Between Whiles

leaps as if i

hines as if its

rism flashes

plendor of the

would dream th

if the sun no m

fade to its ow

t never highe

urce, its str

us

ts of men that

ghted, lifted

nces of tr

pent, they ti

n to their ow

ught to herself that "if nothing else turned up--but there was time enough yet." Not so thought Pierre, who was madly in love with Victorine, and was so put about by her cold and capricious ways with him that he was fast coming to be good for nothing in the mill or on the farm. But he is of no consequence in this account of the career of Mademoiselle, only this,--that if it had not been for him she had not probably been away from the Golden Pear on the occasion of Willan Blaycke's second visit. Pierre had not shown himself at the inn for some weeks,

a little start,--not so little but that I saw it well, though he fetched himself up with his pride in a trice, and said loftily: 'I have no doubt all will be sufficient; it is but a bite of supper and a bed that I require. I must g

ght about her?

fool? He will be farther gone than he is yet, ere he will

ok her away; and that Pierre, he is like to go mad about her, since these three

wn degree is best mated, after all. What shall we say if the lad come a

yea or nay," replied Jeanne. "I know not wherever the child hath lear

evil laugh. "Faith, and I think there is nought whi

s far honester of nature than either her father or her child; she was not entirely without rever

the inn in their absence, she shrugged her pretty sho

o?" replied Jeanne

ctorine; and not another word could

e was about to grasp them the vision faded, and he waked up to find himself alone. Willan Blaycke had never loved any woman. If he had,--if he had had even the least experience in the way of passionate fancies, he could have rated this impression which Victorine had produced on him for what it was worth and no more, and taking counsel of his pride have waited till the discomfort of it should have passed away. But he knew no better than to suppose that because it was so keen, so haunting, it must last forever. He was almost appalled at t

he mother of thy children? Is it not enough that thy fathe

r: "Oh, if thou didst but know, sir, how I wish myself safe back in the conve

t good birth or breeding; and this child hath had good training from the Sisters in the convent. She is of a most ladylike bearing, and has a fine

cke, an upright, modest, and honest gentleman creating out of the very virtues of his own nature the being whom he will worship, and then clothing th

did do, proved it; he turned his horse and rode straight for Gaspard's mill. The artful Benoit had innocently dropped the remark, as he was holding the stirrup for Wil

ctorine. It was only a couple of leagues to the mill, and its old tower and wheel were in sight before he thought of its being near. Then he began to consider what errand he could make; none occurred to him. He reined his horse up to a slow walk, and fell into a reverie,--so deep a one that he did not see what

goes there. Who can he be? I wonder if he goes to

ized Willan Blaycke, but she gave no

"see, he is turning about!" And with keen disappointment the girls saw the horseman wheel suddenly, and gallop back on the road he had

"Eh! that is good." She understood by a lightning intuition all which had happened,--that he had ridden towards the mill seeking her, and had changed his min

and with what purpose he would return. On the evening of the sixth day, just at sunset, he appeared, walking with his saddle-bags on his shoulders and lead

n was a horse to which any man's heart might well go out, so knowing, docile, proud, and swift was the creature, and withal most beaut

noit, as he drew near; "it is a good man that so loves an anim

That all was very little, however, for each step was torture to the beast; his fore feet were nearly bleeding. This was what Willan had done: the day before he had taken off two of the horse's shoes, and then galloped fast over miles of rough and stony road. The horse had borne himself gallantly, and shown no fatigue till nightfall, when he suddenly went lame, and had grown worse in the night, so that Willan had come very near havin

terday, and I was forced to ride on, spite of it, for there was no blacksmith on the

p the inflamed feet and looking at them closely. "It was a si

lnigh as sore as he. We have come all the way from the north boundary,

!" cried Benoit. "How let he

e horse would be better to walk this far and get thy more skilful handling. There is not a man in this country, they tell me, can shoe a horse so wel

ll do my best, sir. I doubt not it will inconvenience thee much to wait here till he be well. If thou couldst content thee with a beas

r?le of a manoeuvrer. "I go far south, even down to the harbors of the sound. I must bide the beast's time now

under thy saddle-bags and leading the horse by the rein. It

ster to g

ill at eve

eartily; and in his heart he added,

. Benoit had forgotten to tell him that no one was at home except Victorine. It was a market-day at St

hen; all were empty, silent. As he retraced his steps he stopped for a second at the

s. "Who is there?" she called. Willan recognized her

down the stairway, crying, "Why dost thou terrify me so, thou bad Benoit, not answering me

een asleep all the warm afternoon, and had on only a white petticoat and a short gown of figured stuff, red and white. Her hair wa

" he called after her. "

nough not to go quite out of sight. She looked entrancing between the dark wooden balustrades, one slender hand holding to them, and th

at thy window,"

at the foot of the stairway like the song of an angel. He hurried out, and threw himself down under the pear-tree where he had lain before. The b

herself as she went on leisurely weaving the thick braids of her hair, and h

edge a bird

use there wa

hedge a voice

in! I am wai

ver! 'T is s

n that bird

urer that no

dge there was s

in, 'I am wa

n! It was sw

ke just now asked me, that she did make this song," thought Victorine. "It

edge there was

in, 'I am wa

n! It was sw

ient, he picked up a handful of turf and flung it up at the window. Victorine laughed to herself as she heard it, but did not sing. Another soft thud agains

weary toile

weary of

e a sweet

wift acros

gster!' cried

now the lo

it in thy

ee, I fain

oke the bird

ll, and so

ter!' cried

ngster no

ongster cr

ve some

ft he still

other pilgr

ned intently to this song. It tou

it fitteth not my singing. I make choice for whom I sin

of this conversing by means of songs pleased her mightily. At last, half in earnest and half in fun, she struck boldly into a measure on which she would hardly have ventured could

