"This is the second time I have been able to sit down since breakfast," remarked Mrs. Lumsden. "I have walked miles and miles," replied Nan, wearily. There was a noise in the hall, and presently Tasma Tid peeped cautiously into the room. "Wey you done wit Honey Nan?" she asked. "She in dis house; you ain' kin fool we." "Come in, and behave yourself if you know how," said Mrs. Lumsden. "Come in, Tid." "How come we name Tid? How come we ain't name Tasma Tid?" No one thought it worth while to make any reply to this, and the African came into the room, acting as if she were afraid some one would jump at her. "Sit in the corner there at the foot of the sofa," said Mrs. Lumsden. Tasma Tid complied very readily with this command, since it enabled her to be near Nan. The African squatted on the floor, and sat there motionless. Meriwether Clopton and Miss Fanny went away after awhile, but Mrs. Lumsden continued to sit by Nan, caressing her hand. Not a word was said for a long time, but the silence was finally broken by Nan, who spoke to the African. "Tasma Tid, I want you to go home and tell Miss Johnny that I will spend the rest of the day and the night with Grandmother Lumsden." "Don't keer; we comin' back," said Tasma Tid. "Yes, come back," said Mrs. Lumsden; whereupon, the African whisked out of the room as quick as a flash. After Tasma Tid had gone, a silence fell on the house--a silence so profound that Nan could hear the great clock ticking in the front hall, and the bookshelves cracked just as they do in the middle of the night. "If I had known what was going to happen when Gabriel came and kissed me good-bye," said Mrs. Lumsden, after awhile, "I would have gone out there where those men were, and--well, I don't know what I wouldn't have done!" "Didn't Gabriel tell you? Why----" Nan paused. "Not he! Not Gabriel!" cried Mrs. Lumsden in a voice full of pride. "He wanted to spare his grandmother one night's worry, and he did." "Didn't you know when he kissed you good-night that something was wrong?" Nan inquired. "How should I? Why, he sometimes comes and kisses me in the middle of the night, even after he has gone to bed. He says he sleeps better afterwards." What was there in this simple statement to cause Nan to catch her breath, and seize the hand that was caressing her. For one thing, it presented the tender side of Gabriel's nature in a new light; and for the rest--well, who shall pretend to fathom a young woman's heart? "Yes, he was always doing something of that kind," remarked the grandmother proudly; "and I have often thought that he should have been a girl." "A girl!" cried Nan. "Yes; he will marry some woman who doesn't appreciate his finer qualities--the tenderness and affection that he tries to hide from everybody but his grandmother; and he will go about with a hungry heart, and his wife will never suspect it. I am afraid I dislike her already." "Oh, don't say that!" Nan implored.