his manner so abrupt and grim.

He had lunch with Harriett. She too thought the breaking up, the going
away, had been almost too much for him. She hated to have him go, and
yet, for his sake, she would be glad to have it over.

At two o'clock he had finished the things he had to do. He had promised
to look in on a few of his friends and say good-by. But when he waited
on the corner for the car that would take him down town he knew in his
heart that he was not going to take that car. He knew, though up to the
very last he tried not to know, that he was going to walk along that
street a block and a half farther and turn in at the house Stuart
Williams had built. He knew he was not going to leave Freeport without
doing that. And when he stood there and let the car go by he faced what
he had in his heart known he was going to do ever since reading Ruth's
letter, turned and started toward Mrs. Williams', walking very fast, as
if to get there before he could turn back. He fairly ran up the steps
and pushed the bell in great haste--having to get it pushed before he
could refuse to push it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

When he could not get away, after the maid had let him in and he had
given his name and was waiting in the formal little reception room, he
was not only more frightened than he had ever been in his life, but
frightened in a way he had never known anything about before. He sat far
forward on the stiff little French chair, fairly afraid to let his feet
press on the rug. He did not look around him; he did not believe he
would be able to move when he had to move; he knew he would not be able
to speak. He was appalled at the consciousness of what he had done, of
where he was. He would joyfully have given anything he had in the world
just to be out doors, just not to have been there at all. There was what
seemed a long wait and the only way he got through it was by telling
himself that Mrs. Williams would not see him. Of course she wouldn't see
him!

There was a step on the stairs; he told himself that it was the maid,
coming to say Mrs. Williams could not see him. But when he knew there
was someone in the doorway he looked up and then, miraculously, he was
on his feet and standing there bowing to Mrs. Williams.

He thought she looked startled upon actually seeing him, as if she had
not believed it was really he. There was a hesitating moment when she
stood in the doorway, a moment of looking a little as if tryi