marry her the most fortunate being in the world. He lived in Indianapolis
and came by train to spend the week-ends at the farm. The woman prepared
for his coming by putting on a white dress and fastening a rose in her
hair. The two people walked about in an orchard beside the house or went
for a ride along the country roads. The young man, who, Hugh had been told,
worked in a bank, wore stiff white collars, a black suit and a black derby
hat.

On the farm Hugh worked in the field with the farmer and ate at table with
his family, but did not get acquainted with them. On Sunday when the young
man came he took the day off and went into a nearby town. The courtship
became a matter very close to him and he lived through the excitement of
the weekly visits as though he had been one of the principals. The daughter
of the house, sensing the fact that the silent farm hand was stirred by
her presence, became interested in him. Sometimes in the evening as he sat
on a little porch before the house, she came to join him, and sat looking
at him with a peculiarly detached and interested air. She tried to make
talk, but Hugh answered all her advances so briefly and with such a half
frightened manner that she gave up the attempt. One Saturday evening when
her sweetheart had come she took him for a ride in the family carriage, and
Hugh concealed himself in the hay loft of the barn to wait for their
return.

Hugh had never seen or heard a man express in any way his affection for a
woman. It seemed to him a terrifically heroic thing to do and he hoped by
concealing himself in the barn to see it done. It was a bright moonlight
night and he waited until nearly eleven o'clock before the lovers returned.
In the hayloft there was an opening high up under the roof. Because of his
great height he could reach and pull himself up, and when he had done so,
found a footing on one of the beams that formed the framework of the barn.