He never before had
gone courting in this direct and aboveboard fashion. He mistook
the father's hospitality for compliance in his designs. He followed
his host into the house and faced, with very fair composure, two
girls who smiled broadly as they shook hands with him. Mrs.
Kennedy gave him a lax hand and a curt how-de-do, and Lucindy
fairly scowled in answer to his radiant smile.
She was much changed, he could see. She wore a dress with puffed
sleeves, and her hair was dressed differently. She seemed strange
and distant, but he thought she was "putting that on" for the benefit
of others. At the table the three girls talked of things at the Siding
and ignored him so that he was obliged to turn to Farmer Kennedy
for refuge. He kept his courage up by thinking, "Wait till we are
alone."
After supper, when Lucindy explained that the dishes would have
to be washed, he offered to help her in his best manner.
"Thank you, I don't need any help," was Lucindy's curt reply.
Ordinarily he was a man of much facility and ease in addressing
women, but be was vastly disconcerted by her manner. He sat
rather silently waiting for the room to clear. When the visitors
intimated that they must go, he rose with cheerful alacrity.
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