She could not run away and she could not hide; she had to stand there and let him gaze at her and discover how old she looked and how worn. She met his eyes again--he never took them from her--and it seemed to her that they were full of pity. She resented this. What right had he to compassionate her? She drew her thin frame up and sang the louder in mere bravado. Yet she was glad when she came to the end, and was able to sink back into the seat by the side of Sister Willetts. The captain spoke up at once, and said that the time had come to take up a collection. Let every man give a little, in proportion to his means, no more and no less. Would Sister Willetts and Sister Miller go about among the people to collect the offerings? As she picked up her tambourine she turned impulsively to the elder woman. "Let me go to those near the platform, please," she begged. "Won't you take the outside rows?" The adjutant looked down on her a little surprised, but agreed at once. The younger woman went only a few steps down the aisles, keeping as far away from him as possible. Whenever she glanced towards him she found his eyes fixed upon her, following her everywhere; and now it was not pity she thought she saw in his look, but love--the same love she had seen in those eyes the last time they two had stood face to face. When the tambourines had been extended towards everybody in the hall, the two women went back to the platform and the adjutant counted up the money--coppers and nickels, most of it, and not two dollars in all. The captain kept on steadfastly. He gave out another hymn. When that had been sung, he turned to a portly man who had come in late and who was sitting on the platform behind Brother Higginson. "Brother Jackman," he asked, with unction, "how is your soul to-night? Can't you tell us about it?" While the portly man, standing uneasily with his hands on the chair before him, was briskly setting forth the circumstances of his assured salvation, Sister Miller was silent on the platform. She could not help seeing Dexter Standish, who was straight in front of her. She noted how erect he was, and how resolutely his shoulders were squared. She saw that he was older, too; and she observed that his face had a masterful look, wanting there the last time she had seen him.