Even if she knew that he knew,
would she accept the counsel of Shavings Winslow? Hardly! No
sensible person would. How the townsfolk would laugh if they knew
he had even so much as dreamed of offering it.
He was too downcast even to sing one of his lugubrious hymns or to
whistle. Instead he looked at the letter pinned on a beam beside
him and dragged from the various piles one half-dozen crow vanes,
one half-dozen gull vanes, one dozen medium-sized mills, one dozen
small mills, three sailors, etc., etc., as set forth upon that
order. One of the crows fell to the floor and he accidently
stepped upon it and snapped its head off. He was gazing solemnly
down at the wreck when the door behind him opened and a strong
blast of damp, cold wind blew in. He turned and found that Mrs.
Armstrong had opened the door. She entered and closed it behind
her.
"Good morning," she said.
Jed was surprised to see her at such an early hour; also just at
that time her sudden appearance was like a sort of miracle, as if
the thoughts in his brain had taken shape, had materialized. For a
moment he could not regain presence of mind sufficient to return
her greeting. Then, noticing the broken vane on the floor, she
exclaimed:
"Oh, you have had an accident. Isn't that too bad! When did it
happen?"
He looked down at the decapitated crow and touched one of the
pieces with the toe of his boot.
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