Mrs. Hayden followed slowly and Harrington walked beside her . `` Those pigs are all to be shut up tomorrow , '' she said . `` Hiram has been fixing up a place for them in his spare moments and it is ready at last . '' `` Oh , I would n't , '' said Harrington hastily . `` It is n't good for pigs to be shut up so young . You 'd better let them run a while yet . '' `` No , '' said Mrs. Hayden decidedly . `` They have almost worried me to death already . In they go tomorrow . '' They were at the lane gate now , and Harrington had to open it and let her pass through . He felt quite desperate as he watched her trip up through the rows of apple trees , her blue gingham skirt brushing the lush grasses where a lacy tangle of sunbeams and shadows lay . Bobbles and Ted came running to meet her and the three , hand in hand , disappeared from sight . Harrington went back to the house , feeling that life was flat , stale , and unprofitable . That evening at the tea table he caught himself wondering what it would be like to see Mary Hayden sitting at his table in place of Sarah King , with Bobbles and Ted on either hand . Then he found out what was the matter with him . He was in love , fathoms deep , with the blue-eyed widow ! Presumably the pigs were shut up the next day , for Harrington 's garden was invaded no more . He stood it for a week and then surrendered at discretion . He filled a basket with early strawberries and went across to the Hayden place , boldly enough to all appearance , but with his heart thumping like any schoolboy 's . The front door stood hospitably open , flanked by rows of defiant red and yellow hollyhocks .
Harrington paused on the step , XXXXX his hand outstretched to knock .
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