A whirl of thoughts ran
through her brain. For a moment she felt like laughing, and then what there
was in her of her father's shrewdness came to her rescue. "Why shouldn't I
do it?" she thought. "Here's my chance. This man is excited and upset now,
but he is a man I can respect. It's the best marriage I'll ever have a
chance to make. I do not love him, but perhaps that will come. This may be
the way marriages are made."
Clara put out her hand and laid it on Hugh's arm. "Well," she said,
hesitatingly, "you wait here a moment."
She went into the house and left Hugh standing in the darkness. He was
terribly afraid. It seemed to him that every secret desire of his life had
got itself suddenly and bluntly expressed. He felt naked and ashamed. "If
she comes out and says she'll marry me, what will I do? What'll I do then?"
he asked himself.
When she did come out Clara wore her hat and a long coat. "Come," she said,
and led him around the house and through the barnyard to one of the barns.
She went into a dark stall and led forth a horse and with Hugh's help
pulled a buggy out of a shed into the barnyard. "If we're going to do it
there's no use putting it off," she said with a trembling voice. "We might
as well go to the county seat and do it at once."
The horse was hitched and Clara got into the buggy. Hugh climbed in and sat
beside her. She had started to drive out of the barnyard when Jim Priest
stepped suddenly out of the darkness and took hold of the horse's head.
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