Maybe she will a little. I jist wanted to tell you
that I wouldn't a' fit them boys if they hadn't a' pushed me so hard,
and I wan't afeared to fight your old man, I jist wouldn't -- that's all."
What answer she might have made to this was prevented by him;
for he suddenly held out his hand with something in it, saying, "Here."
She instinctively reached out to take whatever it was,
and he placed in her hand a book which she recognized as the little Testament
which she had won as a prize at school and had given him when
they went to school together. It was the only book she had ever possessed
as her very own.
"I brought this thinking as how maybe you might 'a'-wanted --
me to keep it," he was going to say; but he checked himself and said:
"might 'a'-wanted it back."
Before she could recover from the surprise of finding the book in her hand
her own, he was gone. The words only came to her clearly
as his retreating footsteps grew fainter and his tall figure faded
in the darkening light. She made a hasty step or two after him,
then checked herself and listened intently to see if he were not returning,
and then, as only the katydids answered, threw herself flat on the ground
and grovelled in the darkness.
There were few houses in the district or in the county where lights did not
burn all that night.
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