"Why, I thought he meant to walk down with me," she said to herself.

Her second thought was a perplexed instinct of the truth: "I wonder if he can be afraid to have his mother see him with me ?" At this thought, Mercy's face burned, and she tried to banish it; but it would not be banished, and by the time her morning duties were done, and she had set out on her walk, the matter had become quite clear in her mind.
"I shall see him at the corner where he was yesterday," she said.
But no Stephen was there.

Spite of herself, Mercy lingered and looked back.

She was grieved and she was vexed.
"Why did he say he wanted to walk with me, and then the very first morning not come ?" she said, as she walked slowly into the village.
It was a cloudy day, and the clouds seemed to harmonize with Mercy's mood.
She did her errands in a half-listless way; and more than one of the tradespeople, who had come to know her voice and smile, wondered what had gone wrong with the cheery young lady.

All the way home she looked vainly for Stephen at every cross-street.