ng gusts and then whirling away over the flat. By and by it
brought me the rollicking air my brother whistled, and then came the
sound of foot-falls. In a moment he would be passing, and I arose,
intending to hail him. It was easy enough when I heard only his
whistling to picture myself confrating him in anger, but now that in
the starlight I could see his dark form coming nearer and nearer; now
that he had broken into a snatch of a song we had often sung together,
my courage failed me and I slunk farther into my retreat.

So Tim passed me. He went on toward the village, singing cheerfully
for company's sake, and I stood alone, in the shadow of the
school-house woods, listening. His song died away. I fancied I heard
the beat of his stick on the bridge; then there was silence.

I turned. Through the pines on the eastward ridge the moon was
climbing, and now the white road stretched away before me. It was the
road to her house. The light that gleamed at the head of the hill was
her light, and many a night in this same spot I had stopped to take a
last look at it. It used to wink so softly to me as I waved a hand in
good-night. Now it seemed to leer. The friendly beacon on the hill
had become a wrecker's lantern. A battered hulk of a man, here I was,
stranded by the school-house. As the ship on the beach pounds
helplessly to and fro, now trying to drive itself farther into its
prison, now struggling to break the chains that hold it, so tossed
about my love and anger, I turned my face now toward the hill, now
toward the village. The same impulse that caused me to draw into the
darkness of the doorway instead of facing Tim made it impossible for me
to follow him home. Angry though I was, I wanted no quarrel, yet I
feared to meet him lest my temper should burst its bounds. But I had a
bitter wind to deal with, too, and if I could not go home, neither
could I stand longer in the road, turning in my quandary from the
beacon on the hill, where she was, to the light that gleamed in our
window in the village, where he was.

The school-house gave me shelter. I groped my way to my desk and there
sank into my chair, leaned my head on my hands, and closed my eyes. I
wanted to shut out all the world. Here in the friendly darkness, in
the quiet of the night, I could think it all out. I could place myself
on trial, and starting at the beginning, retracing my life step by
step, I would find again the course my best