was about three miles from the Wishart place, and as she was gifted with a good sense of direction, it seemed to her that she could find her way through the woods and fields to the little town and the railroad station. Her one idea was now to get back to Brooklyn. ”

“ Nevertheless, she had no difficulty in correcting the shape of the milkmaid, and with such success that from a rather strong resemblance to a lady in the act of turning a back handspring she became a swaying, willowy Evangeline, or a Mary “calling the cattle hame across the sands o' Dee.”
She had just finished her retouching when, far in the distance, she discovered the sign painter on his return. Slipping down from the ladder, she reseated herself on the edge of the bank, and watched him. He was still running lightly, and a small tin bucket swung from his hand. ”

“ I've come off without my green paint. I loaned it last night to the farmer at whose house I slept, to paint his cellar doors, and the chump forgot to return it. I say, would you very much mind watching this duffle while I run down here to the store and see what I can get? I've really got to paint out Buttercup. ”