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"Lawd, you are a wanton!" he said

"For you only," I said

"You must return to the house; your own "I suppose I ate and looked around before letting h "Go inside and to bed," he said "I shall see you soon"

I went through the gate and he shut it behind me I went alone across the lawn and into the house, and up the stairs August was already sleeping I woke Lily to help ust, careful not to wake her

My heart was singing with happiness Robbie was here, and he was mine

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After Midsummer the heat increased It was too hot to ride in the afternoons; back hoed to stay inside with my mother and do needlework I scarcely saw Kevin or Robbie; though they were often at Gillean, they did not linger I knew that they rode away in the evenings and returned in the hour before dawn; sleeping lightly, I would hear the I would not see theain

My h I wished to do so, I could not avoid her

She deht quickly; I had forgotten it, but I told her that it had come while I was at Shannon's Loch, and she seemed mollified Later, I searched my mind as I rested in my room

I had lain with Robbie first on the last day of April I had had no blood since then It was now the last week of June

My heart began to race, and a thrill rose in me Perhaps, oh, perhapsbut I could not re had been Surely it had been etherI did not know exactly the method by which one determined when a child was expectedperhaps even now Robbie's child was growing in me

If it were so, then Robbie would marry me quickly He could not refuse

I fell to my knees beside my bed "Our Father, which art in Heaven," I said fervently, then abandoned the prayer, whispering, "Oh, God, please, let his child be inside me! Please, let it be!"

I must speak with Robbie immediately, I must tell him

But suppose I was mistaken?

I would wait another week If my blood had not returned by then, I would speak to him