was of course expected, or dismiss them at once
to the tables, toward which some of them were already directing their
steps, Clifton Holt came on to the stand and whispered a few words to
him, and then came forward, asking leave, not to make a speech, but to
introduce a new speaker. He did make a speech, however, short, but
telling, and was cheered heartily; but the cheering rose to its loudest
and longest when Mark Varney came forward on the stand.

Was it Mark Varney? It was a very different man from the down-looking,
heartless poor fellow who had disappeared from Gershom two years ago.
Erect and broad and brown he stood, with a look of strength and firmness
on his face, though his lips trembled, that no one remembered to have
seen there since his early youth, before his foe had mastered him.

In the silence that fell after the first shout of welcome, the people
pressed forward, eager to see and hear. A movement toward the point of
interest took place through all the field. Those who had grown tired of
listening, and those who had not cared to listen, drew near, and several
of those on the platform pressed forward the better to see and hear.

Mr Maxwell did not; he drew back rather, after a glance toward the spot
where Miss Holt and Miss Langden were sitting, and, resting his elbow on
the back of Squire Holt's chair, leaned his head on his hand. Miss
Langden did not see the glance, for she was listening to Clifton, who
had returned and was saying something to her. But Elizabeth saw that
there was a strange look, grave and glad, on his face, and that he was
very pale.

Gradually the rustle and movements which had given Mark time to quiet
the trembling of his lips came to an end, and then he and all the throng
were startled by a sudden cry--loud and strong, though it was but one
man's voice:

"Mark Varney, before all!"

It might have terribly spoiled the effect, but it did not. It gave poor
Mark, who was no orator, and who, with his heart full, did not find the
right words ready, a beginning.

"Yes, Tim Cuzner, it is Mark Varney, who hasn't been seen in these parts
for two years, nor for a good while before that, in his right mind--and
you are the very man I want to talk to, Tim, you and a few others. I've
got something to tell you. A few others? Yes, I've got something to
say to every man in this Grove. I am not going in for a temperance
lecture, though it wouldn't be the first time. I was a living