"Yes, I'll stay," said Charlotte. Young as Charlotte was, she had watched with the sick and sat up with the dead many a time. So she and the doctor's wife watched with Deborah Thayer that night. Rebecca came, but she was not strong enough to stay. The next day Charlotte assisted in the funeral preparations. It made a great deal of talk in the village. People wondered if Barney would marry her now, and if she would sit with the mourners at the funeral. But she sat with her father and mother in the south room, and time went on after Deborah died, and Barney did not marry her. Chapter XII A few days after Deborah's funeral Charlotte had an errand at the store after supper. When she went down the hill the sun had quite set, but there was a clear green light. The sky gave it out, and there seemed to be also a green glow from the earth. Charlotte went down the hill with the evening air fresh and damp in her face. Lilacs were in blossom all about, and their fragrance was so vital and intense that it seemed almost like a wide presence in the green twilight. She reached Barney's house, and passed it; then she came to the Thayer house. Before that lay the garden. The ranks of pease and beans were in white blossom, and there was a pale shimmer as of a cobweb veil over it. Charlotte had passed the garden when she heard a voice behind her: "Charlotte!" She stopped, and Barney came up. "Good-evening," said he. "Good-evening," said Charlotte. "I saw you going by," said Barney. Then he paused again, and Charlotte waited. "I saw you going by," he repeated, "and--I thought I'd like to speak to you. I wanted to thank you for what you did--about mother." "You're very welcome," replied Charlotte. Barney ground a stone beneath his heel. "I sha'n't ever forget it, and--father won't, either," he said. His voice trembled, and yet there was a certain doggedness in it. Charlotte stood waiting. Barney turned slowly away. "Good-night," he said. "Good-night," returned Charlotte, quickly, and she fairly sprang away from him and down the road. Her limbs trembled, but she held her head up proudly. She understood it all perfectly. Barney had meant to inform her that his behavior towards her on the day his mother died had been due to a momentary weakness; that she was to expect nothing further. She went on to the store and did her errand, then went home. As she entered the kitchen her mother came through from the front room. She had been sitting at a window watching for Charlotte to return; she thought Barney might be with her. "Well, you've got home," said she, and it sounded like a question. "Yes," said Charlotte. She laid her parcels on the table. "I guess I'll go to bed," she added. "Why, it's dreadful early to go to bed, ain't it?" "Well, I'm tired; I guess I'll go." The candle-light was dim in the room, but Sarah eyed her daughter sharply. She thought she looked pale. "Did you meet anybody?" she asked. "I don't know; there wasn't many folks out."