'I quite understand.'

'And if I DO see those roses,' he went on, 'I shall take upon myself to
drop in for tea, may I?'

She paused.

'In any case, you mustn't speak to me coming out of chapel, PLEASE.'

As he walked home down Oldcastle Street he said to himself that the age
of miracles was not past; also that, after all, he was not so old as
the tale of his years would mathematically indicate.

III

Her absence from chapel on the next Sunday disagreed with him. However,
Robert was away nearly all the week, and he had the house to himself to
dream in. It frequently happened to him to pass by Miss Emery's shop,
but he caught no glimpse of her, and though he really was in serious
need of writing-paper and envelopes, he dared not enter. Robert
returned on the Friday.

On the morning of the second Sunday, John got up early, in order to
cope with a new necktie that he had purchased in Hanbridge.
Nevertheless he found Robert afoot before him, and Robert, by some
unlucky chance, was wearing not merely a new necktie, but a new suit of
clothes. They breakfasted in their usual august silence, and John
gathered from a remark of Robert's to Maggie when she brought in the
boots that Robert meant to go to chapel. Now, Robert, being a
commercial traveller and therefore a bit of a caution, did not attend
chapel with any remarkable assiduity. And John, in the privacy of his
own mind, blamed him for having been so clumsy as to choose that
particular morning for breaking the habits of a lifetime. Still, the
presence of Robert in the pew could not prejudicially affect John, and
so there was no genuine cause for gloominess.

After a time it became apparent that each was waiting for the other to
go. John began to get annoyed. At last he made the plunge and went.
Turning his head halfway up Oldcastle Street, opposite the mansion
which is called 'Miss Peel's', he perceived Robert fifty yards behind.
It was a glorious June day.

He blushed as he entered chapel. If he was nervous, it may be accorded
to him as excuse that the happiness of his life depended on what he
should see within the next few minutes. However, he felt pretty sure,
though it was exciting all the same.

To reach the Hessian pew he was obliged to pass Miss Emery's. And it
was empty! Robert arrived.

The organist finished the voluntary. The leading tenor of the choir put
up the number of the first hymn. The minister ascended the staircase of
the great maho