He sat there on the
steps just above where Melanctha was sitting, and he went on with his
reading, and his head went moving up and down, and sometimes he was
reading, and sometimes he was thinking about all the things he wanted
to be doing, and then he would rub the back of his dark hand over
his mouth, and in between he would be frowning with his thinking, and
sometimes he would be rubbing his head hard to help his thinking. And
Melanctha just sat still and watched the lamp burning, and sometimes
she turned it down a little, when the wind caught it and it would
begin to get to smoking.
And so Jeff Campbell and Melanctha Herbert sat there on the steps,
very quiet, a long time, and they didn't seem to think much, that they
were together. They sat there so, for about an hour, and then it came
to Jefferson very slowly and as a strong feeling that he was sitting
there on the steps, alone, with Melanctha. He did not know if
Melanctha Herbert was feeling very much about their being there alone
together. Jefferson began to wonder about it a little. Slowly he felt
that surely they must both have this feeling. It was so important that
he knew that she must have it. They both sat there, very quiet, a long
time.
At last Jefferson began to talk about how the lamp was smelling.
Jefferson began to explain what it is that makes a lamp get to
smelling. Melanctha let him talk.
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