This promise, however, having served its turn, was never
fulfilled, for by the evening the wheels of household toil began once
more to turn, and Mrs. Haley found it easier to worship vicariously,
sending Mandy and Tim to the evening service. And to this service the
young people were by no means loath to go, for it was held on fair
evenings in MacBurney's woods, two miles away by the road, one mile by
the path through the woods. On occasion Perkins would hitch up in the
single buggy Dexter, the fiery young colt, too fiery for any other to
drive, and, as a special attention to his employer's daughter, would
drive her to the service. But since the coming of Cameron, Mandy had
allowed this custom to fall into disuse, at first somewhat to Perkins'
relief, for the colt was restless and fretted against the tie rein;
and, besides, Perkins was not as yet quite prepared to acknowledge any
special relationship between himself and the young lady in question
before the assembled congregation, preferring to regard himself and
to be regarded by others as a free lance. Later, however, as Mandy's
preference for a walk through the woods became more marked, Perkins,
much to his disgust, found himself reduced to the attitude of a
suppliant, urging the superior attraction of a swift drive behind
Dexter as against a weary walk to the service.
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