Everett noticed that Gerson Brandt watched him closely while Wilhelm Kellar spoke.
“I shall not go away for at least a week,” said Everett, leaning against the chest of drawers, and assuming an indifferent manner.
“It is strange that thou findest colony life so pleasant,” said Gerson Brandt.
“It is restful and interesting to me,” Everett replied, carelessly.
As he faced the two elders of Zanah he felt a twinge of remorse, because his dearest purpose in life was to win from them Walda Kellar. He who had held honor first experienced a certain amount of self-abasement, but he quieted his conscience, as he had many times before, by the thought that love was the ruling power of the world, and that all things should give way before it.
“The colony of Zanah would recompense thee for thy services in helping to restore me to health,” said Wilhelm Kellar. “Wilt thou render to me thine accounting?”
“Whatever aid you have received from me has not been given for money,” Everett replied, in a voice so decided in its accents that both his hearers felt there was beneath his words something which they could not understand.
“The colony never shirks the payment of its debts,” Wilhelm Kellar declared, proudly.
“If you think you owe me anything, accept the amount as a gift to Zanah,” said Everett.
A moment of embarrassment followed, and he was glad to take his leave rather hastily. When he reached the inn, many of the villagers were assembled in the main room and on the porches. The meeting-house bell sounded as he went up the steps, and instantly the men and women moved towards the old building on the hill. The women drew heavy shawls over their heads to protect them from the rain, and the men, who walked apart from them, now and then removed their caps to shake off the water which ran down upon their hair and shoulders. No one spoke. It was evident that the Day of Warning had its terrors for many of the colonists. Everett stood on the topmost step watching the little children, who were miniature reproductions of the men and women, and listening to the click of the wooden shoes upon the board walk. He looked down the street in the hope that he might see Walda Kellar, but he was disappointed.