e may venture on words she had not sung nearer at hand. She is not without mischief in her bloo

a fool in

when summe

r all good o

ve let flo

rfly, he i

wings when t

s delight i

en the summ

a weight i

n be heavy

s the use

is bett

upper that the man shall doubt his very ears if he have ever heard me sing such words or not. It is well to perplex a man. The more he be

tion was this graduate of a convent

d. Victor and Jeanne were coming home. Willan heard the sounds also, and slowly arose from the ground and

an Blaycke was a guest in the inn; still greater when they learned that h

Benoit; "it might be a good turn to keep the man here for a space." And the mast

verse and roguish impulse the girl chose to take no counsel in this game she had beg

e excitement of the serenading and counter-serenading in which she had been engaged. Her whole bearing was an inimitable blending of shyness and archness, tempered by almost reverential respect. Willan Blaycke would have been either more or less than m

to be the cause of so much trouble, seeing that I am the only traveller in the house. I pray you that I may sit down with you all at meal-tim

anner; and after some pretended hesitancy Victor yielded

take this request of thine; it seemeth but reasonable unto me, and

ctorine's sake Jeanne would have done much harder things; and indeed, after the first few moments of awkwardne

aracter than he had thought before; but he found himself frequently recollecting, as he had never done before, or at least had never done in a kindly way, that, after all, she had been his father's wife for ten years, and it w

on is the best teacher of tact in many an emergency in li

d would be to occupy itself with Victorine; and she acted accordingly. She never obtruded herself on his attention; she never betrayed any antagonism toward him, or any recollection of the former and different footing on

an thought was that Victor and his daughter were far quieter and modester people than he had supposed, and seemed disposed to keep themselves to themselves in a most proper fashion. It never crossed his mind that there was anything odd in his finding Victorine so often and so

free from the tormenting disapproval of his conscience; he lost sight of that very fast, however, as the days sped on. Victorine played her cards most admirably. She did not betray even by a look that she understood that he loved her; s

t some days," she said to Willan one morning. "Would it amuse thee to ride over to Pierre Gaspard's mill to-day? If thou couldst abide the gait of my gr

himself in the world," she mused; and, "It would please me much to go riding up to the door for Annette to see with the same brave rider she did so admire;" and, "There are many way

th Victorine,--to stay where she was, to seek her if she were missing. Already he had learned the way up the outside staircase to the platform where she kept

e best of all things," he replied to V

er eyes wide in astonishment. "I ride

inwardly: "as if these people could

disguised exultation. Not till the riders were fairly out of sight did Victor venture to turn his face toward Jeanne's. Then, bursting into

nse of shame. Her love for Victorine mad

uld ever be known?"

we were all dead. And for that, the living are safer than

as much in love as o

more than ever his f

eanne, angrily. "Surely it is long enou

we can but set the girl in thy shoes, thou didst not wear

eanne; "it gives me a cramp

h flowers; mossy hillocks along the roadside were pink with the dainty bells of the Linnaea. The road was little more than a woodman's path, and curved

re so beautiful thus early in t

ful Victorine, who knew well enoug

asked Willan. "It is a wild

nd my aunt likes not to ride except she must, on a market day or to go to church. No one but thou hast ever wa

ll always ride by thy side, Victorine," were on his lip

if he were in love with his companion,--how could the poor miller be expected to be cordial and unconstrained with such a sight before his eyes! Annette also was more overawed even than Victorine had desired she should be by the sight of the handsome stranger,--so overawed, and withal perhaps a little curious, th

ke leave," he said ill-naturedly

d think I ought to wait for thee to take leave. I was dying with the desire I had to be back in the woods again

ine was not insensible to the charm of the sky, the air, the budding foliage, and the myri

hter of Jeanne Dubois was not to be wooed by any vague sentimentalisms. There was one sentence which she was intentl

oth not know the speech of lovers. I mistrust th

but a very pretty and dainty little repast was ready for Willan and Victorine. As she sat opposite him at the table, so bright an

hungry, and had been so absorbed in eating her dinner she had

on of the serving-maid's relation to him jarred on Willan at that second inde

only going to say that thou must s

at is a matter of six leagues of a morning? I could ri

ew minutes, and then in a fresh toilette return to Willan. But she slept on and on until after sunset, and Willan wandered aimlessly about, wondering what had become

Jeanne; "and it will do no harm, but rather good

eyes, she sprang up and went to the window. Jeanne heard her steps, and coming to the foot of

?" replied Victorine, petula

ed her aunt. "Thou didst look tired, an

ut of her window and moved one of the flower-pots. Willan looked up; in a second more he h

g to do next; so she replied evasively: "Thou wert right, afte

st thou not come and walk with me

fter nightfall," replied Victo

Willan. "Thou canst come down by this

I have often come down by, that post from my window; but truly, I fear I o

id Willan. "She told me at suppe

lk for laughing. But she stood still, holding her breath lest Victorine should hear her, till the conversation ceased, and she heard Victorine moving about in her room again. Then she went in,

blew out her candle, and seated herself

Victorine, as holding Willan's hand she stole softly down

thy walking a little time with me? Thy aunt did let thee ride with me al

of Willan's and Victorine's steps had died away, she ran downstairs to tell Victor what had happen

onvent? Thou mayst thank thyself for it, if thou art grandmother to one. I trust no man out of

le, high-minded man, and as pure as if he were but just now weaned. I kno

himself to the courtyard. What he heard there did not reassure him. Old Benoit had seen Willan and Victorine going down through the poplar copse toward the pear orch

t Jeanne hath set her heart on it, and th

e-breeding and honorabl

uick said, and fine manners come easy

ve chance for much loo

goeth no such way as that." And thoroughly disquieted, Victor returned to t

r in the porch to await the lovers' return. Hour after hour passe

," she said at last. "Would it be well,

needs bring her back. We await them here. He shall see whet

said Jeanne, "

