n't handsome--he never could be handsome, you
know--he is very pleasant-looking. Yes, he is a changed man. He was
going into the house just now as I came out, and he stopped and shook
hands with me, and asked about my health, something he never did before.
Honestly I don't know what to make of it; I'm clean put out. Why, the
man had two or three quarrels with Ritta Claiborne when she first came
here, and now he is going to marry her, or she him--I don't know which
one did the courting, but I'll never believe it was old Silas. I am
really and truly sorry for Ritta Claiborne. We who know Silas Tomlin
better than she does ought to warn her of the step she is about to take.
I have been on the point of doing so several times; but really, Lucy, I
haven't the heart. She is one of the finest characters I ever knew--she
is perfectly lovely. She is all heart, and I am afraid Silas Tomlin has
imposed on her in some way. But she is perfectly happy, and so is Silas.
If I thought such a thing was possible, I'd say they were very much in
love with each other."

"Possible!" cried Gabriel's grandmother; "why, love is the only thing
worth thinking about in this world. Even the Old Testament is full of
it, and there is hardly anything else in the New Testament. Read it,
Polly, and you'll find that all the sacrifice and devotion are based on
love--real love, and unselfish because it is real."

"It may be so, Lucy; I'll not deny it," and then, after some more gossip
less interesting, Miss Polly Gaither took her leave, saying, "I'll
leave you with your grand-children, Lucy."

When she was gone, Gabriel stood up and beckoned to Nan, and she went to
him without a word. He placed his arm around her, and then called the
attention of his grandmother.

"You've been Bethuning Nan and me for ever so long, grandmother: what do
you think of this?"

"Why, I think it is very pretty, if it is real. I have known it all
along; I mean since the night you were carried away. Nan told me."

"Why, Grandmother Lumsden! I never said a word to you about it; I
wouldn't have dared."

"I knew it when you came in the door that day--the day that Meriwether
Clopton was here. Do you suppose I would have sat by you on the sofa,
and held your hand if I had not known it?"

"I'm glad you knew it," said Nan. "I wanted you to know it, but I didn't
dare to tell you in so many words. I am going home now, Gabriel, and you
mustn't call on me to-day or to-night. I want to