with his head bent and his heart in a whirl until he should hear Nancy
rise to her feet. He must take this Heaven-sent chance of telling her
all, but how do it without alarming her?

A moment, and her step sounded in the stillness of the empty church.

Obeying the first impulse, he passed through the outer door, and standing
on the step, knocked once, twice, three times; then, opening it a little
and speaking through the chink, he called, "Is Miss Nancy Wentworth
here?"

"I'm here!" in a moment came Nancy's answer, and then, with a little
wondering tremor in her voice, as if a hint of the truth had already
dawned: "What's wanted?"

"You're wanted, Nancy, wanted badly, by Justin Peabody, come back from
the West."

The door opened wide, and Justin faced Nancy standing half-way down the
aisle, her eyes brilliant, her lips parted. A week ago Justin's
apparition confronting her in the empty Meeting-House after nightfall,
even had she been prepared for it as now, by his voice, would have
terrified her beyond measure. Now it seemed almost natural and
inevitable. She had spent these last days in the church where both of
them had been young and happy together; the two letters had brought him
vividly to mind, and her labour in the old Peabody pew had been one long
excursion into the past in which he was the most prominent and the best-
loved figure.

"I said I'd come back to you when my luck turned, Nancy."