face. "Well--I have nothing to say. You must do as you think best.
I am sure you will be kind to Nellie, for I have known you for ten
years--you may tell her I am very glad--" she stopped, her eyes brimming
over with tears.

"Do you remember how angry I was once, when you told me to go and talk to
Nellie?" said John. "It was just here, too--"

Mary Juxon laughed happily and brushed the tears from her eyes. So it was
all settled.

Once more the Reverend Augustin Ambrose united two loving hearts before
the altar of Saint Mary's. He was well stricken in years, and his hair
and beard were very white. Mrs. Ambrose also grew more imposing with each
succeeding season, but her face was softer than of old, and her voice
more gentle. For the sorrow and suffering of a few days had drawn
together the hearts of all those good people with strong bands, and a
deep affection had sprung up between them all. The good old lady felt as
though Mary Juxon were her daughter--Mary Juxon, by whom she had stood in
the moment of direst trial and terror, whom she had tended in illness and
cheered in recovery. And the younger woman's heart had gone out towards
her, feeling how good a thing it is to find a friend in need, and
learning to value in her happiness the wealth of human kindness she had
found in her adversity.

They are like one family, now, having a common past, a common present,
and a common future, and there is no dissension among them. Honest and
loyal men and women may meet day after day, and join hands and exchange
greetings, without becoming firm friends, for the very reason that they
have no need of each other. But if the storm of a great sorrow breaks
among them and they call out to each other for help, and bear the brunt
of the weather hand in hand, the seed of a deeper affection is brought
into their midst; and when the tempest is past the sweet flower of
friendship springs up in the moistened furrows of their lives.

So those good people in the lonely parish of Billingsfield gathered round
Mary Goddard, as they called her then, and round poor little Nellie, and
did their best to protect the mother and the child from harm and
undeserved suffering; and afterwards, when it was all over, and there was
nothing more to be feared in the future, they looked into each other's
faces and felt that they were become as brothers and sisters, and that so
long as they should live--may it be long indeed!--there was a bond
between them whic