He was leaving the cabin without speaking,
when little Nan, who had watched everything in childish bewilderment and
dismay, set up a loud, pitiful cry, which he soothed with great
difficulty.
'Stevie going to live here?' said the little child at last, with a deep
sob.
'Ay, little Nan,' he answered; 'for a bit, darling. Please God, we'll go
home again some day. But little Nan shall always live with Stevie.
That'll do; won't it?'
'Ay, Stevie,' sobbed the child; and Stephen, kissing her tenderly, put
her on to Martha's lap, and walked out into the moonlight. The clouds
were hanging heavily in the western sky, but the clearer heavens shone
all the brighter by the contrast. The mountains lay before him, calm and
immovable in the soft light; and he could see the round outline of his
own hollow, at which his heart throbbed for a minute painfully. But there
was a hidden corner at the side of the cabin, and there Stephen knelt
down to pray earnestly before he went farther on his errand, until, calm
and quiet as the hills, and as the moon which seemed to be gazing
lovingly upon them, he went on with a brave and stedfast spirit to the
master's house.
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