So he had--so he had! There surged up in his mind inarticulate phrases of remorse, of self-excuse, as though he were talking to her.
Some day he would come back and claim her.

But when?
His buoyant self-dependence was all gone.

It had nothing to do with his present departure.

That came simply from the fact that it was _impossible_ for him to go on living in Kinder any longer--he did not stop to analyse the whys and wherefores.
But suddenly a nervous horror of seeing anyone he knew, now that the morning was advancing, startled him from his hiding-place.

He ran up towards the Scout again, so as to make a long circuit round the Wigsons' farm.