Sara was going away . At first he had thought only of her pain , but now his own filled his heart . How could he live without her ? How could he dwell in the valley knowing that she had gone from the hill ? Never to see her light shine down on him through the northern gap in the pines at night ! Never to feel that perhaps her eyes rested on him now and then as he went about his work in the valley fields ! Never to stoop with a glad thrill over the first spring flowers because it was his privilege to take them to her ! Jeffrey groaned aloud . No , he could not go up to see her that night ; he must wait -- he must strengthen himself . Then his heart rebuked him . This was selfishness ; this was putting his own feelings before hers -- a thing he had sworn never to do . Perhaps she needed him -- perhaps she had wondered why he had not come to offer her such poor service as might be in his power . He turned and went down through the orchard lane , taking the old field-path across the valley and up the hill , which he had traversed so often and so joyfully in boyhood . It was dark now , and a few stars were shining in the silvery sky . The wind sighed among the pines as he walked under them . Sometimes he felt that he must turn back -- that his pain was going to master him ; then he forced himself to go on . The old grey house where Sara lived seemed bleak and stricken in the dull light , with its leafless vines clinging to it . There were no lights in it . It looked like a home left soulless . Jeffrey went around to the garden door and knocked .
He had expected the maid to open it , put XXXXX herself came .
Jeffrey Sara field-path first left night pain pines sky thrill