sping her hands firmly,
he said:

"Do you mean that, Janice?"

"Yes. I mean just that," she said, rather flutteringly. "Oh! here comes
a wagon. It must be Walky."

"Never mind Walky," said Nelson, firmly. "I want to tell you that I
sha'n't forget what you've said. If there really is a nice girl like you
feeling proud of me, I'm going to do just my very best to retain her
good opinion. You see if I don't!"

They were in the shadow as Walky drove by and he did not see them.
After that Janice and the teacher hurried on so as not to be overtaken
by the noisy party of young folks before they reached the village.

As they came up the hill toward Hopewell Drugg's store they saw a dim
light in the storekeeper's back room, and the wailing notes of his
violin reached their ears.

"Hopewell is grinding out his usual classic," chuckled Nelson Haley. "I
hear him at it morning, noon, and night. Seems to me 'Silver Threads
Among the Gold' is kind of _passe_."

"Hush!" said Janice. "There is somebody standing at the side gate,
listening. You see, sir, everybody doesn't have the same opinion of poor
Mr. Drugg's music----"

"My goodness!" ejaculated Nelson, under his breath. "It's Miss
Scattergood, I do believe!"

The timid little spinster could not escape. They had come upon her so
quietly.

"Oh! is it you, Janice dear?" she said, in a startled voice.

"And Mr. Haley. We are walking home from the Hammetts' sugaring."

"Well! I'm glad it ain't anybody else," said Miss 'Rill frankly. "But I
_do_ run around here sometimes of an evening, when mother's busy or
asleep, just to listen to that old song. Mr. Drugg plays it with so much
feelin'--don't you think so, Mr. Haley? And then--I was always very
fond of that song."

They left her at the corner of High Street, and the flurried little
woman hurried home.

"I do believe there is a romance there," whispered the teacher, when
Miss 'Rill was out of earshot.

"So there is. Didn't you know that--years and years ago--she and Mr.
Drugg were engaged?" cried Janice. "Why, yes, they were. But why they
did not marry, and why he married the girl he did, and why Miss 'Rill
kept on teaching school and never would look at any other man, is all a
mystery."

"Romance!" commented Nelson, with a little laugh, yet looking down upon
Janice with serious eyes. "The night is full of it--don't you think so,
Janice?"

"No, no!" she laughed up at him. "It's only the moonlight," and a little
la