Ezra, rising from his seat, laid the paper upon it and walked soberly about the garden. Then he took up the journal, surrounded the paragraph which related to the devotion of the Marquis of B. with heavy ink-marks, waited patiently until the lines dried, folded up the paper, put it in his pocket, and walked into the road. There he turned to the left, and went straight on to Miss Blythe's cottage. There in the garden was Miss Blythe herself, in a cottage bonnet and long gloves, busily hoeing with little pecks at a raised flower-bed of the size of a tea-tray. She looked up when Ezra paused at the gate, nodded with brisk preciseness in answer to his salutation, and then went on industriously pecking at the flower-bed.
“My weekly paper has just arrived, Miss Blythe,” said Ezra. “It appears to contain an unusual amount of interestin' matter, and I thought I'd ask you in passing if you'd care to have a look at it.”
“You are remarkably obliging, Mr. Gold,” said Rachel. “I thank you extremely.” She took the newspaper from his hand and retired into the house with it. Ezra lingered, and she returned to resume her occupation.
“It is beautiful weather, indeed,” said Rachel. Ezra lingered on, but rather hopelessly, for she would not so much as glance in his direction so far as he could see, but her features were entirely hidden by the cottage bonnet.
“I trust you will find a item or two as will be of interest,” he said, after a lengthy pause. Rachel contented herself with an emphatic-seeming little nod at the flower-bed. “Good-day, Miss Blythe.”
“Good-day, Mr. Gold, and thank you very much for being so good as to think of me.”
They did not encounter again until the following Sunday morning, when the banns between Ruth and Reuben were called a second time. The ringers were at work again when Ezra and Rachel met in the porch as the church-goers streamed slowly away, and the two shook hands mutely. They walked on side by side until Ezra's house was reached, and neither spoke until then. Pausing before the door, Miss Blythe put out her hand.
“If I might be allowed to go a little farther, Miss Blythe,” said Ezra, gently. Rachel withdrew her hand and said nothing. So once more they walked, apart from other home-going worshippers, down the lane that led to Rachel's cottage.
