"You looked in the window--you peeped!" I fairly shouted, making a
hostile demonstration with a crutch.

"Why, yes" said Perry, looking hurt that I should question his action
in the least. "I didn't mean to. Comin' from over the ridge I passed
Warden's and thought I'd stop in and warm up and see how Weston was.
So I stepped light along the porch, not wantin' to disturb him, and
seein' a light in the room, I looked in before I knocked. But I never
knocked, for I says to myself, 'I'll hurry down and tell Mark; it'll
please him.'"

[Illustration: "And seein' a light in the room, I looked in."]

"And you saw Tim and Mary," said I.

"I should say I did," said Perry, "till I slipped away. But says I to
myself, 'It must be nice not to be disappointed.'"

"You said you saw Tim and Mary," said I, a trifle angrily.

"I should say I did," Perry answered, chuckling and rocking again on
his feet. "The two of 'em, standin' there in the lamplight by the
table, him a-lookin' down like he was dyin', her a-lookin' up like she
was dyin' and holdin' on to him like he was all there was left for her
in the world. It made me swaller, Mark, it made me swaller."

There was a lump in Perry's throat at that moment, and he stopped his
rocking and turned to the fire, so his back was toward me.

"Of course you knocked," said I, after a silence.