“‘Sweetheart’ is a name I always liked,” said Leonie. “You called me your ‘rosebud,’ in your last letter; but somehow it did not please me so much as ‘sweetheart;’ it was not so natural.”
“Twenty-five years _is_ old for a rosebud,” said Mr. Weems, absently.
“Yes,” replied Leonie; “and does it not seem odd, Julius, that we who have been apart so long should now be united forever, and that we should go down the current of time together until the end?”
While she was speaking, the elegant clock, from beneath its crystal covering, chimed out the hour of _four_, and the artist, consulting his watch, discovered that the correct time was precisely ten minutes past eleven. He arose from his seat, and fondly embracing Leonie, he kissed her, and bade her good night. She went to the window, and as, by the light of the street lamp, she saw him descending the steps in front of the house, she waved her hand toward him. Then turning, she proceeded to the hall, and up the stairs to bed, murmuring to herself,--
SAINT CADMUS’S.--CHURCH MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE.--FATHER KRUM AND FATHER TUNICLE.--A RIOTOUS SERVICE.
Mr. Cowdrick, although making no profession of a special fondness for a religious life, was one of the pillars of St. Cadmus’s Church. He had been elected to a place in the vestry; he held two pews; he contributed upon occasion to the Church fund; and Rev. Mr. Tunicle, who was “an advanced Ritualist,” found in Mr. Cowdrick an ardent supporter whenever he undertook to introduce innovations in his method of conducting the services.
It did not seem important to Mr. Cowdrick that Mr. Tunicle should always try to produce from the records of the early Church his authority for any new and surprising practice that he wished to adopt. If the thing seemed to Mr. Cowdrick good in itself, if it pleased his eye, and gratified what he chose to consider the æsthetic demands of his nature, he deemed it unnecessary to ask any more questions. He would as soon have thought of inquiring, before he bought a new chair for his library, or a new set of plate for his table, whether his grandfather had established any precedent in the matter of the purchase of chairs and dishes, as to have sought in ecclesiological history warrant for the embellishment of the services at St. Cadmus’s. It was enough that the worshipers who had the most money, and who were able to pay for novelties, wanted them.