Frequently he fell into long reveries, standing motionless
wherever he happened to be, and looking dully before him.
Only once did he show any animation. When he saw Mrs. Blewett
coming up the lane he darted into the house, locked the door,
and listened to her knocking in grim silence. After she
had gone he went out, and found a plate of fresh doughnuts,
covered with a napkin, placed on the bench at the door.
Mrs. Blewett meant to indicate thus that she bore him no malice
for her curt dismissal the day before; possibly her conscience
gave her some twinges also. But her doughnuts could not minister
to the mind she had diseased. Old Man Shaw took them up;
carried them to the pig-pen, and fed them to the pigs.
It was the first spiteful thing he had done in his life,
and he felt a most immoral satisfaction in it.
In mid-afternoon he went out to the garden, finding the new loneliness
of the little house unbearable. The old bench was warm in the sunshine.
Old Man Shaw sat down with a long sigh, and dropped his white head
wearily on his breast. He had decided what he must do. He would tell
Blossom that she might go back to her aunt and never mind about him--
he would do very well by himself and he did not blame her in the least.
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