Judith whirled about on the sun warm door step and came in . Her black eyes were flashing and her round cheeks were crimson . `` Such a temper you never saw ! '' reported Mrs. Tony afterwards . `` Though ` twere n't to be wondered at . Theodora was most awful aggravating . '' `` I will , '' repeated Judith stormily . `` I 'm tired of being nagged day in and day out . I 'll marry -- and what is more I 'll marry the very first man that asks me -- that I will , if it is old Widower Delane himself ! How does that suit you , Aunt Theodora ? '' Mrs. Theodora 's mental processes were never slow . She dropped her knitting ball and stooped for it . In that time she had decided what to do . She knew that Judith would stick to her word , Stewart-like , and she must trim her sails to catch this new wind . `` It suits me real well , Judith , '' she said calmly , `` you can marry the first man that asks you and I 'll say no word to hinder . '' The color went out of Judith 's face , leaving it pale as ashes . Her hasty assertion had no sooner been uttered than it was repented of , but she must stand by it now . She went out of the kitchen without another glance at her aunt or the delighted Mrs. Tony and dashed up the stairs to her own little room which looked out over the whole of Ramble Valley . It was warm with the March sunshine and the leafless boughs of the creeper that covered the end of the house were tapping a gay tattoo on the window panes to the music of the wind . Judith sat down in her little rocker and dropped her pointed chin in her hands .
Far down the valley , over the firs on the McGregor hill and the blue mirror of the Cranston pond , Bruce Marshall 's little gray house peeped out from a semicircle XXXXX white-stemmed birches .
In Though at by for of on than that to