And, all the while, the sun beaming down on the ford, intensely soft
and bright. Why is it that the sun can seem so much softer and
brighter in some places than in others?
Missy felt that soft brightness penetrating deeper and deeper into
her being. It seemed a sort of limpid, shining tide flowing through
to her very soul; it made her blood tingle, and her soul quiver.
And, in some mysterious way, the presence, of Raymond Bonner,
consciousness of Raymond--Raymond himself--began to seem all mixed
up with this ineffable, surging effulgence. Missy recognized that
she had long experienced a secret, strange, shy kind of feeling
toward Raymond. He was so handsome and so gay. and his dark eyes
told her so plainly that he liked her, and he carried her books home
for her despite the fact that the other boys teased him. The other
girls had teased Missy, too, so that sometimes she didn't know
whether she was more happy or embarrassed over Raymond's admiration.
But, to-day, everyone seemed lifted above such childish rudeness.
When Missy had first led off from the watering-tank toward Rocky
Ford, Raymond had taken his place by her side, and he maintained it
there masterfully though two or three other boys tried to include
themselves in the class president's group--"buttinskys," Raymond
termed them.
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