The Keeper of the Bees/Chapter 23
Still Adventuring
THROUGH the rapidly falling darkness Jamie stumbled home. He stumbled because there was a vision that filled his eyes to the exclusion of everything else, even the walk upon which he trod. All he could see was the lean, slender form of a girl with rounded curves, with flushed cheeks, with wind-swept hair, with the fires of indignation streaming from the brown-gray eyes as she rushed down the beach in search of him. He reflected that possibly it was well for him that she had not found him, that he might stand a better chance with her if she had more time to reflect before he tried to talk to her.
When he reached the bench under the jacqueranda, he dropped on it and sat there, a bewildered and a broken man. He reflected that he had run true to the well-known characteristic of the Scots. He had bridled his anger and bided his time and waited long to strike. Then, when he struck, he had struck too cruelly, too hard. There was no use to try to imagine anything else, to think any other way. The whole situation was open before him now. There was no one his Storm Girl could be save Molly Cameron, the niece of his neighbour and friend. Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/508 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/509 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/510 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/511 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/512 
“Keeper of the bees,
are you here?”
Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/515 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/516 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/517 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/518 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/519 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/520 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/521 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/522 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/523 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/524 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/525 Page:The Keeper of the Bees.pdf/526 carry a crop and hit him a crack if he goes to back over too steep a place. But I ain't a-goin' to hit him any other time. But I ain't a-goin' to hit anything else that ain't big and strong as I am. Laugh that off! I'm through!"
Jean Meredith turned on her heel, hitched up her trousers, and marched in the direction of the back porch. The Keeper of the Bees, leaning on the window sill, tightened his arm around the Storm Girl and studied the face of Jean as she came toward him. The lines of it were unalterably set.
"She means it! She'll stick!" said Molly Cameron.
And Jamie hugged her tight and said, "Amen!"
The End