No, Christina thought, that’s the trouble; you don’t ask for anything, even my love that is yours, and you know it well.

“You’re angry with us, and I can’t bear it.”

“Angry?” Ellen laid down her sewing at last. “No, I’m not angry. You mind your business and I’ll mind mine.”

“That’s just what Cornelius said. It never occurred to me before that you two could be alike—but I guess you are.”

“Stubborn as mules, both of us,” and the ghost of a smile passed across Ellen’s somber face.

“This whole thing will blow over, Ellen. I’m terribly sorry about Cornelius. I think he got cross because he feels so helpless.”

“Maybe.” Now Christina saw the flush rising in Ellen’s throat, and that her hands shook as she picked up her sewing again. “But he had no right to take it out on Nick. Nick was only trying to keep trespassers off.”

“How is he?”

“Nick? Nick’s fine.”

“I heard he’d got rather bunged up in the fight.”

“Expect you’ve heard plenty. Orin’s a big mouth.”

“Still, there was a fight?”

“Those foreigners attacked and Nick beat them up—two of them. First time I was ever glad of what he learned in the war.”

“He’s all right, then?”

Christina could see that Ellen was torn between a longing to talk and the need to punish them for meddling—she wanted to give a little, but it was a struggle.

“Nick came home that night with a black eye and a bloody mouth, with a sprained shoulder, but he was happy. He did what he wanted to do—just like Rufus after one of those rages.” Ellen was surprised herself at the comparison. She had never seen any resemblance between Nick and Rufus before. “Yes,” she added, bending to her work, “it did him good to break out for once.”

“Oh, dear, I suppose so, but …”

“But what?” Ellen was on the defensive at once, and Christina didn’t finish her sentence. It would do no good to refer to the fact that Rufus “broke out” when he had been drinking.

“Nick is such a gentle person; it doesn’t seem like him a bit.”

“Nobody’s going to call him chicken after this—and I’m glad myself to know he can defend himself. I shan’t worry so much.”

“You told me you were anxious because the hunting upset him. I’m glad if you can be less so now,” Christina said.

Just as if she were a wild bird, you could get only so close to Ellen, and then she would fly up out of reach.

“If you came here to give me advice, I can do without it.”