eadths; then they
borrowed the neighbor's horse and wagon and drove her home to Upham.

Elmira was glad to ride; she thought that she should die of shame
should she walk home and meet Lawrence Prescott again.

Imogen drove. She was the older, but the larger and stronger of the
two. Elmira sat in the rear gloom of the covered wagon with Sarah,
holding her silk gown spread carefully over her knees. She thought of
nothing all the way but the possibility of meeting Lawrence. She made
up her mind that if she did she would sit far back in the wagon and
not thrust her head forward at all. "If he acts as if he thought I
might be in here, and looks real hard, then it will be time for me to
do my part," she thought.

Whenever she saw a man or a team in the distance, her heart beat
violently, but it was never Lawrence. All her sweet panic of
expectation would have been quieted had she known that he was at that
very time seated in Miss Camilla Merritt's arbor, drinking tea and
eating fruit cake with her and pretty Lucina.

"Didn't you think Elmira seemed dreadful kind of flighty
to-day--still as a mouse one minute and carryin' on the next?" Sarah
asked Imogen, as they were driving home in the evening. They had
waited, staying to tea and letting the horse rest, until the full
moon arose.

"Yes, I did," said Imogen, "but Ann was just like her at her age.
That silk is well enough, but it ain't no such quality as my blue an'
yellow changeable one."

"Well, I dun'no' as it is. I dun'no' as it's as good as my figured
brown one."

It was a beautiful spring night; the moon was one for lovers to light
their fondest thoughts and fancies into reality. The two old sisters
driving home met and passed many young couples on the country road.
"If they don't look out I shall run over some of them fellars an'
girls," said Imogen. "I don't b'lieve Elmira has ever had anybody
waitin' on her, do you, Sarah?"

"Never heard of anybody," replied Sarah. "Well, anyhow, she's goin'
to have a real handsome dress out of that silk."

"Yes, she is," said Imogen, and just then from before the great
plunging feet of her horse a pair of young lovers sprang with a
laugh, having seen nothing of team nor the old sisters nor yet of the
little side lamps of happiness they bore, in the great dazzling
circle of their own.

Elmira finished her dress Saturday. She had sat up nearly two nights
stitching on it, but nobody would have dreamed it when she came down