Hester was away , or , of course , this would never have happened .<br>She had gone for a month 's visit to distant friends .<br>In that month I lived a lifetime .<br>Hugh Blair courted me as the other girls in Newbridge were courted .<br>He took me out driving and came to see me in the evenings , which we spent for the most part in the garden .<br>I did not like the stately gloom and formality of our old Meredith parlor , and Hugh never seemed to feel at ease there .<br>His broad shoulders and hearty laughter were oddly out of place among our faded , old-maidish furnishings .
Distant friends stole Hester's attention for an entire month.
( z1 steal :ARG0 ( z2 person :ARG0-of ( z3 have-rel-role :ARG1 ( z4 person :name ( z5 name :op "Hester" ) ) :ARG2 ( z6 friend ) ) :ARG1-of ( z7 distant ) ) :ARG1 ( z8 attend :ARG0 z4 ) :ARG2 z4 :duration ( z9 temporal-quantity :quant 1 :unit ( z10 month ) :mod ( z11 entire ) ) )