rine. They had evidently no purpose of entering the ho

Victor; "he thinks he can

of both Willan and Victorine. But Victor was not to be quieted. With an angry oath,

he said. "Do not say what thou wilt repent, Victor D

tured and fastidious manhood, fell victim to a spell less coarsely woven but no le

h remarkable vigor and promise, and planned on such noble and powerful lines as to deepen regret that its author's death left it but

y of Wilhe

ace wore an expression of deep perplexity. These were troublous times in Lancaster County. Never before had the farmers been so put to it for farm service; harvest-time had come, and

body more so than Farmer Weitbreck, who had miles of bottom-lands, in grain of one sort and another, all yellow and nod

as he gazed wearily up and down the dark, silent roa

that had changed. In modes of feeling, habits of life, he was the same he had been forty years ago, when he farmed a little plot of land, half wheat, half vineyard, in the Mayence meadows in the fatherland,--slow, methodical, saving, stupid, upright, obsti

eaping. By his help the haying had been done in not much more than two thirds the usual time; but when John Weitbreck, like a sensible fellow, said, "Now, we would bette

ney! I vill not keep dis man on so big wages to do vat y

. But he bided his time; and he would not have been human if he had not now taken secret satisfaction, seeing his father's anxiety daily increase as the August sun grew hotter and hotter,

that they sit idle all day in house, when the wheat grows to rattle like the peas in pod. They can help, the mütter

go in the field Carlen and the mütter; it must. The

work in the fields. John had been born in America; and he was American, not

n see my mother and sister in the fields. I wil

till more irritated, also, by this proof of what was always exceedingly displeasing to him,--his son's having ado

say tam dis country, vere day say all is alike, an' vork all; and ven you come here, it is dat nobody vill vork, if he can help, an

occupied that hardest of all positions,--the position of a full-grown, mat

er chubby fingers, all the while humming a low song to which the whirring of the wheel made harmonious accompaniment, he thought to himself b

k spinning, Lie

here was something in his tone that smote vaguely on her cons

t very long it does make the arms ache, holding them so lo

ay it tires one to reap; my bac

ome to help y

r him for being so stingy and short-sighted; but the brunt of it comes on me,--that's the worst of

le signal of pink as she spoke; but it was a dim light the one candle gave, and J

but me! I'll be going too some day, Carlen. I can't stand th

" cried Carlen, warmly, "and I don't think it would be right

man ought to be treated?" exclaimed John; "he thinks I

me each time how to wind the warp, as she did when I was little; and she will always look into the churn for herself. I

en. She could put a man in good humor in a few

on't. If ever I have a son grown, I'll tre

to see!" said Ca

u remem

s I said

you, that's a good boy. While we

door opened suddenly, and their father came in, bringing with him a stranger,--a young man seemingly about twenty-five years o

all can vel be done now. And it is goot that he is from mine own country. He cannot Engli

ingly at the newcomer

our name?"

ütter," he

e you been in

n d

re your

af n

on

on

n a tone as melancholy as

her eyes fastened on the stranger's face. A thrill of unspeakable pity stirre

u in the ship?" said John. "There is so

knows," replie

eitbreck. "I haf him asked all. He stays till harvest b

owever, it is not long he will be here, and he will be in the fields all the time;

all the localities and names which they mentioned. His replies, however, were given as far as possible in monosyllables, and he spoke no word volun

good-night and clapped him on the shoulder. "You haf come to house vere is

over the young man's face, and he left the

nice company he'll be in the field!

wish we could do something for him; perhaps his friends are a

eveloped, that she herself did not now know that it was a second nature; therefore it stood her in hand as well as if she had been originally born to it, and it would have been hard to find in Lancaster County a more placid and contented wife than she. She never dreamed that her custom of silent acquiescence in all that Gustavus said--of waiting in all

American fraus not goot so she; all de time talk and no vo

er usual phlegmatic silence. Carlen's appeal to her had barely been spoken, when, ri

dead. It must be as you say, that all whom he loves are in the grave. Poor bo

id Carlen, warmly. "

l he gets a civiller tongu

man. "Alvays you vimmen are too soon; it may be he are goot, it m

rau Weitbreck;

rtest phrases possible. A smile was never seen on his face. He sat at the table like a mute at a funeral, ate without lifting his eyes, and silently rose as soon as his own meal was finished. He had soon selected his favorite seat in the kitchen. It was on the right-hand side of the big fireplac

after holding the sickle all day. My arm aches, and my han

t arm's length, with the delicate figure he was carving poise

is good to be so steady-handed," sh

I haf strong;" an

e he slipped away silent, taking no part in the general good-night unless he was forced to do so. Sometimes Carlen, having said jokingly to John, "Now, I will make Wilhelm say good

Weitbreck, persuading herself that she was actuated solely by a righteous, motherly interest in the young man, opened it, she found nothing whatever there, except a few garments of the commonest description,--no book, no paper, no name on a

ay after day, going he knew not whither, asking mile by mile for work. He did not even know one

hy

d not

than simply striding up and down the field, the grain falling to right and left at his steps. From sunrise to suns

triumphantly to John; "vork he as di

raise of Wilhelm's strength and skill

e a man bewitched. I know not if there be such a thing as to be sold to the devil, as the stories say; but if there

f fear in his face,"

would like to see his face come alive with a fear. He gives me col

his son were likely to be again a

f said to him to stay til

prise was

cried. "What for? What do we

at he make vid de knife is mine. It is home h

he first. Why should he work for nothing but his board,--a great strong fellow like that, that could ma

er way," retorted his father. "I find him goo

od heavens, fathe

ed the old man, in a taunting tone. "I tink I can mine o

les till now they had had their sports, tastes, joys, sorrows in common, not a secret from each other since they could remember. At least, this was true of John; was he to find it no longer true of Carlen? He would know, and that right speedily. As by a flash of lightning he thought he saw his father's scheme,--if Carlen were to wed this man, this strong and t

