"When did papa say he was coming?" asked she, as they moved through the passage-way to the door.
"He was playing backgammon; he said he should be through in ten minutes; he would probably overtake us before we got to the Parsonage," replied the young man.
"I hope he'll be all safe!" said Cornelia, half to herself, the vague feeling of uneasiness still working within her.
At the door they were met by Abbie, who bade them good-night, with the same expression upon her lips and in her eyes that she had worn when presenting them to one another early in the evening.
"Take good care of each other, my children," said she, as they passed out; but her tone was so low as to be audible to Cornelia alone.
CHAPTER XII.
DOLLY ACTS AN IMPORTANT PART.
The faintest of breezes wafted in the young people's faces as they descended the wooden steps of the boarding-house and passed along the dark, deserted sidewalk of the village street. The noisy dance was soon left at a distance; how extravagant and unnatural it seemed in comparison with the deep, sweet night in which they were losing themselves!
The brightness of the stars, and the wavering peaks and jagged edges of the northern lights, brought out the shadows of the uneven hills, and revealed the winding length of downy mist which kept the stream in the valley warm. Such was the stillness, and the subdued tone of the landscape, that it seemed unreal—the phantom of a world which had lost its sunshine, and was mourning for it in gentle melancholy.