He began to seem
animal-like and ugly to her. "It's not true that I thought of her and asked
her to be my wife only because I wanted a woman," Hugh reassured himself.
"I've been lonely, all my life I've been lonely. I want to find my way into
some one's heart, and she is the one."
Clara also remained silent. She was angry. "If he didn't want to marry me,
why did he ask me? Why did he come?" she asked herself. "Well, I'm married.
I've done the thing we women are always thinking about," she told herself,
her mind taking another turn. The thought frightened her and a shiver of
dread ran over her body. Then her mind went to the defense of Hugh. "It
isn't his fault. I shouldn't have rushed things as I have. Perhaps I'm not
meant for marriage at all," she thought.
The ride homeward dragged on indefinitely. The clouds were blown out of
the sky, the moon came out and the stars looked down on the two perplexed
people. To relieve the feeling of tenseness that had taken hold of her
Clara's mind resorted to a trick. Her eyes sought out a tree or the lights
of a farmhouse far ahead and she tried to count the hoof beats of the horse
until they had come to it. She wanted to hurry homeward and at the same
time looked forward with dread to the night alone in the dark farmhouse
with Hugh. Not once during the homeward drive did she take the whip out of
its socket or speak to the horse.
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