"Miss Fidelia, do you know why I wanted to come in here? I want to hear you sing again, `For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.'" "Of course I will sing it. But I might have done that at home, and saved you the deacon's lecture on architecture. Oh, I must go up into the gallery, must I?" "Yes; and I will stand here, where I first caught sight of your face." So Fidelia went up and sang with a glad heart, not the solo only, but the whole Thanksgiving anthem, the two girls doing their best to help. They did not linger long after that; and when they had left the church, and the girls had gone to carry back the key, Jabez said gravely-- "I shall have that always to think about, till I see you again." "And I hope that will not be so very long this time," said Fidelia. It was not very long. They met the next summer in Halsey. There he found her one summer morning standing in the garden, at the opening under the apple-trees, looking down on the river and the meadows and the hills beyond, thinking of many things. There he found courage to say to her all that was in his heart. Not at that first meeting, however; though even then it would not have surprised her or found her unready with her answer. For they had written to one another constantly since their first meeting at that glad Thanksgiving time; and Fidelia knew all that letters frequent and long could tell her about the work which he had found ready for hand, head, and heart in the far West. Now he had more to tell her. He had been called by the Church in M--, in the state of W--, to be their pastor, and he had accepted the call. There were just fifteen members in the Church, but they were all New England men and women, of the right sort. M--was only a small place as yet, but the prospects were fair that it would be a city within twenty years. It would one day be a great commercial centre for a grand stretch of country; and the faithful fifteen who had made their home there meant that, in so far as it should be in their power to make it so, it should be a centre of influence for good in the state, and in the whole great country; and their pastor elect meant no less than that also. And when he had got thus far, he said gravely-- "Fidelia, will you come with me, and help in this great work?"