Page:The Bondman; A New Saga (IA bondmannewsaga00cain).djvu/87

 the brig had dropped anchor in the bay. But he strained his ears for other sounds, and they came at last; the thud of the many feet of the heifers, the flapping of their tails, the cattle-call in a girl's clear voice, and the swish of a twig that she carried in her hand.

Greeba came along behind the cattle, swinging her body to a jaunty gait, her whole person radiant with health and happiness, her long gown, close at the back and loose over her bosom, showing well her tall, lithe form and firm bearing. She wore no bonnet, but a white silk handkerchief was tied about her head, leaving visible in the twilight only the tip of her nose, a curl of her hair, and her bright, dark eyes, with their long brown lashes. She was singing to herself as she came up to the bridge, with an unconcerned and unconscious air. At sight of Michael she made a start and gave a little nervous cry, so that he thought, poor lad, not knowing the ways of women, that, for all the pains she had been at to fetch him, she had somehow not expected him to be there.

She looked him over from head to foot, and her eyes gleamed from the white kerchief.

"So you are going, after all," she said, and her voice seemed to him the sweetest music he had ever heard. "I never believed you would," she added.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know," she said, and laughed a little. "But I suppose there are girls enough in Iceland," and then she laughed outright. "Only they can't be of much account up there."

"But I've heard they are very fine girls," he answered; "and it's a fine country, too."

She tossed her head and laughed, and swung her switch.

"Fine country! The idea! Fine company, fine people, and a good time. That's what a girl wants if she's worth anything."

"Then I suppose you will go back to London some day," he said.

"That doesn't follow," she answered. "There's father, you see; and oh, what a pity he can't live at Lague!"

"Do you like it so much?" he said.

"Like it?" she said, her eyes full of laughter. "Six big hungry brothers coming home three times a day and eating up everything in the house—it's delightful!"

She seemed to him magnificently beautiful.

"I dare say they'll spoil you before I come back," he said. "or somebody else will."