a street. Suddenly, there was the tannery, Jethro standing in front of
it, contemplative. Did he see her? Would he come to her? Cynthia, seized
by a panic of shame, flew into Aunt Lucy Prescott's, sat through half an
hour of torture while Aunt Lucy talked of redemption of sinners, during
ten minutes of which Jethro stood, still contemplative. What tumult was
in his breast, or whether there was any tumult, Cynthia knew not. He went
into the tannery again, and though she saw him twice later in the week,
he gave no sign of seeing her.

On Saturday Cynthia bought a new bonnet in Brampton; Sunday morning put
it on, suddenly remembered that one went to church to honor God, and wore
her old one; walked to meeting in a flutter of expectancy not to be
denied, and would have looked around had that not been a cardinal sin in
Coniston. No Jethro! General opinion (had she waited to hear it among the
horse sheds or on the green), that Jethro's soul had slid back into the
murky regions, from which it were folly for even Cynthia to try to drag
it.




CHAPTER III

To prove that Jethro's soul had not slid back into the murky regions, and
that it was still indulging in flights, it is necessary to follow him
(for a very short space) to Boston. Jethro himself went in Lyman Hull's
six-horse team with a load of his own merchandise--hides that he had
tanned, and other country produce. And they did not go by the way of
Truro Pass to the Capital, but took the state turnpike over the ranges,
where you can see for miles and miles and miles on a clear summer day