' She
took off the ring and with a wistful glance at it offered it to him.
He took it, and before she knew, it was on her finger again.
'Ye've jist got to keep it!' he said, desperately. 'An' Christina,
I--I'm gaun to kiss ye!'
'Oh, mercy!'
But he had none. . . .
'Are we engaged or no?' he whispered at last.
'Let me get ma breath.'
'Hurry up!'
She laughed, though her eyes were wet. 'Oh, dear,' she murmured,
'I never thought I wud get engaged wi'oot a--a . . .'
'A what?'
Suddenly she leaned forward and touched his cheek. 'Dinna fash
yersel', Mac. Bein' in war-time, I suppose the best o' us has got
to dae wi'oot some luxury or ither--sich as a proper High-Class
Proposal.'
V
IN UNIFORM
There happened to be a little delay in providing the later batches
of recruits with the garb proper to their battalion, and it was the
Monday of their third week in training when Privates
Robinson--otherwise Macgregor--and Thomson saw themselves for the
first time in the glory of the kilt. Their dismay would doubtless
have been overwhelming had they been alone in that glory; even with
numerous comrades in similar distress they displayed much
awkwardness and self-consciousness. During drill Willie received
several cautions against standing in a semi-sitting attitude, and
Macgregor, in his anxiety to avoid his friend's error, made himself
ridiculous by standing on his toes, with outstretched neck and
fixed, unhappy stare.
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