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Show Page 180 Then he was down upon one knee before me, heedless of the damp ground. "Fie on waiting for spring to make you gay!" he cried. "I had not meant to speak on this today, but now I must. Marry me, Sarah, and I will make you smile once again." He took me quite by surprise and I opened my mouth to refuse him, wondering how a man who seldom smiled himself could make me smile, and hoping it would not bring him too grievous a hurt to be refused once again. But then I saw the beseeching look in his eye and saw how willingly he knelt before me in the mud. Still, I was gathering my courage to say him nay when I saw John and Jane stroll past us into the trees. His arm was about her waist and she was gazing up at him with enormous great cow eyes. My heart turned within me. I drew Richard to his feet to stand before me. "I am honored that you would deem me worthy to be your wife," I told him, though my voice came forth strained, "and that you would ask me again when I had previously refused you. I shall not do so again. I will be your wife." The moment I spoke the words, a flood of regret lifted me up on waves and I wished I could snatch my acceptance back out of the air. But I could not. The look of joy in Richard's usually stern eyes told me so. Moments later he led me off to announce the news to Harwood. Soon the entire settlement knew. But as folks gatherec |