We all like Joel in spite of ourselves. Despite his revolutionary ideas, his behavior is exemplary. He is a truly gentle person—Cornelius says so. And if Cornelius can accept such a “weirdo,” as he called Joel at first, that does prove something—something about them both.

Is it partly that here in Willard there has always been room for the eccentric? It is hard to imagine his coming to tea on Beacon Hill—partly because we just wouldn’t know him there.

Oh, I see Nick coming up the hill and must run down and ask him to help me with raking leaves away from around the rose bushes!

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

That Friday afternoon turned out to be one of the spring days when the air itself is so exhilarating that it acts like an intoxicant—a blue sky with flecks of small white clouds racing across it, and sometimes a sudden darkness as one covered the sun, only to bring out, it seemed, the strong bitter smell of wet earth and sodden leaves. Overhead there was a thin veil of green, and, at the roadside, grass in patches looked brilliant green again.

“We’re going to look for trailing arbutus,” Cathy said, “down by the pond. Nick told us where.”

She left her satchel of books in Ellen’s kitchen, and Ellen came to the door and watched Joel and Cathy break into a run—like two colts, she thought—as they passed the green and disappeared down the road and out of sight. For a moment she stood there, feeling the sun on her face, and feeling the pang the old must feel when they witness young lovers in spring, especially when one of them must go to war. Cathy had surely looked radiant, and she noticed how Joel laughed when he saw her—the laughter of amused recognition, of pure joy. Cathy had caught the laughter and laughed herself, and neither of them, she surmised, could have said what was so merry about the moment except being together again after a whole long twenty-four hours.

“What’s happened to us?” Cathy asked as Joel took her hand and swung it as they walked. “We’re all right, aren’t we?—Look, there’s a robin!” She broke away from him to stand and watch the absurd short run, then dip of the robin’s head as he pulled out a worm on Miss Plummer’s lawn. “If the robins are back, the mayflowers will be out.”

“How do you know?”

“I just made that up!”

“And how many other things have you made up to tease a city boy?”

“None, Joel. I tell you the absolute truth,” she said, solemnly pushing her hair back so she could look into his eyes. But coming this close was still hard. Somewhere at the back of their eyes, there was hesitation now.

“It’s a singable day—let’s sing.”