e had
bought a ticket, and had gone on the platform, as if to wait for his
train; but when it came up, instead of taking his place on it, he had
slipped away in the confusion of its arrival and had hidden himself in
the woods on the other side of the road, where he had waited until it
was dark, when he had come back to watch the parsonage until every one
should have gone to bed, so that he could get speech with Ann.

"And then he asked her if she were 'game for a bolt?"

"She did not understand him; but when he next spoke plainly, and
inquired if she would run away with him and be married, she answered
promptly that she would.

"He told her to get ready quickly, and to dress warmly, for the night
was damp and cold, and to tie up a little bundle of things that she
might need on the journey; but not to take much, because he had plenty
of money, and could buy her all she needed.

"'Much;' Poor little thing, she had not much to take! She put on her
best dress--a well-worn blue serge--a coarse, black cloth walking
jacket, and a little straw hat with a faded blue ribbon. She had no
gloves. She tied up a hair brush, worn nearly to the wood, a tooth brush
not much better, the half of a broken dressing comb, and one clean linen
collar, in a small pocket handkerchief, and she was all ready for her
wedding trip.

"He told her to bolt her door before she came out, because that would
take the ogres some little while to force it open, and would give the
fugitives a better start.

"Ann did everything her boy lover directed, and finally stepped out of
the window on to the roof below, and joined him. He let down the window,
and closed the shutters with a spring that securely fastened them.

"That, he told her, would certainly give them a longer start, for it
would take an hour at least to force the room open and discover her
flight.

"Then they left the parsonage together.

"She had forgotten all about the parting note of malediction which she
had left behind her on the stand, as she stepped along the lane leading
to the highway.

"He asked her to take his arm, and when they reached the public road, he
inquired if she were game for a ten mile walk.

"She told him that she could walk to the end of the world with him,
because she was so happy to be beside the only one on earth who had ever
been kind to her--since her father's death.

"Then he explained the steps that he had taken, and must still take, to
elude pursuit; how