began
smiling and crying at one and the same moment.

"Looks to me as if...." Jenny went on after this exchange.

"I'm sorry I was a beast," Emmy said. "I'm as different as anything
now."

"You're a dear!" Jenny assured her. "Never mind about what you said."

It was an expansive moment. Their hearts were charged. To both the
evening had been the one poignant moment of their lives, an evening to
provide reflections for a thousand other evenings. And Emmy was happy,
for the first time for many days, with the thought of happy life before
her. She described in detail the events of the theatre and the walk. She
did not give an exactly true story. It was not to be expected that she
would do so. Jenny did not expect it. She gave indications of her
happiness, which was her main object; and she gave further indications,
less intentional, of her character, as no author can avoid doing. And
Jenny, immediately discounting, and in the light of her own temperament
re-shaping and re-proportioning the form of Emmy's narrative, was like
the eternal critic--apprehending only what she could personally
recognise. But both took pleasure in the tale, and both saw forward into
the future a very satisfactory ending to Emmy's romance.

"And we got back just as twelve was striking," Emmy concluded.

A deep flush overspread Jenny's face. She turned away quickly in order
that it might not be seen. Emmy still continued busy with her thoughts.
It occurred to her to be surprised that Jenny should be fully dressed.
The surprise pressed her further onward with the narrative.

"And then, of course, we found Pa. Wasn't it strange of him to do it? He
couldn't have been there long.... He must have waited for you to go up.
He must have listened. I must find another place to keep it, though he's
never done such a thing before in his life. He must have listened for
you going up, and then come creeping out here.... Why, there's his
candle on the floor! Fancy that! Might have set fire to the whole house!
See, you couldn't have been upstairs long.... I thought you must have
been, seeing the fire was black out. Did you go to sleep in front of
it? I thought you might have laid a bit of supper for us. I thought you
_would_ have. But if you were asleep, I don't wonder. I thought you'd
have been in bed hours. Did you hear anything? He must have made a
racket falling off the chair. What made you come down again? Pa must
have listened like anything."

"I didn