Page 489 - sons-and-lovers

the corner. Here, then, was the train, but of course she had
not come. The green engine hissed along the platform, the
row of brown carriages drew up, several doors opened. No;
she had not come! No! Yes; ah, there she was! She had a big
black hat on! He was at her side in a moment.
‘I thought you weren’t coming,’ he said.
She was laughing rather breathlessly as she put out her
hand to him; their eyes met. He took her quickly along
the platform, talking at a great rate to hide his feeling. She
looked beautiful. In her hat were large silk roses, coloured
like tarnished gold. Her costume of dark cloth fitted so
beautifully over her breast and shoulders. His pride went up
as he walked with her. He felt the station people, who knew
him, eyed her with awe and admiration.
‘I was sure you weren’t coming,’ he laughed shakily.
She laughed in answer, almost with a little cry.
‘And I wondered, when I was in the train, WHATEVER
I should do if you weren’t there!’ she said.
He caught her hand impulsively, and they went along
the narrow twitchel. They took the road into Nuttall and
over the Reckoning House Farm. It was a blue, mild day. Ev-
erywhere the brown leaves lay scattered; many scarlet hips
stood upon the hedge beside the wood. He gathered a few
for her to wear.
‘Though, really,’ he said, as he fitted them into the breast
of her coat, ‘you ought to object to my getting them, because
of the birds. But they don’t care much for rose-hips in this
part, where they can get plenty of stuff. You often find the
berries going rotten in the springtime.’

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