Mr. Walton joined them and they started homeward.
"Come, Miss Annie," said Gregory (addressing her thus for the first time); "why so distant? Was I not called a brother in the meeting? If I am a brother you are a sister. I told you I would secure this relationship."
She did not answer him.
"I think it was too bad," he continued, "that you did not second my efforts better. You would not help me sing either of the tunes I started."
"Mr. Gregory," said Annie, emphatically, "I will never go to a prayer-meeting with you again."
"What a rash resolve! But I confess that I preferred to have you stay at home with me."
"You have spoiled the whole evening for me."
"And you spoiled mine. So we are quits," he replied, laughingly.
"No, we are not. How can you turn sacred things into a jest?"
"I was possessed to see a smile light up the awful gravity of your face, and I feel amply repaid in that I succeeded. It was a delicious bit of sunshine on a cloudy day."