Page 64 (1/2)

The next day the snoas deeper by a foot, but this did not deter the

Squire fro his proposed trip to Belden He started immediately

after breakfast, prepared to sift matters to the bottom

An air of tension and anxiety pervaded the household all that long,

miserable day Anna was tortured with doubts Should she slip away

quietly without telling, or should sheconfession

to Kate? Mrs Bartlett, who knew the object of her husband's errand,

could not control her nerves She knew intuitively "that soood soul put it to herself

Altogether it was one of those nerve-wracking days that coulated households, apparently for no other

purpose but to prove the fact that a solitary existence is not

necessarily the most unhappy

Mrs Bartlett, for the first time in her life, orried about Dave

He was moody and morose, even to her, his sworn friend and ally, with

whoone off that

shortly after the Squire left the house; and hishim carefully at breakfast, noticed that he had shoved away

his plate with the food untasted

A fatal symptom to the ever-watchful maternal eye