Eric did not trouble himself greatly about Neil ; but Thomas Gordon , understanding the motive which had led Neil to betray his discovery of the orchard trysts , bluntly told Kilmeny that she must not make such an equal of Neil as she had done . `` You have been too kind to the lad , lassie , and he 's got presumptuous . He must be taught his place . I mistrust we have all made more of him than we should . '' But most of the idyllic hours of Eric 's wooing were spent in the old orchard ; the garden end of it was now a wilderness of roses -- roses red as the heart of a sunset , roses pink as the early flush of dawn , roses white as the snows on mountain peaks , roses full blown , and roses in buds that were sweeter than anything on earth except Kilmeny 's face . Their petals fell in silken heaps along the old paths or clung to the lush grasses among which Eric lay and dreamed , while Kilmeny played to him on her violin . Eric promised himself that when she was his wife her wonderful gift for music should be cultivated to the utmost . Her powers of expression seemed to deepen and develop every day , growing as her soul grew , taking on new colour and richness from her ripening heart . To Eric , the days were all pages in an inspired idyl . He had never dreamed that love could be so mighty or the world so beautiful . He wondered if the universe were big enough to hold his joy or eternity long enough to live it out . His whole existence was , for the time being , bounded by that orchard where he wooed his sweetheart . All other ambitions and plans and hopes were set aside in the pursuit of this one aim , the attainment of which would enhance all others a thousand-fold , the loss of which would rob all others of their reason for existence . His own world seemed very far away and the things of that world forgotten . His father , on hearing that he had taken the Lindsay school for a year , had written him a testy , amazed letter , asking him if he were demented . `` Or is there a girl in the case ? '' he wrote . `` There must be , to tie you down to a place like Lindsay for a year . Take care , master Eric ; you 've been too sensible all your life . A man is bound to make a fool of himself at least once , and when you did n't get through with that in your teens it may be attacking you now . ''
David also wrote , expostulating more gravely ; but he did not express the suspicions XXXXX knew he must entertain .
Eric Gordon Kilmeny Neil colour day days idyl lassie trysts