gratitude for her belief and trust that it moved him almost to tears.

There was a long pause: then he said:--

"Now I shall call for you to-morrow morning after the last bell has
stopped ringing, and we will walk up the aisle together and sit in the
old Peabody pew. We shall be a nine-days' wonder anyway, but this will
be equal to an announcement, especially if you take my arm. We don't
either of us like to be stared at, but this will show without a word what
we think of each other and what we've promised to be to each other, and
it's the only thing that will make me feel sure of you and settled in my
mind after all these mistaken years. Have you got the courage, Nancy?"

"I shouldn't wonder! I guess if I've had courage enough to wait for you,
I've got courage enough to walk up the aisle with you and marry you
besides!" said Nancy.--"Now it is too late for us to stay here any
longer, and you must see me only as far as my gate, for perhaps you
haven't forgotten yet how interested the Brewsters are in their
neighbours."

They stood at the little Wentworth gate for a moment, hand close clasped
in hand. The night was clear, the air was cold and sparkling, but with
nothing of bitterness in it; the sky was steely blue and the evening star
glowed and burned like a tiny sun. Nancy remembered the shepherd's song
she had taught the Sunday-school children, and repeated softly:--

For I my sheep was watching
Beneath the silent skies,
When sudden, far to eastward,
I saw a star arise;