Page:Delight - de la Roche - 1926.djvu/156

 another, they tore it to fragments, and, at last, streamed out of sight, throwing only the last syllable back to her:

"Light! Light! Light! Give us Light!"

Delight was frightened. She half ran up the street trying to catch up to the boy. The wet pavements had now taken on a burnished look. The morning star sank behind the blacksmith shop. A wind rose and pressed on her from behind as though trying to hustle her out of the town. She heard horse's hoofs and the rattle of a cart. It would soon overtake her, all alone in the street.

She stepped into the deep doorway of a shop to hide till the cart should pass. It was almost opposite when the wind caught the sign hanging above her and shook it as though it would cast it down on her. She looked up and saw the name—

Mayberry, the tailor, whose proposal had been the cause of all her troubles! He lived over the shop. He might come down any minute to open his shutters. He might be leaning out of the window now to see who was at his door. She fled out into the street.

A train shrieked in the distance and came roaring towards the town. She would miss her train and be left stranded in this hostile town! Wild with fright she began running towards the station, the dishes rattling unnoticed in the basket. At the first corner the driver of the cart turned his horse into a side street, struck her, and knocked her down. She had run almost blindly against the horse's shoulder.

It shied now and looked askance at her, lying there on the wet road, her hat off, her basket rolled into the ditch.