She saw him thrust his hands hastily into his trouser pockets.
"Glad?" His voice sounded tired. "I'll be shamed. That's what I'll be. Nothing, d'you hear, nothing--but shamed!"
"Benny--" A note of fear shook through the words. "You wouldn't--wouldn't--go?"
He waited a moment before he answered her.
"If you ain't wanting me to go--; I'll stay. Gawd! I guess I plain got to--stay."
"That's a good boy, Benny. You won't never be sorry--nohow--I promise you!--I'll be making it up to you. Honest, I will!--There's lots of ways--I'll--!"
"Only, maw--; I won't let it come after me. If it beckons I--got--to--go--!"
She gave a sudden laugh that trailed off uncertainly.
"'Tain't going to, Benny. 'Tain't nothing but the wind that moves it. It's just the wind, sure. Mebbe you got a touch of fever. Mebbe you better go on to bed. You'll be all right in the morning. Just you wait and see. You're a good boy, Benny. You'll never go off and leave your maw and the farm. You're a fine lad, Benny."
"If--it--beckons--" He repeated in weary monotone.
She stood there listening to his feet thudding up the stairs. She heard him knocking about in the room overhead. A door banged. She stood quite still. There were footsteps moving slowly. A window was thrown open.
She looked up to see him leaning far out over the sill.
Her eyes went down the slope of the moonlight-bathed corn field.
Her right hand curled itself into a fist.
She waited there until she saw the boy draw away from the window. She went into the house and bolted the door behind her. Then she went up the narrow steps.
That night she lay awake for a long time. The heat had grown intense. She found herself tossing from side to side of the small bed.
The window shade had stuck at the top of the window.
The moonlight trickled into the room. She could see the window-framed, star-specked patch of the skies. When she sat up she saw the round, reddish-yellow ball of the moon.
She must have dozed, because she woke with a start. She felt that she had had a fearful, evil dream. The horror of it clung to her.
She thought the walls were coming together and the ceiling pressing down.
She forced herself wide awake. She made herself get out of the bed. She stood for a second uncertain. Then she went to the window.