William led Rebecca out through the kitchen--a muffled, hesitating figure, whose very identity seemed to be lost, for she wore Mrs.Sloane's blue plaid shawl pinned closely over her head and face--and lifted her into his cutter with the minister and his wife.

Then he and Barney walked along, plodding through the deep snow behind the cutter.

The sun was setting, and it was bitterly cold; the snow creaked and the trees swung with a stiff rattle of bare limbs in the wind.
The two men never spoke to each other.

The minister drove slowly, and they could always see Mrs.Jim Sloane's blue plaid shawl ahead.
When they reached the Caleb Thayer house, Barney stopped and William followed on alone after the sleigh.
Barney turned into the yard, and his father was standing in the barn door, looking out.
"Tell mother she's married," Barney sang out, hoarsely.

Then he went back to the road, and home to his own house..