the two persons who filled his thoughts, Wilhelm and Carlen,--Wilhelm steadily at work as usual at his carving, his eyes closely fixed on it, his figure, as was its wont, rigidly still; and Carlen,--ah! it was an unlucky moment John had taken to search out the state of Carle

ly still as Wilhelm himself. Her eyes did not leave his face. One might safely sit in that way

heart. What had he been about, that he had not seen this? He, the lovin

thought. "I can't ask Ca

daily ordinance in the Weitbreck religion. To John's sharpened perceptions the f

he said hastily. "What is she doing th

vork, ven one is young," she said. "I haf no

? How had all this come about, so soon and without his knowledg

en's face," he cried. "I think we are fools; what know we about hi

ard, she went softly, with the dripping skimmer in her hand, across the kitchen, the fat falling on her shining floor at every step, and closed the d

n," she whispered;

y about this thing, too, if I'm her brother. By----, no tramp like that is going to marry my sister without I know more about him!" And before the terrified old wom

ing at a distance on the ground, she ran to pick it up, and

she said, "

he sound or perceived the motion. As Carlen passed him her eyes involuntarily rested o

nly,--"come down in the past

ly into his face; never had s

with the supper,"

with the supper, I suppose, sitting out w

ss, a vein of her father's temper. Her fa

Wilhelm a tramp,"

if he is not a tra

she replied, sti

know about hi

ould have done; and losing self-control, losing sight of prudence, he

. Even in his hot wrath, John noticed this un

t looking anybody in the face," he cried. "Look up now!

blue eyes and confronted her brother wi

n saying," she cried. "I think you are out of your senses. I do not kn

s brawny hands, and whirled her

e said fiercely; "do y

on his breast, his eyes on the ground. Great waves of blushes ran in tumultuous flood up Carlen's neck, cheeks, forehead. John took his hands from her shoulders, and steppe

He needed no further replies in words. Tokens stronger than any speech had answered him. Muttering angrily to himself, he went on down to the pasture after the cows. It was a beautiful field, more like New England than Pennsylvania; a brook ran zigzagging through it, and here and there in the land w

part of the night, looking down into the gliding water or up into the sky. Carlen from her window

belonged to a phantom world. But it was also true that never since the first day of his mysterious coming had Wilhelm been long absent from Carlen's thoughts; and she did indeed find him--as her father's keen eyes, sharpened by greed, had observed--good to look upon. That most insidious of love's allies, pity, had stormed the fortress of Carlen's heart, and carried it by a si

below. He had thrown himself down on his back, and lay there with his arms crossed on his breast. Presently he clasped both hands over hi

lost, and he is one of that strange kind of men who can love but once; and it is loving the dead t

spicious and hostile a gaze that even Wilhelm's absent mind perceived it, and he in turn looked inquiringly at John, a sudden bewilderment apparent in his manner. It disappeared, however, almost immediately, dying away in his usual melancholy absorption. It had produced scarce a ripple on the monotonous surface of his habitual gloom. But Carlen had perceived all, both the look on John's face and the bewildermen

ushed back his chair, and leaving the table without a word went out and down again into the pasture, where the dewy grass and the quivering stars in the brook shimmered in the pale light of a young moon. To John, also, the mossy rocks in this pasture were a favorite spot for rest and meditation. Since the days when he and Carlen had fished from their e

f the rocks, he saw a figure

as C

ing lightly to the rock, she threw her arms around his neck, and kissing him said: "I saw you co

for his unjust suspicion f

erman tongue for fond epithets,--"mein Schwester klein, I love you so much

by his side, Carlen loo

wet you got fishing me out! And oh, what an awful beating father gave you! and I a

e," laughed John; and they both grew tend

long ago!"

nly a day,"

for a woman," sighed Carlen. "It is a sho

ontent, my sis

was s

seemed so," he sa

red. "Each day like every other day. I w

ion, he had become sure in his own mind that Wilhelm cared nothing for his sister, he felt an instinctive shrinking from recognizing to himself, or le

lf cut the g

red, "why do you thin

ely. "I only say we know nothing; and it is

al girl. "I believe he is good; but, John, John, wha

Has he never told you anyt

's relatives. It needs only that three should die, my father and mother and my brother,--only three, and two are already old,--and I should have no relatives myself; but if one is left without relatives, there are always friends, thank God!' And he looked at me,--he never looks at

instant John made up his mind to use it

dead sweetheart he mourned thus. There are men, y

amed that he could forestall an

as if it could be nothing else. But, John, if she be really de

she spoke these last words, and went on: "Of course, if it is for a dead sweetheart that he is grieving thus, it is only natural that the sight of women should be to him worse than the sight of men. But it is ve

a man is quicker healed of grief for a wife

Carlen. "You can tell

but you, my sister; and on my word I think I will be i

s better than joy." But Carlen was ashamed; afraid also. She had passed now into a new life, whither her broth

said. "You would be happy with a wife. You

r than you, my si

a gentle dignity of tone, which more impressed John with a se

, and she nine, John stood at the bottom of the steepest rock, wit

any more," she said

, half lightly, half sadly,

's and laying it on his shoulder, she said: "Brother, will you not try to

er. It was a hard

spoken to no one else but you. I would die be

ll try. It will be hard; but I will try my best,

their talk. "To-morrow," she thought, "I will know! To-morrow! oh, to-morrow

es away, and thus the day passed without John's having found any opportunity for the promised talk. Carlen perceived with keen disappointment this frustration of his purpose

azement. Never before had a note of singing been heard from Wilhelm's voice. She could not believe her ears; neither her eyes,

