Lambert Sollas, with his fierce
nod, struck the opening bars of "Auld Lang Syne." ...Charity stared
straight ahead of her and then, dropping her flowers, fell face downward
at Mr. Royall's feet.

XIV

NORTH DORMER'S celebration naturally included the villages attached to
its township, and the festivities were to radiate over the whole group,
from Dormer and the two Crestons to Hamblin, the lonely hamlet on the
north slope of the Mountain where the first snow always fell. On the
third day there were speeches and ceremonies at Creston and Creston
River; on the fourth the principal performers were to be driven in
buck-boards to Dormer and Hamblin.

It was on the fourth day that Charity returned for the first time to the
little house. She had not seen Harney alone since they had parted at the
wood's edge the night before the celebrations began. In the interval she
had passed through many moods, but for the moment the terror which had
seized her in the Town Hall had faded to the edge of consciousness.
She had fainted because the hall was stiflingly hot, and because the
speakers had gone on and on.... Several other people had been affected by
the heat, and had had to leave before the exercises were over. There had
been thunder in the air all the afternoon, and everyone said afterward
that something ought to have been done to ventilate the hall....

At the dance that evening--where she had gone reluctantly, and only
because she feared to stay away, she had sprung back into instant
reassurance. As soon as she entered she had seen Harney waiting for her,
and he had come up with kind gay eyes, and swept her off in a waltz. Her
feet were full of music, and though her only training had been with the
village youths she had no difficulty in tuning her steps to his. As they
circled about the floor all her vain fears dropped from her, and she
even forgot that she was probably dancing in Annabel Balch's slippers.

When the waltz was over Harney, with a last hand-clasp, left her to
meet Miss Hatchard and Miss Balch, who were just entering. Charity had
a moment of anguish as Miss Balch appeared; but it did not last. The
triumphant fact of her own greater beauty, and of Harney's sense of
it, swept her apprehensions aside. Miss Balch, in an unbecoming dress,
looked sallow and pinched, and Charity fancied there was a worried
expression in her pale-lashed eyes. She took a seat near Miss Hatchard
and it was presently apparent that