“You called me Cynthia yesterday.”
“So I did,” he answered, “so I did.” Then he looked at Miss Lucretia.
“Ezra,” said that lady, smiling a little, “I don't believe you have changed, after all.”
What she meant by that nobody knows.
“I had thought, Cynthia,” said the judge, “that it might be more comfortable for you to have me go to the school with you. That is the reason for my early call.”
“Judge Graves, I do appreciate your kindness,” said Cynthia; “I hope you won't think I'm rude if I say I'd rather go alone.”
“On the contrary, my dear,” replied the judge, “I think I can understand and esteem your feeling in the matter, and it shall be as you wish.”
“Then I think I had better be going,” said Cynthia. The judge rose in alarm at the words, but she put her hand on his shoulder. “Won't you sit down and stay,” she begged, “you haven't seen Miss Lucretia for how many years,—thirty, isn't it?”
Again he glanced at Miss Lucretia, uncertainly. “Sit down, Ezra,” she commanded, “and for goodness' sake don't be afraid of the cane bottom. You won't go through it. I should like to talk to you, and most of the gossips of our day are dead. I shall stay in Brampton to-day, Cynthia, and eat supper with you here this evening.”
Cynthia, as she went out of the door, wondered what they would talk about. Then she turned toward the school. It was not the March wind that burned her cheeks; as she thought of the mass meeting the night before, which was all about her, she wished she might go to school that morning through the woods and pasture lots rather than down Brampton Street. What—what would Bob say when he heard of the meeting? Would he come again to Brampton? If he did, she would run away to Boston with Miss Lucretia. Every day it had been a trial to pass the Worthington house, but she could not cross the wide street to avoid it. She hurried a little, unconsciously, when she came to it, for there was Mr. Worthington on the steps talking to Mr. Flint. How he must hate her now, Cynthia reflected! He did not so much as look up when she passed.