Now we were plumbing the darker side of passion. Something that Carpenter does not write of in his Love's Coming of Age.
A night of wind, shifting into rain. Hildreth I knew would be afraid, alone.
I stepped into her cottage, in my bath-robe. She almost screamed at my sudden appearance. For I came in at the door like a shadow, the wind and rain making such a tumult that a running horse would not have been heard.
"Dearest ... you're all wringing wet ... you're dripping all over the floor. Throw off that robe. Dry yourself—there's a towel there!"
She flung me her kimono. "Here, put this on, till you're comfortable again."
I came out in her kimono, which I was bursting through ... my arms sticking out to my elbow.
She laughed herself almost into hysteria at my funny appearance.
"It will be quite safe to-night. I don't think he'd venture out. This is a hurricane, not a rainstorm ... besides, I believe he's a little afraid of you, Johnnie ... I was watching him rather closely, while I handled him, the other night ... he kept an uneasy eye on you all the time."