he stooped and fondled the dog, speaking to him in a merry tone; then he whistled, then broke again into singing a gay German song. Carlen was stupefied with wonder. Who was this new man in the body o

down the four were seated at supper. As she opened the door roars of laughter greeted her, and the first sight she saw was Wilhelm's face, full of vivacity, excitement. He was telling a jesting story, at which even her mother was heartily lau

haf known vat you are like ven you come bac

u kept your light under a bushel so long?" And John looked at him with a new interest

ale, jest after jest, fell from Wilhelm's lips. Such a story-teller never befo

t yourself all this time? Have you been ill till now,

gh so ringing, it mad

e said; "and now I am well." And he r

ne thing. Nothing else, nothing less, could have th

dly, "Did you hear any news in the

he said. "I had

ny eye but a loving woman's had noted it. It did not escape Carlen's, and she fell in

the name of the farmer to whose house he had been sent on a

other strange, sharp glance at

en?" she continue

ered. "They haf one

tions to ask. "It must have been a lette

haking it heartily, and clapping him on the shoulder, he exclaimed in fatherly familiarity: "Dis is goot, mein son! dis is goot. Now are you von of us." And he glanced meaningly at John, who smiled back in secret intelligence. As he did so there went like a flash through his mind the question, "Can Carlen have spoken with him to-day? Can that be it?" But a look at Carlen's pale, perplexed face quickly dissipated this idea. "She looks frightened," thought John. "I do not much wonder. I will get a word with her."

and seated himself on his favorite rock,--the same one where John and Carlen had sat the night before. "Will he stay there all night?" thou

t the pasture bars he paused, and looked back over the scene. It was a beautiful picture, the

ven in this was a strange, sad comfort to Carlen. She would rather have him mad, with alternations of insane joy and gloom, than know that he belonged to another. Long after he had disappeared in the doorway at the foot of the stairs which led to his sleeping-place in the barn-loft, she remained kn

et up, quick! Come

om her window she called: "What is it, John? What has happened?"

verything that happened must be connected with him? It was not yet light; she could not have slept many minutes. Wit

it, father?" she crie

y voice. "It is nothing. Go back

m, and with a loud cry she darted to the barn,

s, confronted her at t

d, "go back! You must not c

ll come in. You shall not keep me out. What has happened to him? Let me by!" A

ot come in! You shal

!" she shrieke

n his arms; and when Farmer Weitbreck, half dazed, reached the foot of the stairs, the first sight which met h

en him?" he

he was dead, to keep her from go

he old man, "dis

e brother; "it i

laid her on her mother's bed, then returned

the dead body of Wilhelm Rütter, cold, stiff. He had been dead for h

t night. Dat vas de beginning, Johan," said the old man, shaking fr

y sane man to be so gloomy as he was, and never speak to a living soul. But I never once thought of his being crazy. Look, father!" he contin

with a paper beneath it on which was written, "For Carlen Weitbrec

o it, den," sa

" sai

vould not haf

hastily; "that

ay an' be her mann," sighed the disapp

ill her,"

t. She feel pad maybe von year, maybe two. Dat is all

side, discussing what should next be done, how the necessary steps could be taken with least possible publicity, when suddenly t

in day," exclaimed Farmer Weitbreck. "If

Everybody will have to know." And he ran swift

o common errand. They were pale and full of excitement, and Hans's

tammered Far

killed von man--shepherd, in our town--last spring; and dey never get trail of him. So soon he came in our kitchen yesterd

d Mrs. Dietman looked from one to the other in bewilderment. "Maype you tink ve speak

t think you are not speaking truth." He paused; glanced

ven his hard and phlegmatic na

saying briefly, "Come." The Di

re, rigid, under the close-drawn white folds; "we f

ken silence fe

e know; so he kill himself to sa

He understood now the whole myste

nd shook hands with every one. He had made up his mind, you see, that the end had come, and it was nothing but a relief to him. He was glad to die. He had not courage before. But now he knew he would be arrested he had courage to kill himself. Poor fellow, I pity him!" And John

his heart of Carlen. "It is enough that he is dead. There is no good

rfully; but her husband excl

n secret. He is murderer. It is to b

, slowly; "but there is no need for it to

f harm nobody here; he vas goot. I haf a

n the farm adjoining Gretchen's father's had been murdered by a fellow-laborer on the same farm. They had had high words about a dog, and ha

er again seen by any one who knew him, until this previous day, when he had entered the Dietmans' door bearing his message from the Weitbreck farm. At the first sight of his face, Gretchen Dietman had recognized him, thrown up her arms involuntarily, and cried out in German: "My God! the man that killed the shepherd!" Ca

notings ever vas before, never before he open his mouth to speak; he vas like at funeral all time

id John. "I do not wonder he wa

be sheltered from disgrace. To have his name held up for the deserved execration seemed to Hans the only punishment l

in silence from beginning to end, asked a few searching questions, and then to John's unutterable ast

e fly, Liebche

ting at the edge of the precipice and the shepherd fell over, or the shepherd might have bee

as certainly only circumstantial evidence against Wilhelm, slowly brought him to sharing her belief and tender sorrow. But they we

lf if he knew he were i

nnocent," said John and Carlen. But no one else thought

e in the place who knew the secret of the grave. Farmer Weitbreck and his wife were both dead, and the estate had passed into the hands of strangers who had heard the story of Wilhelm, and knew that his body was buried somewhere on the farm; but in which field they n

r toddling girl,--these, and a bunch of dried and crumbling blossoms of the Ladies' Tress, were all that had survived the storm. The dried flowers were in the largest of the boxes. They lay there side by side with a bit of carved abalone shell Alf had got from a Nez Perce Indian, and some curious seaweeds he had picked up at the mouth of the Columbia River. Carlen's one

choes from that past which she had thought forever left behind. It was a letter from Hans Dietman, who sti

