Then Phebe, folding up her work, would go to the piano, as if glad to find a vent for the inner life which she seemed to have no power of expressing except in song. Rose would follow to accompany her; and Archie, moving to a certain shady corner whence he could see Phebe's face as she sang, would give himself up to unmitigated rapture for half an hour. Phebe never sang so well as at such times: for the kindly atmosphere was like sunshine to a bird, criticisms were few and gentle, praises hearty and abundant; and she poured out her soul as freely as a spring gushes up when its hidden source is full. Always comely, with a large and wholesome growth, in moments such as these Phebe was beautiful with the beauty that makes a man's eye brighten with honest admiration, and thrills his heart with a sense of womanly nobility and sweetness. Little wonder, then, that the chief spectator of this agreeable tableau grew nightly more enamoured; and, while the elders were deep in whist, the young people were playing that still more absorbing game in which hearts are always trumps. Rose, having Dummy for a partner, soon discovered the fact, and lately had begun to feel as she fancied Wall must have done when Pyramus wooed Thisbe through its chinks. She was a little startled at first, then amused, then anxious, then heartily interested, as every woman is in such affairs, and willingly continued to be a medium, though sometimes she quite tingled with the electricity which seemed to pervade the air. She said nothing, waiting for Phebe to speak; but Phebe was silent, seeming to doubt the truth, till doubt became impossible, then to shrink as if suddenly conscious of wrong-doing, and seize every possible pretext for absenting herself from the "girls' corner," as the pretty recess was called. The concert plan afforded excellent opportunities for doing this; and evening after evening she slipped away to practise her songs upstairs, while Archie sat staring disconsolately at the neglected work-basket and mute piano. Rose pitied him, and longed to say a word of comfort, but felt shy,--he was such a reserved fellow,--so left him to conduct his quiet wooing in his own way, feeling that the crisis would soon arrive. She was sure of this, as she sat beside him on the evening of the concert; for while the rest of the family nodded and smiled, chatted and laughed in great spirits, Archie was as mute as a fish, and sat with his arms tightly folded, as if to keep in any unruly emotions which might attempt to escape. He never looked at the programme; but Rose knew when Phebe's turn came by the quick breath he drew, and the intent look that came into his eyes so absent before.