nd and round in circles through them woods all night."

"Caleb HAMMOND!"

Before Caleb could add anything to his astonishing statement the silence
of the night was broken by the clang of the bell in the tower of the
church. It clanged four times.

"WHAT!" exclaimed Caleb. "Only four o'clock! It can't be!"

"My soul!" cried Miss Parker, "only four! Why--why, I thought we'd been
ridin' ten hours at least. . . . Caleb Hammond, you and me don't want to
find a minister; what we need to look up is a pair of guardians to take
care of us."

But Mr. Hammond seized her arm.

"Hannah," he cried, excitedly, "do you understand what that means--that
clock strikin'? It means that, bein' as we're only five miles from home,
we can GET home, if we want to, afore anybody's out of bed. You can
sneak up that ladder again; I can get that horse and team back in
Thankful's stable; we can both be in our own beds by gettin'-up time and
not one soul need ever know a word about this foolishness. If we--"

But Miss Parker had not waited for him to finish; she was already on her
way to the carryall.

At a quarter after seven that morning Thankful knocked at the door of
her boarder's room.

"Mr. Hammond!" she called. "Mr. Hammond!"

Caleb awoke with a start.

"Eh?" he said.

"Are you up? It's most breakfast time."

Caleb, now more thoroughly awake, looked about his room. It was real; he
was actually in it--and safe--and still single.

"Yes--yes; all right," he said. "I'll get right up. Must have overslept
myself, I guess. What--what made you call me? Nothin'--er--nothin's
happened, has it?"

"No, nothin's happened. But you're usually up by seven and, as I hadn't
heard a sound from you, I was afraid you might be sick."

"No, no; I ain't sick. I'm feelin' fine. Has--has Kenelm Parker got here
yet?"

"Yes, he's here."

"Ain't--ain't said nothin', has he?"

"Said anything? No. What do you mean? What did you expect him to say?"

"Nothin', nothin', I--I wondered what sort of a drive he and Imogene had
yesterday, that's all. I thought it would be fine to hear him tell about
it. You run along, Mrs. Barnes; I'll hurry and get dressed."

He jumped out of bed. He was tired and lame and his head ached--but,
Oh, he was happy! He had stabled George Washington and reached his room
without disturbing anyone. And, as Kenelm had, according to Mrs. Barnes,
spoken and appeared as usual, it was evident that Hannah Parker, too,
had gotten saf