Had Alec been rowing, Tibbie would have heard the oars; but he only
paddled enough to keep the boat from drifting on to the dam. Kate sat
in the stern looking at the water with half-closed eyes, and Alec sat
looking at Kate, as if his eyes were made only for her. And Annie sat
in the meadow, and she too looked at Kate; and she thought how pretty
she was, and how she must like being rowed about in the old boat. It
seemed quite an old boat now. An age had passed since her name was
painted on it. She wondered if _The Bonnie Annie_ was worn off the
stern yet; or if Alec had painted it out, and put the name of the
pretty lady instead. When Tibbie and Thomas walked away into the house,
Annie lingered behind on the grass.
The sun sank slanting and slow, yet he did sink, lower and lower; till
at length Alec leaned back with a stronger pull on the oars, and the
boat crept away up the stream, lessening as it crept, and, turning a
curve in the river, was lost. Still she sat on, with one hand lying
listlessly in her lap, and the other plucking blades of grass and
making a little heap of them beside her, till she had pulled a spot
quite bare, and the brown earth peeped through between the roots.
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