Premise: Hester was away , or , of course , this would never have happened .<br>She had gone for a month 's visit to distant friends .<br>In that month I lived a lifetime .<br>Hugh Blair courted me as the other girls in Newbridge were courted .<br>He took me out driving and came to see me in the evenings , which we spent for the most part in the garden .<br>I did not like the stately gloom and formality of our old Meredith parlor , and Hugh never seemed to feel at ease there .<br>His broad shoulders and hearty laughter were oddly out of place among our faded , old-maidish furnishings .
Hypothesis: Distant friends stole Hester's attention for an entire month.