Sunday noon
Yet in those days she welcomed Moses 's society as she never had before ; and Coniston , including Moses himself , began thinking of a wedding . Another Saturday came , and no Cynthia went to Brampton . Jethro may or may not have been on the road . Sunday , and there was Jethro on the back seat in the meetinghouse : Sunday noon , over his frugal dinner , the minister mildly remonstrates with Cynthia for neglecting one who has shown signs of grace , citing certain failures of others of his congregation : Cynthia turns scarlet , leaving the minister puzzled and a little uneasy : Monday , Miss Lucretia Penniman , alarmed , comes to Coniston to inquire after Cynthia 's health : Cynthia drives back with her as far as Four Corners , talking literature and the advancement of woman ; returns on foot , thinking of something else , when she discerns a figure seated on a log by the roadside , bent as in meditation . There was no going back the thing to do was to come on , as unconcernedly as possible , not noticing anything , -- which Cynthia did , not without a little inward palpitating and curiosity , for which she hated herself and looked the sterner . The figure unfolded itself , like a Jack from a box . `` You say the woman wah n't any to blame -- wah n't any to blame ? ''