"Oh, I know what they will tell me."

"They'll not tell you they get along without love, dearie. But ten years
from now, my daughter, not how fond you were when you first joined
hands, but what you have"--

"Oh yes,--been to each other, done for each other, borne from each
other, will be the true measure. Oh, of course it will; but there's so
much in the right start!"

"Beyond doubt! Understand me, precious: if you have the least ground to
fear"--

"Mother! mother! No! no! What! afraid I may love some one else? Never!
never! Oh, without boasting, and knowing what I am as well as Leonard
Byington knows"--

"Oh, pshaw! Leonard Byington!"

"He knows me, mother,--as if he lived at a higher window that looked
down into my back yard." The speaker smiled.

"Then he knows," exclaimed the mother, "you're true gold!"

"Yes, but a light coin."

"My pet! He knows you're the tenderest, gentlest dear he ever saw."

"But neither brave nor strong."