Not till the man was almost beside her did she hear the approaching footsteps deadened by the soft carpet of moss. Wheeling, she stood poised for flight, an arrested picture of youth far gone in grief. Then, “Jed!” she cried, and he, “Mel!” It was too good to be true. The girl’s voice quavered her doubt. “Is it really you, Jed?” “Hit shorely is, Mel. I seen yo’ advertisement three days ago in an old paper. I be’n away off on the roundup and jest got back. Co’se I burnt the wind back to help you-all out. I seen someone slippin’ acrost the slash an’ I suspicioned it might be my little sis Mellie.” She began to sob. “Oh, Jed, yo’ don’t know haow bad I be’n feelin’! Yo’ can’t think haow often I be’n wishin’ I was dead!” His indolent, good-looking face took on the dark expression she had seen only once or twice. “If anybody’s done you-all any meanness, sis—” The blood surged into her cheeks. “Maw’s bound an’ ’termined that I’ll ma’ie Mose Hughey. He’s gittin’ the license to-day.” “Mose Hughey?” The loose, graceful Southern figure stiffened. “Maw must be crazy!” “He’s be’n a-pesterin’ me fer nea’ly two months—an’ I hate him wuss than a rattlesnake,” she flamed. “He won’t pester yo’ any more, sis,” said Jed grimly, and laid a caressing arm across her shoulders. Mellie moved out of the shadows into the moonlight and instantly Jed’s arm fell to his side. He stared at her in dumb surprise. The thin, awkward child of angles he had left had gone forever, and in her place stood a graceful creature of pliant curves. Never had he seen so sweet and lovable a face as the one upturned to him with such frank confidence. No need to question his heart. He had loved her as a child, as a woman he loved her still. That first, long look surprised the truth from them both, made it clear first to themselves and then to each other. * * * * * Mrs. Chunn came out from the wide gallery to the porch and peered into the night. Two figures were moving slowly toward the house along the cedar shadowed path. “Mellie, is that you?” “Yes, Maw.” “Who’s that with you?” “It’s me, Mother. I’ve come home—to stay.” A sudden joy flashed into the hard eyes of the mother, but she instantly hid her tenderness as if it had been a vice. “Hit’s time,” was her grim comment. He kissed her gaily. “That’s what I thought, Mother.” “Did Mellie tell you-all that she’s a-goin’ to git married to-morrow?” “Yes, we be’n talkin’ about it.” “She’s a-gittin’ a good man,” defiantly. Jed laughed. “He ain’t good enough fer her.” “Don’t yo’ put sech notions in her head,” his mother told him sharply. “No, Maw,” answered Jed with unwonted humility. “Co’se I want her to think she gits a good man when she gits me.”