he had just seen in Mr. Goodlett's hack; and had been saying to
himself that the new-comer was, if possible, more beautiful than Nan.

But now here was Nan herself in person, and Gabriel's comparisons
appeared to be shabby indeed. With Nan before his eyes, he could see
what a foolish thing it was to compare her with any one in this world
except herself. There was a flavour of wildness in her beauty that gave
it infinite charm and variety. It was a wildness that is wedded to grace
and vivacity, such as we see embodied in the form and gestures of the
wood-dove, or the partridge, or the flying squirrel, when it is un-awed
by the presence of man. The flash of her dark brown eyes, her tawny hair
blowing free, and her lithe figure, with the dark green pines for a
background, completed the most charming picture it is possible for the
mind to conceive. All that Gabriel was conscious of, beyond a dim
surprise that Nan should be here--the old Nan that he used to know--was
a sort of dawning thrill of ecstasy as he contemplated her. He stood
staring at her with his mouth open.

"Why do you look at me like that, Gabriel?" she cried; "I am no ghost.
And why do you walk so fast? I have been running after you as hard as I
can. And, wasn't that Francis Bethune in the waggon with Mr. Sanders?"

"Did you run hard just to ask me that? Mrs. Absalom could have saved you
all this trouble." The mention of Bethune's name had brought Gabriel to
earth, and to commonplace thoughts again. "Yes, that was Master Bethune,
and he has grown to be a very handsome young man."

"Oh, he was always good-looking," said Nan lightly. "Where are you and
Cephas going?"

"Straight home," replied Gabriel.

"Well, I'm going there, too. I heard Nonny" (this was Mrs. Absalom) "say
that Margaret Gaither has come home again, and then I remembered that
your grandmother promised to tell me a story about her some day. I'm
going to tease her to-day until she tells it."

"And didn't Mrs. Absalom tell you that Bethune was in the waggon with
Mr. Sanders?" Gabriel inquired, in some astonishment.

"Oh, Gabriel! you are so--" Nan paused as if hunting for the right term
or word. Evidently she didn't find it, for she turned to Gabriel with a
winning smile, and asked what Mr. Sanders had had to say. "I'm so glad
he's come I don't know what to do. I wouldn't live in a town that didn't
have its Mr. Sanders," she declared.

"Well, about the first thing he said was to remind B