Dolcy refused to drink, and Dorothy having no excuse to linger at the well, drew up her reins and prepared to leave.

While doing so, she said:-- "Do you often come to Overhaddon ?" Her eager eyes shone like red coals, and looking at John, she awaited smilingly his response.
"Seldom," answered John; "not often.

I mean every day--that is, if I may come." "Any one may come to the village whenever he wishes to do so," responded Dorothy, laughing too plainly at Sir John's confusion.

"Is it seldom, or not often, or every day that you come ?" In her overconfidence she was chaffing him.

He caught the tone, and looked quickly into the girl's eyes.
Her gaze could not stand against John's for a moment, and the long lashes drooped to shade her eyes from the fierce light of his.
"I said I would come to Overhaddon every day," he returned; "and although I must have appeared very foolish in my confusion, you cannot misunderstand the full meaning of my words." In John's boldness and in the ring of his voice Dorothy felt the touch of her master, against whom she well knew all the poor force she could muster would be utterly helpless.