late, vindicated the memory of Wilhelm. C

ld affection, revived. John was half afraid to go on, as he saw her face flushing, her eyes

ll you so? And you never half believed me! Now you see I

o bootless now, to the poor boy who had slept all thes

shepherd of whose death Carl Lepmann had so long been held guilty. They had quarrelled about a girl, a faithless creature, forsworn to both of them

ortally hurt, Carl Lepmann had come up,--had come up in

d out: "My God! You ride away and leave him dead! and it will be I who h

t would never be discovered, and he might safely return to his employer's farm. But Carl's terror was too great, and he had finally been so wrought upon by his entreaties that he had taken hi

as I, if he had told where the shepherd's body was thrown; but he could be frightened as easily as a woman, and all he thought of was to fly where

s just ended, when Alf came into the room

had fondly dedicated to Carlen in his thoughts; and when he went back to Pennsylvania after her, he found her the same as when he went away

ely. It was sad, no doubt, and a bitter shame too, for one man to suffer and go to his grave

ng his hand on Carlen's shoulder, "crying over a man dead and buried these s

en said

el's Sup

t Wissan Bridge without they promise me a supplement

face with an intent expression in which it would have been hard to say which predominated,--anxiety or

take it for the same money as a decent school is taught. They'll promise me fiv

er, in a half-antagonistic tone. There was between this mother and daughter a continual undercurrent of

se eight years, an' I'd shame her myself any day she likes wi' spellin' an' the lines; an' if there's ever a boy in a school o' mine that'll gie me a floutin'

replied her mother, piously. "There's no girl

schoolin' 's got nothin' to do with it. I'd teach a school b

ly angered parent. "Will ye be tellin' me perhaps, then, that t

ed: "Eh, my mother, it's not a silly that ye could ever have for a child, wi' that clear head, and the wise things always said to us from the time we're in our cradles. Ye've n

son that the more a teacher knows, the more he can teach. He'll take the conceit out o' ye better than I can." And good Isabella McDonald turned angrily awa

looked back at her from the quaint oak leaf and acorn wreath had not comforted her inmost soul, and made her again at peace with herself. And as the mother looked on she too was comforted; and in five minutes more, when Little Bel was ready to say good-by, they flung their arms around each other, and embraced an

umbling into the world like rabbits in a pen, and have to scramble for a living almost as soon and as hard as the rabbits. It is a narrow life they lead, and full of hardships and deprivations, but it has i

his father's home, and whoever married John must go there to live, to be only a daughter in a mother-in-law's house, and take a daughter's share of the brunt of everything. "And nothing to be got except a living, and it was a poor living the McDonald farm gave beside the McIntosh," the McIntosh sisters said. A

found herself sole mistress of the McDonald farm, she did not feel herself ill paid. The old father and mother were dead, two sisters had died and two had married, and the two sons had gone to the States to seek better fortunes than were to be made on Prince Edward Is

an estate. An' the linen that's in the house! I've no need to turn a hand to the flax-wheel for ten years if I've no mind. An' ye can all bide your times, an' see what John'll make o' the farm, no

ere already living on tolerance in their father's house, where their oldest brother and his wife ruled things with an iron hand. All hopes of a husband and a home of their own had

er's bank account makes at the end of that time. There is no margin for fineries, luxuries, small ambitions of any kind. Isabella had her temptations in these directions, but John was firm as a rock in withstanding them. If he had not been, there would never have been this story to tell of his Little Bel's school-teaching, for ther

choolin' she had herself, and if her girls do as well as she's done, they'll be lucky,"--a spee

bliged to them for nothin'; but I'd like the little one to have a better chance than

r's house her thrifty father had put her, and had stipulated that part of the price of her board was to be paid in produce of one sort and another from the farm, at market rates; "an' so,

to her a' her life," r

book-knowledge. There's some it draws up an' some it draws down; it's a millstone. But the

sciously manifests a chivalrous tenderness akin to that which in his youth he had given only to the sweetheart he sought for wife. Unacknowledged, perhaps, even unmanifested save in occasional

t the wheel an' the churn an' the floors to be whitened," replied Isabella, sharply. "An' one year lik

John, "an' ye did not take it." At which memory the wife laughed, and

y a turn and turn about that the children had at school. Since the free schools had been established many a grown man and woman had sighed curiously at the better luck of the youngsters under the new regime. No exc

from Halifax, with a young bride, the daughter of an officer in the Halifax garrison,--gentlefolks, both of them, but single-hearted and full of fervor in their work for the souls of the plain farming-people given into their charge. And both Mr. Allan and Mrs. Allan had caught sight of Little Bel's face on their firs

cultivate it," said Mrs. Allan to her husband, "even if she never sees another piano than mine, nor has any other time in

he played almost as well as Mrs. Allan herself, and sang far better. And in all Isabella McDonald's day-dreams of the child's future,

y a tear over her lessons. This girl's parents were thankful to see their daughter impressed by Bel's enthusiasm for music; and so well did the clever girl play her cards that before she had been six months in the place, sh

t the forceful character the girl had developed. She went away a gentle, loving, clinging child; her nature, like her voice, belonging to the order of birds,--bright, flitting, merry, confiding. She returned a woman, still loving, still gentle in her manner, but wi

changed. It is the music that has lifted her up so. What a glorious thing is a real passion for a

re. She belongs to her people in heart, al

ather, at the end of the first evening after Bel's return. "She's got the ways o' the city on her, an' she carries

; but her heart's i' the right place. Ye'll see she'll put her strength to w

t not ill-natured tone, "an' I'm not gainsayin' that she's not as near it as

by this "carryin' herself positive," he knew better than to say so, and his only reply was a

nt promise of the five-pound supplement. It went sorely against her will to waive this point. Very kee

he school had broken up in riotous confusion before the end of the year,--the canny Scotchmen of the School Board did not wish to be pledged to pay that extra five pounds. The utmost Bel could extract from them was a promise that if at the end of the year her teaching had proved satisfactory, the five pounds

