It was dusk when they reached the house, but it was not too dark for the mother to see the joyful light in her daughter’s eyes as she came up and put her arms about her, whispering, “Oh, mother, my heart’s desire, my heart’s desire!” “My bonny lass, my little Agnes,” her mother murmured, her eyes filling. “Will you give her to me, Mrs. Kennedy?” said Parker, watching the two. “Ay, lad; she’s given herself, I see, and it’s not my hand that would separate you.” “I shall live your next neighbor,” said Agnes, lifting her head. “Ah, my wean, so soon to be thinking of that,” her mother answered sadly. “I am going to find Mr. Kennedy,” Parker told them, and he went out leaving the girl with her mother, to pour out her tale of happiness and to tell of Polly’s gossip. “So, mother dear,” the girl said, laughing, “I am very fortunate, you see, for, as Polly says, I shall not be ‘left settin’, and though you will not have the honor of being the mother-in-law to a meenister, you’ll have me near you always and I shall have you, which to my mind is much better.” Presently the men folks came tramping in--Fergus Kennedy, Sandy, Parker Willett, and Carter. “What’s this I hear, you sly puss?” said Carter, making a dash for Agnes, and taking her hands to shake them heartily. She laughed confusedly, but she held up her head, for she had no cause for shame. “How dared you tell that I was going to be married, you naughty lad?” she asked. “Well, aren’t you?” returned Carter, impudently. “However,” when the laugh had subsided he went on, “I was thinking about that time that I’d marry you myself, but I’ve concluded to wait for Margret,” which in very truth he did. “Are you going to turn me out, Cousin Park?” he asked ruefully. “Not till you want to go.” “I’ll buy my own land, then, and set up for myself as soon as my lady-love is old enough,” he said soberly. And then he crossed the room to where Margret sat covered with confusion. The news of Parker’s return spread quickly through the neighborhood, and the next day brought Polly and Jeanie to hear the truth of the report which Carter had not been slow to scatter abroad. Polly fairly hugged Parker in the exuberance of her joy at his return, and though she maintained that there was no one good enough for Nancy, she was mightily pleased when she was told of what she called Parker’s luck. Jeanie was relieved to be free to give her news of Archie, though she insisted that it was all Agnes’s fault, and that her brother had been obliged to go elsewhere for consolation when Agnes jilted him. It was plain to those who in years after met the Rev. and Mrs. Archie M’Clean, that the good man had been unable to withstand the widow’s subtle flattery, which she was well versed in using, but which was no part of Agnes’s art of pleasing, though in all cases it will win a man whose bump of self-esteem is a match for Archie’s.