Yes, he would sound Maude, very cautiously at first, and get her opinion, and then he should know better what to do.

Maude would espouse his cause, he was sure, for she liked him and worshipped Jerrie.

He could trust her, and he would.
He had reached the Allen farm-house by this time, and though he was perspiring at every pore, for the morning was very hot, he scarcely felt the heat or the fatigue of his rapid four-mile walk, as he mixed his paints and prepared for his work, for there was constantly in his heart a thought of Jerrie, as she had looked in that bewitching dress, and of the bright, smile she had flashed upon him when she said good-bye.
Meanwhile Jerrie had watched him out of sight, whistling merrily: 'Gin a body meet a body, Comin' through the rye, Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry ?' whistling it so loud and clear that Nannie came to the fence and put her head over it with a faint low of approval, while Clover-top thrust his white nose through the bars, and looked at her inquiringly, as Jerrie pulled up handfuls of fresh grass and fed them from her hands, noticing that Nannie had lost her knot of ribbon, and wondering where it was.

Then she returned to the house, and was busying herself with preparations for her grandmother's breakfast and her own, when the latter appeared in the kitchen, surprised to find her there, and saying: 'Why, Jerrie, what made you get up till I called you?
Why didn't you lie and rest ?' 'Lie and rest,' Jerrie answered laughingly.

'It is you who are to lie and rest, and not a great overgrown girl like me.