She explained her presence in the
street by saying she had been to town to mail a letter and intended walking
home by a side road. "You may come with me if you're just out for a walk,"
she said. The two walked in silence. Hugh's mind, unaccustomed to traveling
in wide circles, centered on his companion. Life seemed suddenly to
be crowding him along strange roads. In two days he had felt more new
emotions and had felt them more deeply than he would have thought possible
to a human being. The hour through which he had just passed had been
extraordinary. He had started out from his boarding-house sad and
depressed. Then he had come by the factories and pride in what he thought
he had accomplished swept in on him. Now it was apparent the workers in the
factories were not happy, that there was something the matter. He wondered
if Clara would know what was wrong and would tell him if he asked. He
wanted to ask many questions. "That's what I want a woman for. I want
some one close to me who understands things and will tell me about them,"
he thought. Clara remained silent and Hugh decided that she, like the
complaining workman stumbling along the tracks, did not like him. The
man had said he wished Hugh had never come to town. Perhaps every one in
Bidwell secretly felt that way.
Hugh was no longer proud of himself and his achievements. Perplexity had
captured him. When he and Clara got out of town into a country road, he
began thinking of Sarah Shepard, who had been friendly and kind to him when
he was a lad, and wished she were with him, or better yet that Clara would
take the attitude toward him she had taken.
Pages:
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295