There were many lions in the way and these only added to the zest
of pursuit. With all the other girls of the village opportunities
multiplied, but he could scarcely get ten minutes alone with
Patty. The Deacon's orders were absolute in regard to young men.
His daughters were never to drive or walk alone with them, never
go to dances or "routs" of any sort, and never receive them at
the house; this last mandate being quite unnecessary, as no youth
in his right mind would have gone a-courtin' under the Deacon's
forbidding gaze. And still there were sudden, delicious chances
to be seized now and then if one had his eyes open and his wits
about him. There was the walk to or from the singing-school, when
a sentimental couple could drop a few feet, at least, behind the
rest and exchange a word or two in comparative privacy; there
were the church "circles" and prayer-meetings, and the intervals
between Sunday services when Mark could detach Patty a moment
from the group on the meeting-house steps. More valuable than all
these, a complete schedule of Patty's various movements here and
there, together with a profound study of Deacon Baxter's habits,
which were ordinarily as punctual as they were disagreeable,
permitted Mark many stolen interviews, as sweet as they were
brief.
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