, enthusiastically, looking at his colleagues, who nodde

ted Little Bel, as with cheeks

or member of the Board, and the one hardest to please. "I'd not mind bein' a pupil at Wissan Bridge school the comin' term mysel

no fear. My wife's had the training of the girl since she w

g for them. To have singing exercises part of the regular school routine was a new thing at Wissan Bridge. It took like wild-fire; and when Little Bel, shrewd and diplomatic as a statesman, invited the two oldest and worst boys in the school to come Wednesday and Saturday afternoons to her boarding-place to practise singing with her to the accompaniment of the piano, so as to be able to help her lead the rest, her sovereignty was established. They were not conquered

Sandy Stairs either. I doubt they'd have been too many for me, but now they're like two more teachers to the fore. I'd leave the school-room to them for a day, an' not a lad'd dare stir in his seat without their leave. I call them my c

hool a'ready in all his circuit. I don't know how ever ye come to't so quick, child.

e piano over for the day to the school-house. Archie and Sandy'll move it in a big wagon, to save me payin' for the cartin'; an' I'm to pay a half-pound for the use of it if it's not hurt,--a dear bargain, but she'd not let it go a shilling less. And, to be sure, there

the village which had the distinction of owning a piano; and by paying a small sum extra, she had obtained

est of all, with scurries of snow, lowering sky, and a wind that threatened to be a gale before night. But, for all that, the tying-posts behind the Wissan Bridge school-house were crowded full of steaming horses under buffalo-robes, which must stamp and paw and shiver, and endure the day as

he Saturday previous; and her faithful henchmen, Archie and Sandy, had been busy every evening for a week drawing the boughs on their sleds and piling them

t to Little Bel, who, in her short blue merino gown, with a knot of pink ribbon at her throat, and a roll of white paper (her schedule of exercises) in her hand, stood on the left ha

They're sure to be comin', at least some one o' them. It was never known that they failed on

her as she saw the foremost figure entering the room. What evil destiny had brought Sandy Bruce in the character of school visitor that day?--Sandy Bruce, retired school-teacher himself, superintendent of the hospital in Charlottetown, road-master, ship-owner, exciseman,--Sandy Bruce, whose sharp and unexpected questions had been known to floor the best of scholars and upset the plans of the best of teachers. Yes, here he was,--Sandy Bruce himself; and it was his fierce littl

almost with a wicked twinkle in his little hazel eyes that he said, still shaking off the snow, stamping and puffing: "Eh, but ye were not lookin' for me, teacher! The minister was sent for to go to old Elspie Breadalbane, who's dyin' the morn; and I happened

read. "Poor little lassie!" he was thinking to himself. "She's shaking in her shoes with fear o' me. I'll not put her out.

s he had mentally called them, were not to be seen. Very well he knew many of them by sight; for his shipping business called him often to Wissan Bridge, and this was not the first time

perplexed thought did not escape the observation of John McDonald, who was as quick a reader of faces as Sandy himself, and had

rn's got them a' in hand," thought John.

t, and they heightened his bewilderment. To Archie McLeod he was by no means a stranger, having had occasion more than once to deal with him, boy as he was, for complications with riotous misdoings. He had happened to know, also, that it was Archie McLeod who had been head and front of the last year's

"Whew! what's all this?" which had been on his tongue's end, in a vigorous and unnecessary blowing of his nose. And before that was over, and his eyes well wiped, there stood the whole school on its feet before him, and the room ringing with such a chorus as was never heard in a Prince Edward Island school-room before. This completed his bewilderment, and swallowed it up in delight

all about him on the platform, he said: "It's not sittin' we'es take such welcome as this, my neebors!" Each man and woman there, catching the quick contagion, rose; and it was a tumultuous crowd of glowing faces that pre

st. "The music'll carry a' before it, no matter if they do make a failure here 'n

ll go through as it's begun. Her face's a picture to look

ut o' us," thought old Dalgetty,

ht Little Bel. "He looks as kind and as pleased as my own fath

ask any botherin' questions, but sat, leaning forward on his stout oaken staff, held firmly between his knees, and did not move for the next hour, his eyes resting alternatel

rvals came songs to break the monotony. The first one after the opening chorus was "Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon." At the firs

l, "what'll he say to t

c with full knowledge of Sandy Bruce's preferences, and with the express determ

her cheeks were deep pink now, and her eyes shone with excitement--and said, turning to the trustees and spectators: "We have finis

st of the grand chords of that grand old tune rang out full and loud under Little Bel

Everybody sang. Old voices, that had not sung for a quarter of a century or more, joined in. It was a furor: Dalgetty swung his tartan cap, Sandy h

!" said Archie McLeod, in recounting the scene. "Now, if they'd g

first thing Little Bel heard was D

cDonald. Ye've won it fair

n'?" asked Sandy Bruce; his eyes, steady

hly to his. "Mr. Dalgetty thought I was too young for the school, a

wished that they had all been here to see, as he had seen, how finely the school had been managed; but nobody heard what he said, for above all th

himself heard. The face of a man galloping for life and death, coming up at the last second with a reprieve for on

m. This was not down on her programm

he respected Board of Trustees, that the undersigned, boys and girls of the Wissan Bridge School, did her

ones and the babies that'll be growin' up," retorted Sandy, "an' there'll never be another like her: I say, 'as long as she lives'"; and "as long as she lives" it was. And when Archie, with an unnecessary emphasis, delivered this closing clause of

e overtopping the tumult with: "A vary sensible reque

ad time to weigh words or note meanings; but there were some who recalled it a few months later when they were bidden to a weddi

the Charlottetown people that he would never find a woman to wed him; only now and then an unusually perspicacious person divined that the reason o

