She opened the gate and made room for him at her side.
"You seem dreadfully warm," she said, "and here I was getting ready to go in because it is so cool."
"I've been walking very fast," he answered, hesitatingly.
"Don't you think you'd better go in, so as not to take cold?"
"Oh, I don't care if I do take cold." The speech sounded rude. Elizabeth looked at him in surprise.
"What's the matter with you?" she asked.
"I'm mad; that's what's the matter."
"Oh, Fred, you should n't get mad: you know it's wrong."
He put up his hand as if she had struck him. "Wrong! wrong! It seems I can't hear anything else but that word. Everything is wrong. Don't say any more about it. I don't want to hear the word again."
Elizabeth did not know what to make of his words, so she said nothing, and for a while they stood in strained silence. After a while he said, "Aunt Hester wants me to be a preacher."
"I am so glad to hear that," she returned. "I think you 'll make a good one."
