misjudge him."

"Then I'll tell you everything," cried Janice, clearly happy
in the decision.

"And if he does love you, Jan?" suggestively remarked
Tibbie.

"'T will be vastly exciting," said Janice. "You know,
Tibbie, it frightens me a little, for he's just the kind of man to
do something desperate."

"And--and you would n't--"

"Tibbie Drinker! A redemptioner!"

"But Janice, he must have been a gentle--"

"What he was, little matters," interrupted the girl. "He's
a bond-servant now, and even if he were n't, he'd have a
bristly beard--Ugh!"

"Poor fellow," sighed Tabitha. "'T is not his fault!"

"Nor is 't mine," retorted Janice.

A pause of some moments followed and then Janice asked:
"Dost think I am promised to Mr. Evatt, Tibbie?"--for
let it be confessed that every incident of what she had pledged
herself not to tell had been poured out to her confidant.