again, if I can possibly avoid it. Second, I'm going to send a drayman
to get my trunk and take it to Walden. Third, I'm going to start out
and walk miles, I don't know or care where; but in the end, I'm going
to Walden to clean the schoolhouse and get ready for my winter term of
school."

"Oh, Kate, you are such a fine teacher! Teach him! Don't be so
hurried! Take more time to think. You will break his heart," pleaded
Nancy Ellen.

Kate threw out both hands, palms down.

"P-a-s-h, a-u-g-h, h-a-r-t, d-o-u-t, d-e-r-e," she slowly spelled out
the letters. "What about my heart and my pride? Think I can respect
that, or ask my children to respect it? But thank you and Robert, and
come after me as often as you can, as a mercy to me. If John persists
in coming, to try to buy me, as he thinks he can buy anything he wants,
you needn't let him come to Walden; for probably I won't be there until
I have to, and I won't see him, or his mother, so he needn't try to
bring her in. Say good-bye to Robert for me."

She walked from the house, head erect, shoulders squared, and so down
the street from sight. In half an hour a truckman came for her trunk,
so Nancy Ellen made everything Kate had missed into a bundle to send
with it. When she came to the letters, she hesitated.

"I guess she didn't want them," she said. "I'll just keep them awhile
and if she doesn't ask about them, the next time she comes, I'll burn
them. Robert must go after her every Friday evening, and we'll keep
her until Monday, and do all we can to cheer her; and this very day he
must find out all there is to know about that George Holt. That IS the
finest letter I ever read; she does kind of stand up for him; and in
the reaction, impulsive as she is and self-confident--of course she
wouldn't, but you never can tell what kind of fool a girl will make of
herself, in some cases."

Kate walked swiftly, finished two of the errands she set out to do,
then her feet carried her three miles from Hartley on the Walden road,
before she knew where she was, so she proceeded to the village.

Mrs. Holt was not at home, but the house was standing open. Kate found
her room cleaned, shining, and filled with flowers. She paid the
drayman, opened her trunk, and put away her dresses, laying out all the
things which needed washing; then she bathed, put on heavy shoes, and
old skirt and waist, and crossing the road sat in a secluded place in
the ravine and looked st