They shook hands together, and looked one another long and steadily in the face.
"It is upwards of a year since I have seen you, Mattie. It is the same hopeful, earnest face, that I have ever known—can there be a difference in me?"
"No, you are unchanged."
"You both thought that I had forgotten you?"
"No."
"You must prove it by your old ways, then; or I shall never think this place the dear home I left a month ago."
"You have come back to——"
"To stop! Why not?—don't you wish it?"
"I—I will tell you presently—give me time, Sidney."
"I am in no hurry," he answered, coldly.