he remark: "It's all-fired cold, Miss Ray. Shall you play in
church to-morrow?"

Assured that she would, Billy walked away, and Mark was alone with his
bride, slowly following the deacon's sleigh, which reached the farmhouse
a long time before the little cutter, so that a fire was already kindled
in the parlor when Helen arrived, and also in the kitchen stove, where
the teakettle was placed, for Aunt Betsy said "the chap should have some
supper before he went back to York."

Four hours he had to stay, and they were well spent in talking of
himself, of Wilford, and of Morris, and in planning Helen's future. Of
course she would spend a portion of her time at the farmhouse, he said,
but his mother had a claim upon her, and it was his wish that she should
be in New York as much as possible.

"Now that you have Mrs. Cameron, you do not need my wife," he said to
Mrs. Lennox, with an emphasis upon the last word, which he seemed very
fond of using.

Much he wished to stay with the wife so lately his, but as that could
not be, he asked at last that she go with him to Washington. It might be
some days before his regiment was ordered to the front, and in that time
they could enjoy so much. But Helen knew it would not be best, and so
she declined, promising, however, to come to him whenever he should need
her.

Swiftly now the last moments went by, and a "Merry Christmas" was said
by one and another as they took their seats at the plentiful repast Aunt
Betsy had provided, Mark feasting more on Helen's face than on the
viands spread before him. It was hard for him to leave her, hard for her
to let him go, but the duty was imperative, and so when at last the
frosty air grew keener as the small hours of night crept on, he stood
with his arms about her, nor thought it unworthy of a soldier that his
own tears mingled with hers as he bade her good-by, kissing her again
and again, and calling her his precious wife, whose memory would make
his camp-life brighter and shorten the days of absence. There was no one
with them when at last Mark's horse dashed from the yard over the
creaking snow, leaving Helen alone upon the doorstep, with the
glittering stars shining above her head and her husband's farewell kiss
wet upon her lips.

"When shall we meet again?" she sobbed, gazing up at the clear blue sky,
as if to find the answer there.

But only the December wind sweeping down from the steep hillside, and
blowing across her forehead, m