I do n't want Margaret 's child made unhappy . '' Her husband came to the kitchen door and sat down on the steps to enjoy his evening smoke , talking between whiffs to his wife of Elder Tracy 's church row , and Mary Alice Martin 's beau , the price Jake Crosby was giving for eggs , the quantity of hay yielded by the hill meadow , the trouble he was having with old Molly 's calf , and the respective merits of Plymouth Rock and Brahma roosters . Mrs. Williamson answered at random , and heard not one word in ten . `` What 's got the Master , Mother ? '' inquired old Robert , presently . `` I hear him striding up and down in his room ` sif he was caged . Sure you did n't lock him in by mistake ? '' `` Maybe he 's worried over the way Seth Tracy 's acting in school , '' suggested Mrs. Williamson , who did not choose that her gossipy husband should suspect the truth about Eric and Kilmeny Gordon . `` Shucks , he need n't worry a morsel over that . Seth 'll quiet down as soon as he finds he ca n't run the Master . He 's a rare good teacher -- better 'n Mr. West was even , and that 's saying something . The trustees are hoping he 'll stay for another term . They 're going to ask him at the school meeting to-morrow , and offer him a raise of supplement . '' Upstairs , in his little room under the eaves , Eric Marshall was in the grip of the most intense and overwhelming emotion he had ever experienced . Up and down , to and fro , he walked , with set lips and clenched hands . When he was wearied out he flung himself on a chair by the window and wrestled with the flood of feeling . Mrs. Williamson 's words had torn away the delusive veil with which he had bound his eyes . He was face to face with the knowledge that he loved Kilmeny Gordon with the love that comes but once , and is for all time . He wondered how he could have been so long blind to it . He knew that he must have loved her ever since their first meeting that May evening in the old orchard .
And he knew that he must choose between two alternatives -- either he must never go to the orchard again , or he must go as an avowed lover XXXXX woo him a wife .
as at by for of on out since that to