She sank into a chair, and covered her face with her hands.

"It was wicked of me to be so happy, and now I'm going to be punished for it." John's great heart melted within him.

He came swiftly back to her and knelt by her side, and kissed the little hand she gave him.
"Too happy, were you ?" he said, with a tenderness that rendered his deep voice unsteady.

"Because you promised to marry me when Peter came home ?" "That, and--and everything else," she whispered.

"Life seemed to have widened out, and grown so beautiful.