“No, Stephen. ’Tis but a minute, and I’m home.”

“Thou’rt not fearfo’;” he said it in a low voice, as they went out at the door; “to leave me alone wi’ her!”

As she looked at him, saying, “Stephen?” he went down on his knee before her, on the poor mean stairs, and put an end of her shawl to his lips.

“Thou art an angel. Bless thee, bless thee!”

“I am, as I have told thee, Stephen, thy poor friend. Angels are not like me. Between them, and a working woman fu’ of faults, there is a deep gulf set. My little sister is among them, but she is changed.”

She raised her eyes for a moment as she said the words; and then they fell again, in all their gentleness and mildness, on his face.