If Milgrave comes home alive I 'll lose Miranda and hired housekeepers cost more than a wife and are liable to leave a man in the lurch any time . I 'll think it over . '' A week later Mrs. Blythe , coming up from the village late in the afternoon , paused at the gate of Ingleside in an amazement which temporarily bereft her of the power of motion . An extraordinary sight met her eyes . Round the end of the kitchen burst Mr. Pryor , running as stout , pompous Mr. Pryor had not run in years , with terror imprinted on every lineament -- a terror quite justifiable , for behind him , like an avenging fate , came Susan , with a huge , smoking iron pot grasped in her hands , and an expression in her eye that boded ill to the object of her indignation , if she should overtake him . Pursuer and pursued tore across the lawn . Mr. Pryor reached the gate a few feet ahead of Susan , wrenched it open , and fled down the road , without a glance at the transfixed lady of Ingleside . `` Susan , '' gasped Anne . Susan halted in her mad career , set down her pot , and shook her fist after Mr. Pryor , who had not ceased to run , evidently believing that Susan was still full cry after him . `` Susan , what does this mean ? '' demanded Anne , a little severely . `` You may well ask that , Mrs. Dr. dear , '' Susan replied wrathfully . `` I have not been so upset in years . That -- that -- that pacifist has actually had the audacity to come up here and , in my own kitchen , to ask me to marry him . HIM ! '' Anne choked back a laugh . `` But -- Susan ! Could n't you have found a -- well , a less spectacular method of refusing him ? Think what a gossip this would have made if anyone had been going past and had seen such a performance . '' `` Indeed , Mrs. Dr. dear , you are quite right .
I did not XXXXX of it because I was quite past thinking rationally .
boded comes going made overtake refusing replied run running think