e inward
props removed, it would have been no marvel if in some stronger
wrestle of the blast the rotten walls of the edifice and all the
peaked roofs had come crashing down upon the owner's head. He,
however, was careless of the peril, but as wild and restless as the
night itself, or as the flame that quivered up the chimney at each
roar of the tempestuous wind.

"The wine, Tabitha," he cried--"my grandfather's rich old wine! We
will drink it now."

Tabitha arose from her smoke-blackened bench in the chimney-corner and
placed the bottle before Peter, close beside the old brass lamp which
had likewise been the prize of his researches. Peter held it before
his eyes, and, looking through the liquid medium, beheld the kitchen
illuminated with a golden glory which also enveloped Tabitha and
gilded her silver hair and converted her mean garments into robes of
queenly splendor. It reminded him of his golden dream.

"Mr. Peter," remarked Tabitha, "must the wine be drunk before the
money is found?"

"The money _is_ found!" exclaimed Peter, with a sort of fierceness.
"The chest is within my reach; I will not sleep till I have turned
this key in the rusty lock. But first of all let us drink."

There being no corkscrew in the house, he smote the neck of the bottle
with old Peter Goldthwaite's rusty key, and decapitated the sealed
cork at a single blow. He then filled two little china teacups which
Tabitha had brought from the cupboard. So clear and brilliant was this
aged wine that it shone within the cups and rendered the sprig of
scarlet flowers at the bottom of each more distinctly visible than
when there had been no wine there. Its rich and delicate perfume
wasted itself round the kitchen.

"Drink, Tabitha!" cried Peter. "Blessings on the honest old fellow who
set aside this good liquor for you and me! And here's to Peter
Goldthwaite's memory!"

"And good cause have we to remember him," quoth Tabitha as she drank.

How many years, and through what changes of fortune and various
calamity, had that bottle hoarded up its effervescent joy, to be
quaffed at last by two such boon-companions! A portion of the
happiness of a former age had been kept for them, and was now set free
in a crowd of rejoicing visions to sport amid the storm and desolation
of the present time. Until they have finished the bottle we must turn
our eyes elsewhere.

It so chanced that on this stormy night Mr. John Brown found himself
ill at ease in