The young man got up and went back along the path toward town leaving the fire blazing in the wood. Looking about to be sure he was alone he talked aloud pretending he was in the presence of the woman, 'Oh, you're just letting on, you know you are,' he declared. Up from the log he sprang and began to pile sticks on the fire. He began to believe she must be in love with him and the thought was both pleasing and annoying.

For the fourth or fifth time the woman had talked to him with great earnestness and he could not make out what she meant by her talk. On the evening before he had gone to her house to get a book she wanted him to read and had been alone with her for an hour. The young reporter was thinking of Kate Swift, who had once been his school teacher. When the snow began to fall and the wind to blow he hurried about getting fuel for the fire. There he built a fire against the side of a log and sat down at the end of the log to think. Past the pond and along a path that followed Wine Creek he went until he came to a grove of beech trees. At eight o'clock, after the morning train had passed, he put a pair of skates in his pocket and went up to Waterworks Pond but did not go skating. The weekly paper had been printed and taken to the post office Wednesday evening and the snow began to fall on Thursday. Young George Willard, who had nothing to do, was glad because he did not feel like working that day.

'Snow will be good for the wheat,' observed the druggist sagely. Will Henderson, who had on a light overcoat and no overshoes, kicked the heel of his left foot with the toe of the right. The two men stopped and discussed their affairs. 'Snow will bring the people into town on Saturday,' said the druggist. Out of the saloon he went and met Sylvester West the druggist stumbling along in the kind of heavy overshoes called arctics. 'There will be good sleighing,' said Will Henderson, standing by the bar in Ed Griffith's saloon. The frozen mud roads that led into town were fairly smooth and in places ice covered the mud. It had begun to snow about ten o'clock in the morning and a wind sprang up and blew the snow in clouds along Main Street. Snow lay deep in the streets of Winesburg. You should visit Browse Happy and update your internet browser today! The embedded audio player requires a modern internet browser.

Out of the Darkness by Kate Sherwood