“Frances!” he said, “Frances!” and in his arms he held her close.  “You’ve found out, too!  Thank God, you’ve found out, too!”

Below, a door opened and some one was in the hall.  Quickly Frances was on her feet.  “You must not, must not, Stephen—­not here!”

“Goodness gracious! they’ve done made up.”

At the foot of the steps Carmencita, as if paralyzed with delight, stood for a moment, then, shutting tight her eyes, ran back whence she came; at the door she stopped.

“Carmencita!  Carmencita!” It was Van Landing’s voice.  She turned her head.  “Come here, Carmencita.  I have something to tell you.”

Eyes awed and shining, Carmencita came slowly up the steps.  Reaching them, with a spring she threw her arms around her dear friend’s neck and kissed her lips again and again and again, then held out her hands to the man beside her.  “Is—­is it to be to-morrow, Mr. Van?”

“It is to be to-morrow, Carmencita.”

For a half-moment there was quivering silence; then Van Landing spoke again.  “There are some things I must attend to to-night.  Early to-morrow I will come for you, Frances, and in Dr. Pierson’s church we will be married.  Herrick and Miss Davis are coming at one o’clock, and my—­wife must be there to receive them.  And you, too, Carmencita—­you and your father.  We are going to have—­” Van Landing’s voice was unsteady.  “We are going to have Christmas at home, Frances.  Christmas at home!”

CHAPTER XVI

Lifting herself on her elbow, Carmencita listened.  There was no sound save the ticking of the little clock on the mantel.  For a moment she waited, then with a swift movement of her hand threw back the covering on the cot, slipped from it, and stood, barefooted, in her nightgown, in the middle of the floor.  Head on the side, one hand to her mouth, the other outstretched as if for silence from some one unseen, she raised herself on tiptoe and softly, lightly, crossed the room to the door opening into the smaller room wherein her father slept.  Hand on the knob, she listened, and, the soft breathing assuring her he was asleep, she closed the door, gave a deep sigh of satisfaction, and hurried back to the cot, close to which she sat down, put on her stockings, and tied on her feet a pair of worn woolen slippers, once the property of her prudent and practical friend, Miss Cattie Burns.  Slipping on her big coat over her gown, she tiptoed to the mantel, lighted the candle upon it, and looked at the clock.

“Half past twelve,” she said, “and Father’s stocking not filled yet!”

As she got down from the chair on which she had stood to see the hour her foot caught in the ripped hem of her coat.  She tripped, and would have fallen had she not steadied herself against the table close to the stove, and as she did so she laughed under her breath.