from me as once she veiled her soul."

Then, at last, Evelina understood. She felt the hot blood mantling her
face, and was thankful, once more, for the shelter of her chiffon.

"Spinner in the Sun," said the Piper, with suppressed tenderness, "were
you thinking I could see you more than once or twice and not be caring?
Were you thinking I could have the inmost soul of me torn because you'd
been hurt, and never be knowing what lay beyond it, for me? Were you
thinking I could be talking to you day after day, without having the
longing to talk with you always? And now that I've done my best for
you, and given you all that rests with me for giving, do you see why
I'll be trudging on to-morrow, alone?

"'T is not for me to be asking it, for God knows I could never be
worthy, but I've thought of Heaven as a place where you and I might
fare together always, with me to heal your wounds, help you over the
rough places, and guide you through the dark. That part of it, I'm to
have, I'm thinking, for God has been very good to me. I'm to know that
wherever you are, you re happy at last, because it's been given me to
lead you into the light. I called you, and you came."

"Yes," said Evelina, her voice lingering upon the words, "you called me
and I came, and was redeemed. Tell me, in your thought of Heaven, have
you ever asked to see my face?"

"Nay," cried the Piper, "do you think I'd be asking for what you hide
from me? I know that 't is because you are so beautiful, and such
beauty is not for my eyes to see."

"Piper Tom," she answered; "dear Piper Tom! I told you once that I had
been terribly burned. I was hurt so badly that when the man I was
pledged to marry, and whose life I had saved, was told that every
feature of mine was destroyed except my sight, he went away, and never
came back any more."

"The brute who hurt Laddie," he said, in a low tone. "I told him then
that a man who would torture a dog would torture a woman, too. I'd not
be minding the scars," he added, "since they're brave scars, and not
the marks of sin or shame. I'm thinking that 't is the brave scars
that have made you so beautiful--so beautiful," he repeated, "that you
hide your face."

Into Evelina's heart came something new and sweet--that perfect,
absolute, unwavering trust which a woman has but once in her life and
of which Anthony Dexter had never given her the faintest hint. All at
once, she knew that she could not let him go; t