s
until all of them, except Eugene, had taken a reluctant departure, one
group after another, leaving in the order of their arrival.

The rosy pigment which had colored the trees faded; the gold-dust of
the western distance danced itself pale and departed; dusk stalked into
the town from the east; and still the watcher upon the steps and the
warden of the gate (he of the lilac-bushes and the Bible) held their
places and waited--waited, alas! in vain.... Ah! Joe, is THIS the
mettle of your daring? Did you not say you would "try"? Was your
courage so frail a vessel that it could not carry you even to the gate
yonder? Surely you knew that if you had striven so far, there you would
have been met! Perhaps you foresaw that not one, but two, would meet
you at the gate, both the warden and the watcher. What of that? What
of that, O faint heart? What was there to fear? Listen! The gate
clicks. Ah, have you come at last?

Ariel started to her feet, but the bent figure, coming up the walk in
the darkness, was that of Eskew Arp. He bowed gloomily to Mamie, and
in response to her inquiry if he wished to see her father, answered no;
he had come to talk with the granddaughter of his old friend Roger
Tabor.

"Mr. Arp!" called Ariel. "I am so very glad!" She ran down to him and
gave him her hand. "We'll sit here on the bench, sha'n't we?"

Mamie had risen, and skirting Norbert frostily, touched Eugene upon the
shoulder as she went up the steps. He understood that he was to follow
her in-doors, and, after a deep look at the bench where Ariel had
seated herself beside Mr. Arp, he obeyed. Norbert was left a lonely
ruin between the cold, twin dogs. He had wrought desolation this
afternoon, and that sweet verdure, his good name, so long in the
planting, so carefully tended, was now a dreary waste; yet he
contemplated this not so much as his present aspect of splendid
isolation. Frozen by the daughter of the house, forgotten by the
visitor, whose conversation with Mr. Arp was carried on in tones so low
that he could not understand it, the fat one, though heart-breakingly
loath to take himself away, began to comprehend that his hour had
struck. He rose, descended the steps to the bench, and seated himself
unexpectedly upon the cement walk at Ariel's feet. "Leg's gone to
sleep," he explained, in response to her startled exclamation; but,
like a great soul, ignoring the accident of his position as well as the
presence of Mr