only caress she had ever
received, and that she had wept because it had fallen so far short of
what her imagination had deluded her into expecting. Now, though she
had herself well in hand and gave no visible sign of her disappointment,
there was a fierce, though unspoken, protest in her heart. "To think
that after all the nights I've lain awake an' wondered what 'twas
like, it should turn out to be so terrible flat," she said bitterly to
herself.

"It's just a fortnight off now, Judy," he remarked gently, if not
tenderly.

"I hope your mother will get on with me, Abel."

"She sets great store by you now. You're pious, and she likes that even
though you do go to the Episcopal church. I heard her say yesterday that
it was a rare thing to see a girl find as much comfort in her religion
as you do."

"You'll never want to come between me and my church work, will you,
Abel? I do most of the Foreign Mission work, you know, an' I teach in
Sunday school and I visit the sick every Friday."

"Come between? Why, it makes me proud of you! When I asked Mr. Mullen
about marrying us, he said: 'She's been as good as a right hand to me
ever since I came here, Revercomb.'"

"Tell me over again. What were his words exactly?"

"'She's been as good as a right hand to me, Revercomb,' that was what he
said, and he added, 'She's the salt of the earth, that's the only way to
describe her.' And now, goodbye, Judy, I must be going back to work."

Without glancing round, he went at his rapid stride down the narrow walk
to the whitewashed gate, which hung loose on broken hinges. In the road
he came face to face with Jonathan Gay, who was riding leisurely in the
direction of Jordan's Journey.

"How are you, Revercomb? All well?"

"Yes, all well, thank you." Turning in his tracks, he gazed thoughtfully
after the rider for a moment.

"I wonder why he came out of his way instead of keeping to the
turnpike?" he thought, and a minute later, "that's the third time he's
come back since the family left Jordan's Journey."

CHAPTER II

THE DESIRE OF THE MOTH

At the gate before the Revercombs' house Blossom was standing in a dress
of vivid blue.

"Are you going to a party?" Abel inquired as he reached her, and she
answered impatiently:

"I promised to wear this dress over to Judy's, so that she could see how
it is trimmed."

"Does she want a blue one?" he asked. It seemed to him little short of
ludicrous that Judy should buy a