But that night she sat in the moonlight in her room for a long while and looked at the two paths she might take in life. Rae was away and the house was silent…and, so it seemed to Pat, lonely. Silver Bush always seemed when night fell to be mourning for its ravished peace. The sky outside was cloudless but a brisk wind was blowing past. “What is the wind in such a hurry for, Aunt Pat?” Little Mary had asked wistfully not long ago. Everything seemed in a hurry…life was in a hurry…it couldn’t let you be…it swept you on with it as if you were a leaf in the wind.

Which path should she take? David was going to ask her to marry him…she had known for a long time in the back of her mind that he would ask her if she ever let him. She was terribly fond of David. Life with him would be a very pleasant pilgrimage. Even a gray day was full of color when David was around. She was always contented in his company. And his eyes were sometimes so sad. She wanted to make them happy. Was that reason enough for marrying a man, even one as nice as David? If she didn’t marry him she would lose him out of her life. He would never stay at the Long House after Suzanne had gone. And she couldn’t lose any more friends…she just couldn’t.

Suppose she didn’t take that path? Suppose she just went on living here at Silver Bush…growing into being “Aunt Pat”…helping plan the clan weddings and funerals…her brown hair turning pepper-and-salt. That gray hair popped into her mind. It seemed as if age had just tapped her on the shoulder. But it would be all right if only Silver Bush might be hers to love and plan for and live for, free from all outsiders and intruders. She wouldn’t hesitate a second then. But would it be? Would it ever be hers again? She knew what May’s designs were. And she knew Sid didn’t want to leave Silver Bush for the other place. Would dad stand out against them…could he? No, it would end in May being mistress of Silver Bush someday. That was the secret dread that always haunted Pat. And if it ever came about…

A few weeks later David said quietly to her in the garden of the Long House…the garden where Bets’ ghost sometimes walked even yet for Pat…

“Do you think you could marry me, Pat?”

Pat looked afar for a moment of silence to the firry rim of an eastern hill. Then she said just as quietly,

“I think I could.”

CHAPTER 43

Mother was told first. Mother’s face was always serene but it changed a little when Pat told her.

“Darling, do you really love him?”