Eric now came every day to the old house, and on weekends, he might stay most of the day. I greatly enjoyed this change of the routine. Sometimes I would take Eric around the farm. Sometimes we would just sit and talk. And often enough we went back to the old orchard, where he would read me stories or I would play my violin for him. However, I also enjoyed watching Aunt and Uncle with Eric. He added an extra tang to life, and I began to learn new things about my family that I had never known before.

Uncle Thomas is a good example. I knew he read the paper and sometimes the poetry books on the shelves as well as his own books in his room. But I was so used to the gruff succinct words from him that I was amazed by the change when he and Eric got into a friendly argument. If Eric got him wound up enough, Uncle would suddenly straighten his bent form, and a great fire would flash from his eyes. His voice would ring out in a triumphant way and what he would say! He was pure eloquence and fluent in words, and would sweep away any smart sounding argument that Eric had like matchsticks. It was so much fun to watch Uncle thus transformed, and Eric enjoyed himself hugely, even when he lost. The funny thing was Uncle would be terribly embarrassed about the whole thing that for an entire week afterwards, all one would be able to get out of him was "Yes" or "No, or at the very least, that the weather was changing. I found it so amusing, and Aunt Janet would as well.

We would share secret looks when we could see Uncle start up, and smile when the two would go at it like hammers and tongs. A lot of the time, they would lose me altogether, what with their bombardment of facts and statistics and opinions. But nevertheless, it was most entertaining. And also equally funny to see was the way Aunt Janet would smile at Uncle very slyly when Eric happened to win a point, which wasn't often.

Eric told me he very much liked my aunt and uncle. I was glad to hear that, and was very happy that they got along so well. After thinking so long that they would hate him for meeting me secretly, it was a relief to me that they liked him so well too. They were more than happy to have the nice young man around, and occasionally, especially on the weekends, Eric would help Uncle with some equipment or other. They often would not permit me to stay, citing some need for "man to man talk". I would leave them to their foolishness and help Aunt instead. However, I did catch looks from them both at me with a mixture of… what? I wasn't sure. It seemed to be both hope and wonder and… something else.

Sometimes I would wonder if they liked Eric better than Neil. But Neil was very much changed. He avoided me now, even when I tried to talk to him. He was rude to Aunt and Uncle, and would take off with his friends for the entire day at times. Uncle tried to talk to him, but he just brushed him off and wouldn't talk to him. At last Uncle Thomas came to me and told me bluntly, "You have been too kind to the lad, lassie, and he's got presumptuous. He must be taught his place. I mistrust we have all made more of him than we should." He told me that I should not make such an equal of him anymore. Not that I should not treat him kindly, but just to keep in mind that he was a man, and we were not children any longer.

I did not really understand what exactly he meant, but I felt that Uncle was right. Neil had been very withdrawn of late. Once he had an outburst towards me, about which I still don't know why, for Uncle hauled him away very quickly. I was beginning to be more frightened of him, which I also did not like. We had been friends all our lives, and now there was some great divide between us. Eric accounted for much of it, I instinctively knew, but in what precise way was a mystery. But this had began long before Eric, and I supposed it was merely a part of growing up.

One day, Eric came to me, face aglow, and said he had some good news for me. I looked up expectantly as I waited to see what it was. Eric sat down and enthusiastically said, "Well, Kilmeny, as you know, I have been teaching the Lindsay school for a friend. It was only supposed to be for a few months, just until the end of the term. But I have just spoken to the board, and it is now official. I've taken the school for another year, so I will be staying right here in Lindsay… with you!"

My heart leaped at the news. I had known he had been the Lindsay schoolmaster in place of someone else who was sick. But never had it crossed my mind that he might have had to go home! I was so very glad that I did not have to think of it for a very long time yet. I told him how pleased I was, and my music rang with the joy of us both.

Every day brought us some new joy. One day it was finding a robin's nest, another it was the new kittens in the barn. We would laugh over Belle, the calf, skipping about in her paddock. Sometimes Eric would help me with the weeding of the garden, and we'd exclaim over the young plants and how close it might be to harvest them. I also would tease him over something or other, finding it fun to dash the young man's fantasies into pieces with a well written script of words. But Eric never minded, but thrilled in our banter. All in all, life felt rich and full of things, even if I never went into the big world out beyond.

There was some mysterious going ons too. Uncle Thomas had to go to Radnor to pick up some surprise that Eric was making for me. I was not permitted to go near the barn when he came back, and I was told to make myself scarce until Eric could fix it up for me. I didn't have a clue about what the surprise could be, yet I was pleased that he would do such a thing for me.

