"_You_ truss _me_ up!" she panted. "Do you think you are more than a boy to use me as a father or a husband only has the right?"
"You little minx!" said I, when I had spat out a mouthful of snow, "is not anyone free to trounce a child!----"
At that I slipped, or she tripped me; into a drift I went, and she pounced on me and sat astride with a cry of triumph.
"Now," says she, "I shall take your scalp, my fine friend"; and twisted one hand in my hair.
"Hiu-u! Kou-ee!" she cried, "a scalp taken means war to the end! Do you cry me mercy, John Drogue?"
I struggled, but the snow was soft and I sank the deeper, and could not unseat her.
"I drown in snow," said I. "Get up, you jade!"
"Jade!" cries she, and stopped my mouth with snow.
I struggled in vain; under her clinging weight the soft snow engulfed and held me like a very quicksand. I looked up at her and she laughed down at me.
"No! Do you mean to drown me, you vixen!"
"Yes," said I, half choked. "Let me up, you plague of Egypt!"
"That is not a loving speech, John Drogue. Do you love me or no?"
"Object of my heart's desire!" I fairly yelled. "I am like to smother here!----"
"This is All Fools' Day," says she, sick with laughter to see me mad and at her mercy. "Therefore, you must tell me lies, not truths. Tell me a pretty lie,--quickly!--else I scrub your features!"
After a helpless heave or two I lay still.
"You say you love me tenderly. That is a lie, John Drogue--it being All Fools' Day. So you shall vow, instead, that you hate me. Come, then!"
"I hate you!" said I, licking the snow from my lips.
I looked up at her where deep in the snow, under the lilacs, I lay, my arms spread and her two hands pinning my wrists. She was flushed with laughter and I saw the devils o' mischief watching me deep in her dark eyes.
"It was under these lilacs," said I, "that I had my first hurt of you. You should heal that hurt now."
That confused her, and she blushed and swore to punish me for that fling; but I grinned at her.
"Come," said I, "heal me of my ancient wound as you dealt it me--with your lips!"
"But he kissed you. So do the like by me and I forgive you all."
"And you will not truss me up to chasten me when you go free? For it would shame me and I could not endure it."