"I knew it when you came in the door that day--the day that Meriwether Clopton was here. Do you suppose I would have sat by you on the sofa, and held your hand if I had not known it?"
"I"m glad you knew it," said Nan. "I wanted you to know it, but I didn"t dare to tell you in so many words. I am going home now, Gabriel, and you mustn"t call on me to-day or to-night. I want to be alone. I am so happy," she said to Mrs. Lumsden, as she kissed her, "that I don"t want to talk to any one, not even to Gabriel."
And this was Gabriel"s thought too. He saw none of his friends that day, and when night fell he went out to the old Bermuda hill, and lay upon the warm damp gra.s.s, the happiest person in the world.
THE END