She was about to blow out the lamp when she heard rapid footsteps, the sound of some one running along the sidewalk in front of the house.

As she listened, the footsteps sounded on the path.

Whoever the runner was he was coming to the parsonage.

She stepped to the door and opened it.
The runner was a boy, Maria Higgins's boy Isaac, whose widowed mother lived down by the shore.

He did the chores at the Hammond tavern.