I meandered around until I came to a large beech tree beyond the orchard. It wasn't often I went this far, but my feet had taken me this way. The sky was a robin's egg blue with a few white floaty clouds. I held a white Mary lily that I had plucked from the orchard, its perfume filling my nostrils as I dreamed of 'faerylands forlorn'. Suddenly, I saw Eric coming my way, and for once I did not run to him in gladness. Something in me would not let me anymore. Instead, I waited as I leaned on the fence for him to come to me.

As Eric was close to me, he had such a smile and a rich warmth in his voice as he chuckled and quoted to me some lines from my namesake ballad.

Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been

Long hae we sought baith holt and den,
By linn, by ford, and greenwood tree!
Yet you are halesome and fair to see.
Where got you that joup o' the lily sheen?
That bonny snood o' the birk sae green,
And those roses, the fairest that ever was seen?
Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?

I had to sigh silently and think of how different I was from that Kilmeny. How pretty she must have been. A pretty name for a pretty girl, and I… but my thoughts were interrupted by Eric's musing, as he looked at me carefully, "Only it's a lily and not a rose you are carrying. I might go on and quote the next couplet too:

Kilmeny looked up with a lovely grace,

But there was nae smile on Kilmeny's face.

"Why are you looking so sober?"

I couldn't answer him, but by the look on his face, I could see he could guess what I would say perfectly well. He shook his head then his eyes danced with happiness and pleasure. He merrily gestured and said, "Come down to the house, Kilmeny. I have something there to show you… something lovelier than you have ever seen before."

Nodding in eagerness, I took his hand and followed him back to the house. As we passed through the orchard, Eric spied the Mary lily plot where I had taken mine. He seemed to consider a moment and stopped walking. Then he looked me up and down and nodded to himself. He told me his wishes, and I listened carefully, "I want you to go and put on that muslin dress you wore last Sunday evening, and pin up your hair the same way you did then. Run along… don't wait for me. But you are not to go into the parlour until I come. I want to pick some of those Mary-lilies up in the orchard."

I nodded and ran to the house and up to my room. I pulled out the muslin dress that he'd wanted me to wear and considered it a moment. It had been my mother's and fitted me perfectly, so there was no need to alter it. I liked how the light fabric clung to my frame and trailed a little bit behind me. It was a perfect cream colour that pleased me very much, and I slipped it on.

Next, I brushed out my hair and rebraided it. I now pinned the thick braid around my head like a coronet, and fastened one of the white roses above my ear. I stood up and made sure my dress hung just right, then went down the stairs where Eric was waiting at the bottom with an armful of white lilies. He seemed very pleased with me, though I couldn't imagine why.

I followed his instructions closely as he said, "Take these lilies on your arm, letting their bloom fall against your shoulder… so. Now, give me your hand and shut your eyes. Don't open them until I say you may."

I closed my eyes tightly and let him slip an arm through my free one and guide me to, I presumed, the parlor. He was careful, and I did not bump into anything, and finally, he cried with a boyishly excited tone, "Look!"

Opening my eyes, I looked into a large picture framed with gold. In it I saw a lovely girl standing there. She was the prettiest creature I had ever seen, and I took in her muslin dress, black hair wrapped around her head, and lilies on her arm and bright blue eyes. Suddenly, I knew exactly what that was.

That was no picture! The girl in the picture was me. I was the pretty woman, in what I now knew was a mirror… reflecting back at me. I dropped my flowers in shock, and the girl in the mirror dropped hers too. I made a little cry involuntarily and pulled my hands over my face, finding it too much to take in.

Warm hands on mine drew them away from my face, and Eric laughed merrily. He stepped beside me and I saw his reflection next to mine in the mirror. He pointed, and the mirror Eric pointed back, and he gaily asked, "Kilmeny, do you think you are ugly now? This is a truer mirror than Aunt Janet's silver sugar bowl! Look! Look! Look! Did you ever imagine anything fairer than yourself, dainty Kilmeny?"

I felt the heat rush to my face, and the girl in the mirror had flushed cheeks. I was so happy to find that I was not ugly after all. It might have been foolish to take such stock in that, but I did feel so much lighter, as a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I wasn't ugly! I was pretty! Finally, I calmed down enough to remember my slate on the table and slipped to get it, sneaking looks in the mirror as I went. I smiled at Eric in thanks for this wonderful surprise and wrote, "I think I am pleasant to look upon. I cannot tell you how glad I am. It is so dreadful to believe one is ugly. You can get used to everything else, but you never get used to that. It hurts just the same every time you remember it. But why did mother tell me I was ugly? Could she really have thought so? Perhaps I have become better looking since I grew up."

