He was gone. She called his name. Surely if he had heard her voice then, he would have come back. I think too, that those last half-choking words of his, first made her understand that he did not come to her because he had been her father's friend, but because he loved her.
I heard the door slammed after Master Caleb. As soon as I could get out without being seen, I ran after him. It was difficult to catch him up, at the pace he walked.
When I reached him, out of breath, he put his hand heavily on my shoulder.
'Master Caleb,' I said, looking up into his face, 'may I speak to you?'
'Not now,' he answered, very gently. 'Not now, my boy. It has all ended, Willie, as I knew it must.'
'I am sorry,' I said boldly; 'but I heard all you and Mistress Dorothy said. I was in the study window, where you put me, sir, and I could not help it.'
He did not heed me much.
'We will not speak of it again, Willie. She was quite right to say no.'
'But, Master Caleb, I thought she was going to say "yes."'
He stopped in the road and stared at me.