"Then—Oh, Abraham Lincoln!—then—but we mustn't even talk of it yet"; and she arose from the step.
The tall man stood beside her. The rising moon cast a light on his face. The girl looked at it in wonderment.
"Abraham," she said, "you do not look like the same man I found here."
"Keep still, Ann," he whispered. "We are just outside heaven."
"And you believe now—believe?" and she waited for his answer.
"Believe, yes I believe. I must believe in the Great Creator. Nothin' less could have fashioned the soul of Ann Rutledge. From now on, eternally, I shall believe to my soul's salvation."
"Out of the gloom into the light," she said softly.
A few moments they stood as if not wishing to break some magic spell. Then he said, "You must run right home. We will not go out together; but from the door I will watch until you are well away, then I will follow."
Another moment they tarried in the wide mill door as if loath to leave, then she went out.