His route
was by a street parallel to that on which the New House fronted, and
in his preoccupation he walked a block farther than he intended, so
that, having crossed to his own street, he approached the New House
from the north, and as he came to the corner of Mr. Vertrees's lot
Mr. Vertrees's daughter emerged from the front door and walked
thoughtfully down the path to the old picket gate. She was
unconscious of the approach of the pedestrian from the north, and did
not see him until she had opened the gate and he was almost beside
her. Then she looked up, and as she saw him she started visibly.
And if this thing had happened to Robert Lamhorn, he would have had
a thought far beyond the horizon of faint-hearted Bibbs's thoughts.
Lamhorn, indeed, would have spoken his thought. He would have said:
"You jumped because you were thinking of me!"
CHAPTER XV
Mary was the picture of a lady flustered. She stood with one hand
closing the gate behind her, and she had turned to go in the direction
Bibbs was walking. There appeared to be nothing for it but that they
should walk together, at least as far as the New House. But Bibbs had
paused in his slow stride, and there elapsed an instant before either
spoke or moved--it was no longer than that, and yet it sufficed for
each to seem to say, by look and attitude, "Why, it's YOU!"
Then they both spoke at once, each hurriedly pronouncing the other's
name as if about to deliver a message of importance.
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