“I loved you,” said Joyce firmly. “And I love you now. I didn’t know it was that when I came home to save you, but I guess it was there all the time only I hadn’t told myself about it—yet—”
“Oh, Joyce, my darling!”
He gathered her close to his heart and closed his eyes in an ecstasy of joy.
“It makes me feel so humble!” he said at last looking into her eyes. “To think that I, a sinner, a law-breaker—”
She laid her fingers on his lips.
“‘For ye are not under the law,’” she quoted softly, “‘but under grace.’ Have you forgotten that He puts His righteousness upon us?”
They came back from their walk in the twilight with the stars looking down upon them and a new moon shining in a clear sky, but they did not see it. They were walking hand in hand and talking of many precious things.
The Petersons had been waiting dinner for them almost an hour, but they were serenely unconscious of the fact.
They went to church the next day and sat in the old Peterson pew, side by side, with the Judge and Mrs. Peterson and Dan, for the delectation of all eyes, but they didn’t know that either. They were as happy as any two people could be in this world.