The Wind Before the Dawn

Hornby, after the disaster, and Elizabeth was finally obliged to go to

Elizabeth felt as if the most painful possibility of her life had been safely put behind her. She had been nervous and uncomfortable about this visit, and was correspondingly sensitive to the perfect manner of her hostess, and carried away with her a new problem to work upon: if John Hunter's mother, by her poise and presence, made of his home a social unit of appearance and value, John Hunter's wife must not fall below the grade of that home when she became its m

n she sewed alone or when Aunt Susan was silent. The girl was both fascinated and repelled by them. Mrs. Hunter's bearing was the subject of constant and delighted meditation, while the cold carefulness of it was a terrorizing nightmare. The girl kept up a conversation with Aunt Susan on the sewing, or a fire of mirth and jollity with Nathan or Luther, with this undercurrent of thought always going on. How was she to emulate that polish with so little experience

and went to look for the eggs about the haystacks, talking all the while of John Hunter's mother in the happiest manner she could assume. The visit to John's home had made her a bit homesick for John himself. Luther's presence had so completely filled the days since John's departure that she had not been lonesome for him, but the house with w

shed him somewhat, for rumour had reached him as soon as he had come into the home neighbourhood that the new Swede had cut him out. John came to see E

legs out comfortably in the mended rocker of Nathan Hornby's little front room and talked enthusiastically of the pasture he would have for surplus cattle when he had got the farm in running order. No reference was made to Elizabeth's affairs with her family. John was keenly appreciative of her joy in his presence, and the old relations were renewed; in fact, the relations were on a better basis than they had been for several days before John's absen

furniture was revarnished by their own hands. By the time all this was finished the girl felt a personal possession in every article the house contained, and it had indeed become a home to her. The home she had left was scarcely more than a shadow in Elizabeth's mind. The work of remodelling and brightening up Nathan's house

was helping Susan Hornby put fresh straw under the rag carpet in the front room. The straw was carefully spread and the carpet tacked along one side of the room, and Elizabeth, hammer in hand, turned over from her knees to a sitting position and surveyed her mother with a dull fear at her heart; she knew what her mother's presence meant. Mrs. Farnshaw

ing the hammer around in the other hand and filled with apprehensi

handkerchief went up

girl, an' it's a pretty how-de-do if I can't h

its way through the loose rags of the carpet on which she sat. After a time she turned h

d come home to be married

fuss as soon as I appear

. Elizabeth's silence had disconcerted her, but if s

mmer," she sobbed, retur

Susan's face and did not reply a

w began to b

hought when you come home for th' weddin' it'd put a stop t' their t

ssed silence and studied Susan Hor

gth, and then stopped short at something in Aunt

an' they say you've got too stuck up t' live to home any longer, now that you're goin' t' m

neighbours criticised her. She broke into such real

ned. Talking to her mother, but keeping her eyes glued on Aun

She had a painful sense of weakness and inadequacy in the presence of her mother's de

th time. "E'll let you alone if you do th' right thing. We lo

w that Elizabeth's eyes turned to those of Aunt Susan. It was not enough

" she said, leaning forward eagerly. "Suppose you only had th' one--" She

s mastered her. She ma

ly. "I don't ask for no more than that. Just long enough to put an

crossing the room, dragged

s all th' is about it!" They looked at e

instincts, against her better judgme

id, stepping back to avoid the compelling touch of the hand that clu

comprehension of mother love and a real knowledge of this particular c

without support, wa

" she sai

go, but the phrasing of her mother's plea, "just two more days," helped to sustain her. It h

h Luther, as she had been reported to be, but accorded the old grounds of affection to him, he had spread himself comfortably in Luther's presence and drawn him into conversation whenever it could be done. In addition to a desire to set his well-polished boots in strong contrast against those of busy, unobserving Luther, the only dressing of which was an occ

ng he had not let Elizabeth see-but his feelings had been soothed and delighted by the display of h

ut to mention it. The relations of the early summer had been re?stablished. He talked of the new land, and of the cattle to be placed on it in two or three years, when the calves he was buying would be grown. The lots in which he had held an equity since his father's death had been sold before his mother's departure from the old home, a

ng of stock, the girl's heart swelled with gratitude that her lines had fallen i

prized the peace which seemed

was the most sought-for thing in Elizabeth Farnshaw's life. All her lonely days she had longed for it, and in all her girlish dreams it had been the pri

Elizabeth's own home. Because of their engagement, he had heard little of the gossip about her, but it had been enough to make him

nstantly partook of the discontent she showed. He took her to his mother's house for a short stay, but both were heavy of spirits and John was actually depressed. Elizabeth was almost abnormally sensitive to the attitude assumed toward her, and had she been shrew

rstep. The shadow of the house prevented her

here," she exclaimed, thinking of the kiss

aughed s

than I did by settin' still. Anyhow, you're goin' t' be married in three days, an' it needn't make no differenc

ing ab

bout it-you goin' home, I mean. I don't know about that-I hope It'll be all

th was

d interpreted her

'm not to talk about

urt worse than

u ask me such a thing,

e offended, nor would he put

of you, Lizzie. You're only home for a couple of days

h got up

t, Luther,

t; the very truth of his suspicious that the Hunter estimate of her might be affected by scandal made of it a

. Luther departed early for his own house, and John Hunter came before noon to take her to her father's home. After all her si

u forever. I've-I've been so happy in this house-till

ntly. The silence was unbroken except by those sobs, and at last the

e last two days had to be so-so different. I-I don't know what went wrong, but-but"-she laughed desperately-"where have our good ti

t last Elizabeth lifted her chin on one finger and with a corner

," she said, kissing

ornby faltered, and then, to keep the girl from, replying, and to avoid the surprise and pain in the