words her head went up with a gesture of soft pride as if it had been newly crowned.
Rose heard and saw and guessed the meaning of both tone and gesture; feeling that her Phebe deserved both the singer's laurel and the bride's myrtle wreath. But she only looked up, saying very wistfully,—
"Then it has been a happy night for you as well as for us."
"The happiest of my life, and the hardest," answered Phebe briefly, as she looked away from the questioning eyes.
"You should have let us come nearer and help you through. I'm afraid you are very proud, my Jenny Lind."
"I have to be; for sometimes I feel as if I had nothing else to keep me up." She stopped short there, fearing that her voice would prove traitorous if she went on. In a moment, she asked in a tone that was almost hard,—
"You think I did well to-night?"
"They all think so, and were so delighted they wanted to come in a body and tell you so; but I sent them home, because I knew you'd be tired out. Perhaps I ought not to have done it, and you'd rather have had a crowd about you than just me?"
"It was the kindest thing you ever did, and what could I like better than 'just you,' my darling?"
Phebe seldom called her that, and when she did her heart was in the little word, making it so tender that
