I came down so fast it hurt my hands, but Henry washed them with water,
at the well, and tied them up, all without speaking, and we went softly
out of the yard, not toward the towpath, but up the long road over
the hills.

It was very early morning, about three o'clock, and everything looked
lovely.

[Illustration: Slid down without a bit of noise]

When we got far away from the house, I asked Henry if he wasn't hungry,
and he shook his head, no, but gave me a Uneeda biscuit out of a box,
and I ate three or four, and all the time he was walking on in the nice
soft light, without saying anything.

Presently we got to the top of a hill, and Henry stood still, and so did
I. There was the sun coming up and making all sorts of lovely colors
on the sky.

When we looked at it a little while, Henry said, "How does the little,
lonely boy like walking in the morning?" and I said, "Fine."

We walked on, and sometimes Henry didn't say anything, and sometimes he
whistled, and sometimes he talked to me about Carlisle and football,
and out-of-doors and things like that, and I had a lovely time and
didn't notice how far away we were getting.

At last the sun came up all the way, and I said, "Oh, Henry, we'd better
get back now, for Mrs. Turner will miss us and not know where we are."