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er! I'll hinder that!'
'But, Willie, you can't make a fortune in five years, and I shall go out at eighteen. I think I shall begin the fortune soonest;' and she laughed merrily.
'Mother didn't make a fortune.'
'I didn't mean that exactly; but I'm learning all the superior branches, and if I got a hundred a year! Think of that, Will! If I went on with that till you are a clergyman and have a living, how nice it would be! There would be plenty to give away; and if we were poor, I would take girls to teach.'
'Do you think I shall ever let you do all the work that way?' said Will, strong in boyhood's infinite possibilities. 'I don't know how it's to be, but I'll keep you out of slaving, though you're a dear girl to think of it. Any way, Robin, you and I will hold together-- always.'
'I am sure I shall never like anybody half so much,' said Robin.
'Shall we break a sixpence and keep the halves? That's the thing, ain't it? I believe I've got one--or fourpence, which is all the same.'
'No, no,' said Robina, backing; 'I don't think Mettie would like it. It doesn't seem right.'
'But aren't you in earnest. Robin?'
'Oh yes, indeed, indeed I am;' from the depths of a very earnest childish heart that little knew to what it pledged itself.
'And so am I! I'll never care for any one else, Robina--never.'
'Nor I, William. Here they come!'
The other two had not got near so far, though Captain Harewood was talking, and Wilmet listening, as would never have been the case without the influence Willie asserted; but the special charm that enchained Wilmet was entirely unapprehended by her, till just as the first star brightened, and the hues faded from the landscape, she bethought her of her patient, and perceived that he had gone in. 'How late it must be! I must go and see after him. I hope he is equal to the journey.'
'I will come and bring you an account of him on my way home, if I may.'
'Oh, thank you; but it is taxing yo