"
But Cameron remained unenlightened.
"Oh, pshaw!" continued Tim, making further concessions to his
friend's stupidity. "At the dances, at the raisin's, runnin',
jumpin'--everythin'--Perkins used to be the King Bee. Now--" Tim's
silence furnished an impressive close to the contrast. "Why! They all
think you are just fine!" said Tim, with a sudden burst of confidence.
"They?"
"All the boys. Yes, and the girls, too," said Tim, allowing his solemn
face the unusual luxury of a smile.
"The girls?"
"Aw, yeh know well enough--the Murray girls, and the MacKenzies, and the
hull lot of them. And then--and then--there's Mandy, too." Here Tim shot
a keen glance at his friend, who now sat leaning against the trunk of an
apple tree with his eyes closed.
"Now, Tim, you are a shrewd little chap"--here Cameron sat upright--"but
how do you know about the girls, and what is this you say about Mandy?
Mandy is good to me--very kind and all that, but--"
"She used to like Perkins pretty well," said Tim, with a kind of
hesitating shyness.
"And Perkins?"
"Oh, he thought he jist owned her. Guess he ain't so sure now," added
Tim. "I guess you've changed Mandy all right."
It was the one thing Cameron hated to hear, but he made light of it.
"Oh, nonsense!" he exclaimed. "But if I did I would be mighty glad of
it.
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