e, and that the girls should
regard him with favor.

John was young; he was human, and he was experiencing a sort of new
birth. Aside from Cavanaugh, no one present knew of his mother's
reputation or of the social wall between him and the citizens of
Ridgeville, and here to-day he was being treated as he had never been
treated before. He felt strangely, buoyantly, at his ease. He was too
happy to analyze his wonderful transition. He wanted to do his part
well, not chiefly on account of Cavanaugh and the contract, or the
dignitaries about him, but it must be admitted that above all he was
considering Tilly. It pleased the poor boy to think of her as
conducting the music, and of himself as having charge of the other
details. There was a vague, new, and even confident dignity about his
erect figure, face, and tone of voice as he directed the laborers to
bring the corner-stone forward. There was a square cavity in the stone
into which souvenirs were to be placed, and it devolved upon John to
collect them from the audience. He did it well. He was a man drawn out
of an old environment by the dazzling experience of being in love. A
copy of a fresh issue of the county weekly was handed to him by the
paper's editor; the Ordinary contributed a photograph of the old
court-house, some one else put in a sheet containing the autographs of
leading citizens, and there were coins and various trinkets of more or
less historic significance. John placed them in the cavity, and under
the eyes of all began to close the opening. His new trowel tinkled
softly as he worked in the dead silence on all sides. When it was
finished the band played. There was much applause, and then the choir
sang. During this part of the program John had a chance to look at Tilly
without being seen by her. She sat very erectly at the organ, unabashed,
unperturbed. John, even from where he stood at one side, saw the red
welt on her hand. He told himself, sentimentally, that those were the
same little hands which churned daily, washed dishes, made fires in the
range, washed, hung out, and ironed clothes, and he marveled. Once as
she turned a page of the music-book she looked at him, seemed in a flash
to sense his admiration, and dropped her eyes. Something came into her
face which he could not have described, but it played there for an
instant like a beam of rose-colored light, and he throbbed and thrilled
in his whole being.

The speeches passed off. The band playe