had come to woo, not to threaten, and was angry with himself
because of his failure.

When her lover had departed Belle went indoors and ran hurriedly
upstairs. From a window at the upper part of the house she saw Ed Handby
cross the street and sit down on a horse block before the house of a
neighbor. In the dim light the man sat motionless holding his head in
his hands. She was made happy by the sight and when George Willard came
to the door she greeted him effusively and hurriedly put on her hat. She
thought that as she walked through the streets with young Willard, Ed
Handby would follow and she wanted to make him suffer.

For an hour Belle Carpenter and the young reporter walked about under
the trees in the sweet night air. George Willard was full of big words.
The sense of power that had come to him during the hour in the darkness
of the alleyway remained with him and he talked boldly, swaggering
along and swinging his arms about. He wanted to make Belle Carpenter
realize that he was aware of his former weakness and that he had
changed. "You will find me different," he declared, thrusting his hands
into his pockets and looking boldly into her eyes. "I don't know why but
it is so. You have got to take me for a man or let me alone. That's how
it is."

Up and down the quiet streets under the new moon went the woman and the
boy. When George had finished talking they turned down a side street and
went across a bridge into a path that ran up the side of a hill. The
hill began at Waterworks Pond and climbed upwards to the Winesburg Fair
Grounds. On the hillside grew dense bushes and small trees and among the
bushes were little open spaces carpeted with long grass, now stiff and
frozen.

As he walked behind the woman up the hill George Willard's heart began
to beat rapidly and his shoulders straightened. Suddenly he decided that
Belle Carpenter was about to surrender herself to him. The new force
that had manifested itself in him had he felt been at work upon her and
had led to her conquest. The thought made him half drunk with the sense
of masculine power. Although he had been annoyed that as they walked
about she had not seemed to be listening to his words, the fact that she
had accompanied him to this place took all his doubts away. "It is
different. Everything has become different," he thought and taking hold
of her shoulder turned her about and stood looking at her, his eyes
shining with pride.

Belle Carpenter