Episode Guide Continued
MacNeill's Invitation Now here is where things start to get rather interesting. MacNeill shows up bright and early at the mission to check on Miss Alice's condition the next morning, and he just happens to have brought a picnic lunch (imagine that!) and Christy shoots daggers with her eyes at MacNeillinvites Miss Harriet Quimby on a personal tour of Cutter Gap! When Christy shows up right after Harriet has accepted the offer and gets wind of this development, the young school teacher is none too pleased. By the look on her face, you can tell that she is rather annoyed by this turn of events and now all of a sudden the wonderful, modern Miss Quimby isn't such a great thing to Christy any more. In fact Christy tells us in a voice-over later that morning that "I tried to concentrate on teaching, but it was impossible" This was partly due to her uncertain future as a teacher at the mission school but also because, "Although I didn't want to admit it, I was also distracted by knowing where Neil was that day---and who he was with." (Ding! There is that distracted word again.)MacNeill and Harriet Quimby

Christy has every right to be upset for we learn that on the cove tour, Miss Quimby and Dr. MacNeill make a nice day of it enjoying each other's company and even share a very sweet kiss by the river. This kiss should enflame all of us MacNeill/Christy supporters, but in essence it appears pretty harmless. Why I say this is that MacNeill's kiss seems a gesture on his part to show Harriet that men found her attractive, which is something the aviatrix claims is not true. It is a gentle pleasant kiss, not a passionate "knock your socks off kiss" and due to the fact that Miss Quimby has certainly made her interest in the doctor known, he is exhibiting perfectly normal male behavior in that regard. But it does cause us to wonder if maybe something will happen between the two so that later we can share in Christy's suspicion, anger and hurt.

Christy gets upset at what she sees Tea for Two Christy gets an eyeful when she shows up at Dr. MacNeill's supposedly to pick up a book for her student Zach Holt who is preparing for entrance exams to college. Now that excuse in itself is rather suspect to me because it sure seems that Christy was eager when she volunteered to go pick up the book. She either wants to see MacNeill and visit with him herself, or she wants to see what he is up to as she has been worrying about him with Harriet all day long. So Christy traipses off through the woods to MacNeill's cabin. Upon arrival she realizes that the doctor has company, and so Christy peeks through the foliage and sees Miss Quimby on his porch having tea and wearing one of his shirts. A stunned and very upset Christy tries to slip away without being noticed but MacNeill at just that moment spots the young school teacher as she beats a hasty retreat. He quickly puts down the tea pot with a "Damn it" and tears off the porch in pursuit of Christy.

The Chase Watch this next scene very carefully as it wins the award for most pastoral and most intense scene in this film between the couple. It is a good one!!! There is a wonderful chase through the woods with the branches whipping past Christy as she tries to get away from MacNeill. Down by the river's edge MacNeill catches up with her; he spins her around to face him and asks her what she is doing out there.MacNeill asks why did you run away? She contends she came for the book for Zach and was startled. MacNeill knows better. Christy is hurt, angry, embarrassed and clearly jealous. He demands to know why she ran away and asks her outright if it was because Harriet was there having tea or because Harriet was wearing one of his shirts. Christy is very uncomfortable with this conversation and tries to cover by telling him that what he does is none of her business. But MacNeill isn't finished with this conversation; he is frustrated by her and her refusal to tell him the truth about her actions and admit her feelings toward him. So he emphatically puts her on notice that he is getting a bit impatient with this cat and mouse game. He expresses it this way, "I'm not a monk, Christy. And I'm tired of behaving like one." Wow!! Her reaction to this pronouncement is to move away from him and try to leave. This reminds me of the times in the book and on the original series where MacNeill drops big hints at Christy that he is very interested in her, wanting to get her reaction and to hear how she feels. But as is typical of Christy she either naively doesn't get it, is so stunned she chooses to play dumb, or is so confused by her own feelings that she doesn't know what to say or how to react. Christy listens to what he has to say.This time it appears to be the latter. MacNeill calls after her as she leaves to make sure she knows that nothing really happened between Harriet and him, explaining to Christy that the reason Harriet was in one of his shirts is because she fell in the river and her clothes were drying by the fire. This little tidbit is significant because we are reminded that when Christy had first arrived at Cutter Gap, she too had fallen in the river by MacNeill's. But what we also remember is that instead of giving her one of his shirts to wear while drying off, MacNeill offered Christy a beautiful dress that had been his dead wife's, which at that time was a symbolic foreshadowing but now here later we see that it also represents the difference in his feelings for the two women.     MORE->>


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