The younger people being left to themselves soon
began to pair off, the white-haired young lawyer disappearing
with the older Miss Cromartin and Bart
soon following with Lucy:--the outer porch and
the long walk down the garden path among the
trees, despite the chilliness of the night, seemed to
be the only place in which they could be comfortable.

During a lull in the discussion of Captain Nat's
maritime news and while Mrs. Benson was talking
to the pastor, Doctor John seized the opportunity
to seat himself again by Jane.

"Don't you think Lucy improved?" she asked,
motioning the doctor to a place beside her.

"She's much more beautiful than I thought she
would be," he answered in a hesitating way, looking
toward Lucy, and seating himself in his favorite
attitude, hands in his lap, one leg crossed over the
other and hanging straight beside its fellow; only a
man like the doctor, of more than usual repose and of
a certain elegance of form, Jane always said, could
sit this way any length of time and be comfortable
and unconscious of his posture. Then he added
slowly, and as if he had given the subject some consideration,
"You won't keep her long, I'm afraid."

"Oh, don't say that," Jane cried with a nervous