Then he
went on tiptoes out into the little hallway. The ceiling was so low that
he had to stoop to avoid knocking his head against it. He raised his hand
intending to knock on the door, and then lost courage. Several times
he went into the hallway with the same intent, and each time returned
noiselessly to his own room. He sat in the chair by the window and waited.
An hour passed. He heard a noise that indicated that the school teacher had
been lying on her bed. Then he heard footsteps on the stairs, and presently
saw her go out of the house and go along Turner's Pike. She did not go
toward town but over the bridge past his shop and into the country. Hugh
drew himself back out of sight. He wondered where she could be going.
"The roads are muddy. Why does she go out? Is she afraid of me?" he asked
himself. When he saw her turn at the bridge and look back toward the house,
his hands trembled again. "She wants me to follow. She wants me to go with
her," he thought.
Hugh did presently go out of the house and along the road but did not meet
the school teacher. She had in fact crossed the bridge and had gone along
the bank of the creek on the farther side. Then she crossed over again on
a fallen log and went to stand by the wall of the pickle factory. A lilac
bush grew beside the wall and she stood out of sight behind it. When she
saw Hugh in the road her heart beat so heavily that she had difficulty in
breathing.
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