I watched him with genuine puzzlement. Had Mother really lied to me? Or had she thought I really wasn't lovely? I wondered again at my mother, as I had done much of lately, for what she told me and reality were no longer one and the same.

Eric was kind and gentle as he said, "I think perhaps your mother had found that beauty is not always a blessing, Kilmeny, and thought it wiser not to let you know you possessed it."

He cocked his head at me, then held a hand out to me after picking up my dropped lilies, and suggested going back to the orchard for the evening. But he did warn me with an impish grin, "Don't look into the mirror too often, though, or Aunt Janet will disapprove. She is afraid it will make you vain."

I had to laugh, and it bubbled out in a musical peal, so funny was the thought. I had been so ingrained into thinking I was ugly that it seemed amusing that I should become the opposite: vain. I did not think that very likely to happen. Before we went though, I must say goodbye to the girl in the mirror, and blew an airy kiss at her. Now gladly I put my hand in Eric's and skipped like a child to our favourite place, the old orchard.

As we made our way to the orchard in the beauty of the evening, the children's moon high in the sky, I saw a figure hurrying up the lane. Instinctively, I drew closer to Eric, who always made me feel safe. It was Neil, and though he passed us by without a word or a look, I still could not restrain a shiver of fear. I must explain, so I wrote with a nervous air, "I don't understand Neil at all now. He is not nice, as he used to be, and sometimes he will not answer when I speak to him. And he looks so strangely at me, too. Besides, he is surly and impertinent to Uncle and Aunt."

Eric nodded in understanding, but reassured me to not mind him. He told me that the fellow was likely only sulky because he had said somethings to him when Eric had found out that Neil had spied on us.

I did not like to think of what happened, but was content to not ask further about that incident. That night had been so terrible that I preferred to not think about it anymore. So I only nodded, and then we had a very lovely evening.

When I came back to the house after bidding Eric good night, I could not help myself. I had to have another look, and carried my candle into the dark parlor. No, it hadn't been a dream. I still was very nice to look upon, and I studied my features closely. Then I pretended to talk to the girl in the mirror, and that's when Aunt Janet appeared in the mirror. I turned around to look at the real Aunt and smiled sheepishly at her, remembering Eric's warning.

But Aunt Janet did not seem to mind, but had her usual words of wisdom, in a matter of fact voice, but with a note of pride anyhow, "Are you thinking about your own good looks, lassie? Ay, but remember that handsome is as handsome does."

I smiled at my Aunt, and told her I would try to remember that. After a moment, I added, "Oh, Aunt Janet, I am so glad I am not ugly. It is not wrong to be glad of that, is it?"

The look on Aunt Janet's face softened and she shook her head. She had a kind and understanding tone as she admitted, "No, I don't suppose it is, lassie. A comely face is something to be thankful for, as none know better than those who have never possessed it. I remember well when I was a girl...but that is neither here nor there." She paused and looked at me very carefully, watching my expression. Then she softly said, "The Master thinks you are wonderful bonny, Kilmeny."

I started at my aunt's words and suddenly without warning, my face flushed hotter than ever before. I froze to the spot, and stared at Aunt Janet. She nodded, and sighed a little before bidding me good night.

As soon as she had gone, I dashed upstairs to my room, shut the door, and flung myself onto my bed, cooling my burning face into my pillow. Now I knew. My heart had known for some time a great secret. But my head had denied it completely, not thinking it possible. But it was.

I was in love with Eric Marshall.

Joy and anguish mixed together as one at the realization. Love… love! I had believed I would never find love in my life. And I now knew in my heart that it was as Eric's book taught me: that it was a sacred thing, a beautiful thing, and blessed be the one who possessed it! And I had another knowledge: he loved me back. Of course he did. I thrilled in this, for a man loved me dearly, and my lover was my best friend.

My heart thrilled, then broke into pieces. I knew what would happen next now. He'd ask me to marry him. And… I was dumb. I couldn't speak. I know he didn't care about that, but I did. I loved him. Too much to drag him down. To do him any injustice. And he would be fettered if he married a dumb girl! I couldn't do that to him. But I loved him! I did want to spend the rest of my life with Eric Marshall.

I wrestled with my thoughts, and turned onto my back, so I faced the ceiling. And there I lay, wakeful and thoughtful, all the night long. Joy and pain both were my companions. And the knowledge that I needed to make some sort of decision for my life, the first of this kind. As morning dawned bright and fair, I knew what I must do.