"How lucky you are! A fortune left you! And such a husband!"
"Ay, he’s a good fellow", said Adeline curtly.
They had come to the barn and stood gazing up into its towering framework. A ladder of scantlings was built against its base and up this Daisy began to climb. She climbed nimbly considering her voluminous skirts. At the top of the ladder she set out to walk along a beam while her fingers, just touching another, supported her.
"You are silly!" exclaimed Adeline. The girl was ready for any adventure, she thought.
"Oh, I love heights!" cried Daisy. "No height makes me dizzy. I revel in this".
"You should have been a tight-rope walker".
"The view is lovely!" Daisy now walked with arms extended in precarious balance. "You look no more than a pigmy down there. Do come up".
"I daren’t".
"Why not?"
"In the first place I have no desire and in the second I’m going to have a baby".
This announcement was more of a surprise to Daisy than Adeline had expected. It was almost a shock. She stiffened and stood still. Then she gave a cry, swayed and sank to the beam that supported her, crouching there in an attitude of terror. Her skirts stood about her like a balloon.
"I’m going to fall!" she cried. "Oh, Mrs. Whiteoak, save me, I’m going to fall!"
Adeline turned pale but she said sternly, "Come back the way you went. Surely you can do that! Just take hold of yourself and move carefully. You’ll be all right". But the space from where Daisy clung, to the ground, seemed very far.
Daisy crouched shivering on the beam. "I daren’t move", she said, in a tense voice. "Get help quickly! I’m going to fall!"
The thought of leaving Daisy in this predicament while she sought help made Adeline hesitate. At that moment Philip strolled out of the wood and came toward them. Adeline ran to him.
"That interesting creature, as you call her", she said, "has climbed to the top of the barn and is stuck there! She says she is going to fall".
"My God!" exclaimed Philip, looking up at Daisy. "She is likely to break her neck!" He called out: "Don’t be frightened! I’ll come and fetch you. Just keep calm and look upward".
He mounted the ladder and walked cautiously but steadily along the beam. A feeling of nausea came over Adeline. She closed her eyes for a space. When she opened them Philip had reached Daisy and was leading her back toward the ladder. When his feet were secure on it Daisy collapsed against his shoulder.
"I cannot", she sobbed. "I cannot take another step!"
"You are quite safe", said Philip. "Just hang on to me. I’ll carry you down".
Daisy did hang on to him and, as they reached the bottom, her cheek was against his tanned neck. She was sobbing.
"Oh, I’m so sorry", she said as he set her gently on her feet.
"You have need to be", said Adeline, "for you gave me a monstrous scare and risked Philip’s life. You ought to be ashamed of yourself".
Philip was still supporting Daisy. "Don’t scold her", he said. "Any girl is likely to do hare-brained things. It’s a good thing Miss Daisy’s light. I should have had a time of it to carry you down, Adeline".
"I should have stayed up there till Doomsday before I’d have asked you to". She turned away. She looked up at the last of the swallows, now winging swiftly above the tree-tops.
"I was on my way to Wilmott’s", said Philip. "Would you like to come with me? Do you feel able for a walk, Miss Daisy?" He had released her from his arm.
"I shall do whatever you say", she answered, in a new sweet voice.
"I think I shall go back", said Adeline coldly.
"In that case, we’ll all go back", said Philip.
"I am quite capable of returning by myself", but she was ready to be persuaded by him.
"Come along", he said coaxingly.
They took the path which was now beaten by usage and led to where Wilmott lived, two miles away. Philip led the way, holding back branches when they intervened, striking with his stick at brambles that would have torn their skirts. High above, the cloud of swallows moved, as though leading them.
Daisy’s misadventure and Philip’s rescue of her had made a constraint among them. They spoke little and then only of what they saw. Sometimes the path was edged by bracken and sometimes by the purplish foliage of blackberries. Sometimes it was carpeted with pine needles, or the scarlet leaves of the soft maple, the first to fall. Mushrooms as large as dinner-plates sprang up on it or scores of little ones marched like soldiers. An owl, with her five young ones, sat in a row on the limb of a beech tree. Philip raised his arm to point them out to his companions. The mother owl shot past him like a bolt, dealing him a blow that nearly felled him. The young ones stared down imperturbably.
Adeline flung her arms about Philip.
"Oh, are you hurt?" she cried. "Let me see!" Clasping his head in her hands she examined his scarlet cheek.
"It’s all but bleeding", she said, his head still possessively in her hands.
"That’s why I don’t like this country", said Daisy. "You never know what will happen next. I always have the feeling that something wild is going to happen, and it depresses me".
"I thought you said you longed for experience", Adeline said, beginning to walk along the path again.
"I meant experience in myself-not to be buffeted about".
"I can tell you that owl gave me a clout", said Philip. "It’s monstrous strange how having young makes the female wicked".
Adeline’s eyes burned into his back and he remembered. He looked over his shoulder and gave her a wink. "I don’t mean you", he said, in a low voice. He plucked a red maple leaf and stuck it in his hat, as though in salute to her.
They found Wilmott fishing from his flat-bottomed boat on the broad breast of the river. Equinoctial rains had swollen it but it lay tranquil, reflecting the bright colour of the foliage at its brink. Wilmott sat, with an expression of bliss, his eyes fixed on the little red float that moved gently on the water.
"What a way to spend Sunday!" exclaimed Adeline.
Wilmott rose in his boat and drew in the line. "I look on this as necessary toil", he said. "I’m fishing for my supper. I suppose you have just returned from the afternoon church service".
"No need to be sarcastic", said Philip. "There was no service today. What have you caught?" Wilmott held up a pickerel.
"Go on with your fishing", said Adeline. "We’ll watch you. It will be a nice rest after all we’ve been through".
"I must come over here and fish with you", said Philip. "But the fact is I have little time for anything save the building of my house. Just one thing after another happens".
"Yes, I know", said Wilmott. "It’s the same here". He laid the fish on the bottom of the boat and picked up the oars. He dipped them lazily into the calmness of the water.
"Why, you’re making a lovely little wharf", exclaimed Adeline.
"Yes", he answered, rowing gently toward her. "Tite and I work at it in our spare time".
"This is Mr. Wilmott, Daisy", said Adeline. "Miss Vaughan, James".
Wilmott steadied the boat with the oars and bowed gravely. Daisy returned his greeting and all stared down at the small landing-stage on which tools lay.
"A nice saw", said Philip, picking it up. "And a new hammer".
"They belong to Tite", said Wilmott. "He has very good tools. A man he worked for couldn’t pay him the cash, so he paid him with tools".
"What lots of nails!" said Daisy. "Did he pay him with nails too?"
"He found the nails", answered Wilmott. "Someone had dropped them on the road".
"I bought a supply of good tools", said Philip. "They have a way of disappearing, so I carve my initials on the handles". He turned the hammer over in his hand.