ssy
bank, a sheltered cave-in floored with clean sand, warm and golden.
From the depths of the cave George brought an old frying pan and coffee
pot. He spread a comfort on the sand of the cave for a bed, produced
coffee, steak, bread, butter, and fruit from his load, and told Kate to
make herself comfortable while he got dinner. They each tried to make
allowances for, and to be as decent as possible with, the other, with
the result that before they knew it, they were having a good time; at
least, they were keeping the irritating things they thought to
themselves, and saying only the pleasant ones.

After a week, which George enjoyed to the fullest extent, while Kate
made the best of everything, they put away the coffee pot and frying
pan, folded the comforts, and went back to Aunt Ollie's for dinner;
then to Walden in the afternoon. Because Mrs. Holt knew they would be
there that day she had the house clean and the best supper she could
prepare ready for them. She was in a quandary as to how to begin with
Kate. She heartily hated her. She had been sure the girl had a
secret, now she knew it; for if she did not attend the wedding of her
sister, if she had not been at home all summer, if her father and
mother never mentioned her name or made any answer to any one who did,
there was a reason, and a good reason. Of course a man as rich as Adam
Bates could do no wrong; whatever the trouble was, Kate was at fault,
she had done some terrible thing.

"Hidin' in the bushes!" spat Mrs. Holt. "Hidin' in the bushes! Marry a
man who didn't know he was goin' to be married an hour before,
unbeknownst to her folks, an' wouldn't even come in the house, an' have
a few of the neighbours in. Nice doin's for the school-ma'am! Nice
prospect for George."

Mrs. Holt hissed like a copperhead, which was a harmless little
creature compared with her, as she scraped, and slashed, and
dismembered the chicken she was preparing to fry. She had not been
able, even by running into each store in the village, and the post
office, to find one person who would say a word against Kate. The girl
had laid her foundations too well. The one thing people could and did
say was: "How could she marry George Holt?" The worst of them could
not very well say it to his mother. They said it frequently to each
other and then supplied the true answers. "Look how he spruced up after
she came!" "Look how he worked!" "Look how he ran after and waited on
he