Page:Charlotte Teller - The Cage (1907).djvu/72



AGGIE'S heart beat fast as she walked along the high fence on the north side of the lumber yard. At the comer she would turn and slip in through the gate and find him seated in a corner where two piles of seasoned wood made a sheltered trysting-place. Lange had described it so that she could not possibly miss finding it. He had gotten his job and had been at work a week, but she had not seen him until to-day, when he had met her on her way to work, and she had hinted that she wanted to go walking, and he had told her to meet him in the yards.

Curiosity as well as romance hurried her along the distance. Before she got to the corner she slackened with the thought that she ought to let Lange arrive first, so as to be sure not to make any mistake about the place. Her eyes were shining, and she pulled her belt down a little and felt of her hat and pressed her red lips together, as though it would give her the dignity which she felt underneath her excitement.

She turned the corner and stopped in bewilderment, for at the gate, which was twenty yards beyond, were two men. She had not thought that she might have to pass anyone, but now it flashed across her that the lumber yard gate was always shut at six o'clock and a watchman put 62