And when the morning
was wet, and the sound of the flails came to her from the barn, she
would watch for the moment when her aunt's back would be turned, and
then scurry across the yard, like a mouse to its hole; for auntie's
first impulse was always to oppose whatever Annie desired. Once in the
barn, she would bury herself like a mole in the straw, and listen to
the unfailing metronome of the flails, till she would fall so fast
asleep as to awake only when her uncomfortable aunt, believing that at
last the awful something or other _had_ happened to the _royt_ lassie,
dragged her out ignominiously by the heels. But the _royt_ lassie was
one of the gentlest of girls, what adventurousness she had being the
result of faith, and not of hardihood.
And then came the delights of the harvest-field--soon to become great
golden splendours to the memory. With the reapers she would remain from
morning till night, sharing in their meals, and lightening their labour
with her gentle frolic. Every day, after the noon-tide meal, she would
go to sleep on the shady side of a _stook_, upon two or three sheaves
which Dowie would lay down for her in a choice spot. Indeed the little
mistress was very fond of sleep, and would go to sleep anywhere; this
habit being indeed one of her aunt's chief grounds of complaint.
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