Lauretta did not come to the school. Nor did Leon. Ezra continued to look in and to go away with the appearance of being refreshed and absorbed in new thoughts. Floyd came with him now and then but stopped coming altogether when he found himself unable to move his eyes away from Sarah.

For the time, Sarah was happy.

19

On Monday morning of Thanksgiving week Edna Davis drove her buggy from Oaks to Beulah Land, went along the drive to the front of the house and, seeing no one, did not pause there, but continued around the house. She had got down from her seat and whipped the reins around the stock before Sugar came from the barn to help her.

“Where’s your mistress?” she asked, and Sugar gestured toward the cabin they had long since come to think of as “the schoolhouse.”

“I’ll fetch her, ma’am,” Sugar offered.

“I’ll go myself,” Edna declared and marched off.

Sugar looked at the horse and buggy, feeling that he had failed in his duty somewhere, but the reins were perfectly secure, and no one had told him to expect a visitor. The horse turned his head briefly to look at the young man, then faced forward again, shook his head harness as if to jingle it deliberately, pawed the earth twice, and then lifted his tail daintily before dropping two round, dry turds.

Sarah spied Edna at the door and went to greet her. “Miss Edna!” she said in a welcoming way, taking one of the older woman’s big red hands into both of hers. “Have you come to see me by yourself?”

“Yes, I have,” Edna said seriously.

“I’m glad to have you. Let’s go up to the house where we can sit comfortably.”

“Can we just walk a little? I want to talk to you without any of the others, if you’ll let me.”

“Certainly,” Sarah said and put her arm through Edna’s and guided her away from the school.

They walked silently until Edna said, “I don’t know what’s unsettled me, truly I don’t. But I have been so downhearted I haven’t known what to do. You wouldn’t think it, big, everybody says jolly old thing like me, would you?”

Sarah squeezed her arm and hand but said nothing.

“I hate to let on to Trudy, she’s so busy, or to Rooster, he’s busy too, especially when I’ve got no real complaint. Just worry. Do you ever just worry?" She stopped to look at Sarah. Sarah looked back at her quietly. Edna sighed. “When you expecting to kill your first hogs?”

“First cold weather after Thanksgiving,” Sarah said, without appearing to find the question odd or out of place.

Edna nodded. “Us too. First real freeze. If there’s a little time between Thanksgiving and that, will you do something with me?”

“Of course I will, Miss Edna.”