were together their little embarrassments cried their love aloud, and
neither could mentally avoid the issue. Each had known that the other had
resolved and suffered and fallen into the temptation of the reading. The
book was becoming a delicious torment. He could not stay in that house.
Plainly, it was going to be necessary for him to go away. The business
demanded his attention, and he decided to go to Mitchell County. At that
point Hugh stopped in his calculations to consider how things would run at
this end of the line if he did so.

In summing the business up, Hugh summed up his impression of John Hunter
along with it, and found himself reluctant to go away and leave everything
in his hands. John was industrious and tidy about his work. Dear old John!
He had come very near Hugh's heart in the short time they had been
together. The daily consideration of possible death had mellowed Hugh
Noland's naturally fine nature, and given him the tenderness of attitude
and thought that the sublime and inevitable impose upon those who live in
its shadow. Actions considered as final are warmer and less likely to be
inconsiderate than those where there is a feeling of indefinite time to
correct mistakes. Hugh sat now and let his heart run out to John with all
the love of a more than usually affectionate nature. In his heart he
wanted John back home, and yet it made him uneasy. There was a peculiar
sense of being a traitor as he considered the meeting with this man who
had trusted his home in his hands. In regard to the business, he, Hugh,
would have to let things take their own course. All he had on earth was in
this farm now, but he would get away as soon as he could possibly do so;
he would sacrifice that much to the man whose home he had entered. Hugh
knew to a nicety how necessary it would be for his interests in a business
way to be here on the ground and keep John Hunter from going into debt.
Hugh had his own judgment, neighbourhood gossip, and Doctor Morgan's plain
instructions on that point, but was resolved to go if he lost all that he
had in so doing. "Well, at any rate, he can't mortgage anything without
consulting me, and I'll get as much of the stock out there as I can after
next year--that is, if there is any next year for me," he said, as he got
up to go to bed long after midnight.

The morning of John's return Elizabeth asked Hugh to take her as far as
Nathan's on his way in to town. Hugh had not sat on the step