240 The Little Minister

swelled with pride because this man still loved
her. Now she wanted to run away with his love
for her before he could take it from her, and then
realising that this parting must be for ever, a great
desire filled her to hear him put that kiss into
words, and she said, faltering

“You can tell me what it is if you like.”

“ Not to-night,” said Gavin.

“To-night, if at all,” the gypsy almost en-
treated.

“To-morrow, at Nanny’s,” answered Gavin,
decisively ; and this time he remembered without
dismay that the morrow was the Sabbath.

In the fairy tale the beast suddenly drops his
skin and is a prince, and I believe it seemed to
Babbie that some such change had come over this
man, her plaything.

“Your lantern is shining on my mother’s
window,” were the words that woke her from
this discovery, and then she found herself yield-
ing the lantern to him. She became conscious
vaguely that a corresponding change was taking
place in herself.

“You spoke of taking me to your mother,”
she said, bitterly.

“Yes,” he answered at once, “ to-morrow;
but she shook her head, knowing that to-morrow
he would be wiser.

“Give me the lantern,” she said, in a low
voice, “I am going back to Nanny’s now.”

“Yes,” he said, “we must set out now, but I
can carry the lantern.”

“You are not coming with me!” she exclaimed,

shaking herself free of his hand.

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