.. she lowered her head and picked at her sandal....
The applause was tumultuous....
Penton Baxter rose to his feet, as chairman of the occasion....
"I'm sure we all thank Mr. Gregory--"
* * * * *
Events trod rapidly on one another's heels. Though Penton had gone on
frequent walks with Darrie, after his day's work,--chiefly because
Hildreth had not wanted to go on walks with him herself, or had not
wanted to accompany them both--yet she and I seized on the precedent
Penton and Darrie had set, and we were abroad most of the time ...
roaming idyllically in the fields, the woods ... passionate ... mad with
the new love that had come to us ... unseeing, in our absorption in each
other's arms ... praying with devout lover's prayers that we were as
unseen as unseeing....
We were abroad in the fields so much that even Penton himself must
notice it....
So we developed the flimsiest of all flimsy pretexts ... pretended to be
engrossed, together, in of all things, the study of--toadstools and
mushrooms ... taking with us Neltje Blanchan's book on _Mushrooms and
Toadstools_, with its beautiful coloured illustrations ... and we did
learn a lot about these queer vegetations that grow without the need of
chlorophyll ... entering into a world of new colours in the vegetable
kingdom ... exquisite pinks and mauves and greys .
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