On the
third day there were speeches and ceremonies at Creston and Creston
River; on the fourth the principal performers were to be driven in
buck-boards to Dormer and Hamblin.
It was on the fourth day that Charity returned for the first time to the
little house. She had not seen Harney alone since they had parted at the
wood's edge the night before the celebrations began. In the interval she
had passed through many moods, but for the moment the terror which had
seized her in the Town Hall had faded to the edge of consciousness.
She had fainted because the hall was stiflingly hot, and because the
speakers had gone on and on.... Several other people had been affected by
the heat, and had had to leave before the exercises were over. There had
been thunder in the air all the afternoon, and everyone said afterward
that something ought to have been done to ventilate the hall....
At the dance that evening--where she had gone reluctantly, and only
because she feared to stay away, she had sprung back into instant
reassurance.
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