away; and the benign
old pastor disappeared, humming "Hebron" to the creaking accompaniment
of the bulgy chaise.

Laura retired to take her _siesta_; Nan made a small _carbonaro_ of
herself by sharpening her sister's crayons, and Di, as a sort of
penance for past sins, tried her patience over a piece of knitting, in
which she soon originated a somewhat remarkable pattern, by dropping
every third stitch, and seaming _ad libitum_. If John had been a
gentlemanly creature, with refined tastes, he would have elevated his
feet and made a nuisance of himself by indulging in a "weed"; but
being only an uncultivated youth, with a rustic regard for pure air
and womankind in general, he kept his head uppermost, and talked like
a man, instead of smoking like a chimney.

"It will probably be six months before I sit here again, tangling your
threads and maltreating your needles, Nan. How glad you must feel to
hear it!" he said, looking up from a thoughtful examination of the
hard-working little citizens of the Industrial Community settled in
Nan's work-basket.

"No, I'm very sorry; for I like to see you coming and going as you
used to, years ago, and I miss you very much when you are gone, John,"
answered truthful Nan, whittling away in a sadly wasteful manner, as
her thoughts flew back to the happy times when a little lad rode a
little lass in the big wheelbarrow, and never spilt his load,--when
two brown heads bobbed daily side by side to school, and the favorite
play was "Babes in the Wood," with Di for a somewhat peckish robin to
cover the small martyrs with any vegetable substance that lay at hand.
Nan sighed, as she thought of these things, and John regarded the
battered thimble on his fingertip with increased benignity of aspect
as he heard the sound.

"When are you going to make your fortune, John, and get out of that
disagreeable hardware concern?" demanded Di, pausing after an exciting
"round," and looking almost as much exhausted as if it had been a
veritable pugilistic encounter.

"I intend to make it by plunging still deeper into 'that disagreeable
hardware concern'; for, next year, if the world keeps rolling, and
John Lord is alive, he will become a partner, and then--and then"----

The color sprang up into the young man's cheek, his eyes looked out
with a sudden shine, and his hand seemed involuntarily to close, as if
he saw and seized some invisible delight.

"What will happen then, John?" asked Nan, with a