"Not to-night, love," said Julia; "their beautiful spirits see and
love, and go with us."
So in the twilight, and with a pensive and serene happiness, they
passed up through the straggling village, Julia and her lover, to her
own home.
It had somehow been made known that Bart would that evening arrive.
His trunk had been received by the stage, at the stage house, and a
group of curious persons were on the look out in front of Parker's, as
they drove past. When Bart lifted his hat, they recognized and greeted
him with a hearty cheer; which was repeated when the carriage passed
the store. Bart was deeply touched.
"You see," said the happy Julia, "that everybody loves you."
"You see they greet us on your account," he answered.
A little group was also at her father's gate, and as Bart sprang out,
Julia's mother took him by both hands.
"So you have come at last, and will be one of us."
Just how he answered, or how Julia alighted, he could never tell.
This was the final touch and test, and if the whole did not vanish, he
should certainly accept it all as real.
"What a sweet and wonderful little romance it all is," said the happy
mother; "and to happen to us here, in this new, wild, humdrum region!
Who shall say that God does not order, and that heroism does not
exist; and that faithful love is not still rewarded."
"Mrs. Markham"--
"Call me mother!" said that lady; "I have long loved you, and thought
of you as my son.
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