og again and on to the
loneliness of the meadows beyond.

"And she went as white as a haunt," he muttered under his breath.

CHAPTER VIII

A GREAT PASSION IN A HUMBLE PLACE

Time does not stand still even for the unhappily married. A man may
have wedded the wrong woman, but he comes down to his breakfast and goes
about his work as punctually as if he had wedded the right one. To Abel,
with the thought of Molly throbbing like a fever in his brain, it was
still possible to grind his grist and to subtract carefully the eighth
part as a toll--while Judy, hushed in day dreams, went on making
butter in a habit of absent-minded tranquillity. Life seldom deals in
cataclysmic situations--at least on the surface. Living side by side
in a married intimacy for months, Abel and Judy were still strangers to
each other. Their bodies touched while their souls were crucified at an
immeasurable distance.

To Sarah, who embraced Christian theology while she practised
religiously the doctrine of the physical basis of life, there had seemed
no cause for disturbance, until Judy entered the kitchen on a stormy
evening in June, and turned a pair of inflamed eyes on the face of her
mother-in-law. The young woman wore her wedding dress, now nearly seven
months old, and clasped in her hand a neatly bound prayer-book which had
been the gift of the Reverend Orlando. For more than six months she had
suffered silently under Sarah's eyes, which saw only outward and visible
afflictions. Now, at the first sign of quivering flesh, the older woman
was at once on the alert.

"Whar you goin', Judy?" she inquired. "You ain't thinkin' about
traipsin' out of doors on a night like this, are you?"

"Archie promised to take me to the Bible class, an' he hasn't come
back," replied Judy, while her face worked convulsively. "I've waited
for him since half past seven."

"If that don't beat all!" exclaimed Sarah. "Why, it's thunderin' like
Jedgment Day. Can't you hear it?"

"But I promised Mr. Mullen I wouldn't let anything prevent me," returned
Judy, growing sullen. "Archie said he'd be back here without fail, an' I
know he's stayed to supper over at the Halloweens'."

"Isn't it foolish to wear your best hat out in the rain?" asked Blossom,
not without surprise, for her sister-in-law had developed into something
of a slattern.

"I reckon hats are made to be worn," retorted Judy. As a rule her temper
was placid enough, but Archie's defection, aft