Mrs. Blewett was right . When he had given Blossom up he should not have made a half-hearted thing of his sacrifice -- he should not have bound her to come back to him . He walked about in his little garden until late at night , under the stars , with the sea crooning and calling to him down the slope . When he finally went to bed he did not sleep , but lay until morning with tear-wet eyes and despair in his heart . All the forenoon he went about his usual daily work absently . Frequently he fell into long reveries , standing motionless wherever he happened to be , and looking dully before him . Only once did he show any animation . When he saw Mrs. Blewett coming up the lane he darted into the house , locked the door , and listened to her knocking in grim silence . After she had gone he went out , and found a plate of fresh doughnuts , covered with a napkin , placed on the bench at the door . Mrs. Blewett meant to indicate thus that she bore him no malice for her curt dismissal the day before ; possibly her conscience gave her some twinges also . But her doughnuts could not minister to the mind she had diseased . Old Man Shaw took them up ; carried them to the pig-pen , and fed them to the pigs . It was the first spiteful thing he had done in his life , and he felt a most immoral satisfaction in it . In mid-afternoon he went out to the garden , finding the new loneliness of the little house unbearable . The old bench was warm in the sunshine . Old Man Shaw sat down with a long sigh , and dropped his white head wearily on his breast . He had decided what he must do . He would tell Blossom that she might go back to her aunt and never mind about him -- he would do very well by himself and he did not blame her in the least . He was still sitting broodingly there when a girl came up the lane . She was tall and straight , and walked with a kind of uplift in her motion , as if it would be rather easier to fly than not .
She was dark , with a rich dusky sort of darkness , suggestive of the bloom XXXXX purple plums , or the glow of deep red apples among bronze leaves .
After about at before for in on under up with