Bel in the Wissan Bridge school-house. And equally true was it that before the last strains of "Scots wha ha' wi' Wallace bl

k to win her. No one ca

e next morning early--in fact, before Little Bel was dressed, so late had she been indulged, for once, in sleeping, after her hard labors in the exhibition the day before--the Norwegian ponies were jinglin

y rate, there was no regret in his heart as he shook Sandy's hand warmly, and said: "Ye've my free consent to t

an' she'll never repent it, the longest day o' her life, if she'll ha' me for her man." And he strode into the house

ously. "Ye'll not be leavin' it wi' the mither." To which sly

It was written in his face. Neither could it be truthfully said to be a surprise to Little Bel; for she had not been woman, had she failed

he said,--"the thing I came to say t' ye." And he p

of a wooer. "Know what, Mr. Bruce?" she said res

-"Ye're the sweetest thing the eyes o' a mon ever rested on, lass, an' I'm goin' to win ye if ye'll let me." And as Bel opened her mouth to speak, he laid one hand, quietly as a mother might, across her lips, and continued: "Na! na! I'll not let ye speak yet. I'm not a silly to look for

she opened her lips to speak, and twice her heart and the words failed h

are ye?" he gasped out. "I'd not vex ye f

ye, though. But I was for a few minutes yesterday," she added archly, with a little glint of a roguish smile, w

not harm a hair o' yer head. Oh, my little lass, would ye gie me a kiss,--just one, to show ye're not afraid, and

ns been without her admirers, had never yet kissed any man but her father and brothers, put up her rosy li

ry heart in me said he was my man for a' my life. An' there's no shame in it that I can see. If a man may love that way in the lighting of an eye, why may not a girl do the same? There

Bruce's face one day, not many weeks after his first interview with Little Bel, when, in reply to his question, "An' now, my own lass, what'll ye have for your weddin

ce in her hands, and making a feint of kissing him; then wit

t to me. What's the n

s generosity it might seem a dari

money than ye think. There's no lady in a' Char

a"--the word refused to leave her tongue--"a--piano, Sandy;" and she gazed anxiously at him.

ow felt shame indeed--that his sweet lassie might be about to ask for jewels or

, an' every other instrument under the skies that ye'll wish, my lass, ye shall have. The mo

d, Sandy, but you and a p

er, as Sandy Bruce's, and no bells so merry as the silver ones on his fierce little Norwegian ponies, that curvet and prance, and are all their driver can hold. Rolled up in furs to her chin, how rosy and handsome looks Little Bel by her husband's side, and how full of proud content is his face

with a grizzled old head looking out of a tartan hood, and eyes like hawks',--Dalgetty himsel

a flash; and in the same second cries Archie, from the front sea

of the "He

ngy spots of anything else, but brilliant, golden-brown freckles, almost auburn like his hair. Once seen, never to be forgotten were Donald Mackintosh's freckles. All this does not sound like the description of a handsome man; but we are not through yet with what is to be said about Donald Mackintosh's looks. We have said nothing of his straight massive nose, his tawny curling beard, which shaded up to yellow around a broad and laughing mouth, where were perpetually flashing teeth of an even ivory whiteness a woman might have coveted. No, not handsome, but better than handsome, was Donald Mackintosh; he was superb. Everybody said so: nobody cou

e inevitably been more or less spoiled by it, wasted his time, and not have been so good a sailor. On the other hand, it was a pity to see him,--forty years

the passion of a sailor for his craft; and this passion Donald had to the full. It was odd how he came to be a born sailor. His father and his father's fathers, as far back as they knew, had been farmers--three generations of them--on the Prince Ed

d to him as grand as Indiamen; and when, in his twelfth year, he found himself launched in life as a boy-of-all-work on one of these sloops, whose captain was a friend of his father's, he felt that his fortune was made. And so it was. He was in the line of promotion by virtue of his own enthusiasm. No plank too small for the born sailor to swim by. Before Donald was twenty-five he himself commanded one of these little coasting-vessels. From

d in ten years had the luck to become owner and master of a trim little coasting-steamer which had been known for years as the "Sally Wright," making two trips a week from Charlottetown to Orwell Head,--known as the "Sally Wr

t a young heather growing; and the dainty pink bells were still to Donald the man, as they had been to Donald the child, the loveliest flowers in the world. But he would not for the profits of many a trip have told his comrade captains why he had named his boat the "Heather Bell." He ha

ic excursions by steamboat or sloop highest of all. Through June and July hardly a daily newspaper can be found which does not contain the advertisement of one or more of these ex

three green bars,--and "Donald Mackintosh, Captain," in green letters, and below these a spray of pink heather, she looked more like a craft for festive sailing than for cruising about from one farm-landing to another, picking up odds and ends of farm produce,--eggs and butter, and oats and wool,--with now and then

e, felt, and not without reason, that he ought to pay her something in the shape or semblance of attention when she was on board his boat, even if she were a member of a large and gay party, most of whom were strangers to him. T

in her heart the good little Katie had kept the image of Donald in sacred tenderness by itself. No other man's love-making, however earnest,--and Katie had been by no means without lovers,--had so much as touched this sentiment. She judged them all by this secret standard, and found them

What was that? And maybe a Sunday once or twice a year, and at a Christmas gathering. No wonder Katie thought that in the town where his business lay and he slept three nights a week she would have a far better chance; that he would be glad to come and see her in her tidy little shop. But when Donald heard what she had do

r life in Charlottetown. She was only twenty-two then. In the eight years since then matters had quieted down with Katie. It seemed certain that Donald would never marry. Everybody said so. And if a man had lived till forty without it, what else cou

past, such as birthdays always bring--something smote her with a sudden consciousness that life itself was slipping away, and she was alone. No husband, no child, no home, except as she earned each month, by fashioning bonnets and caps

elf. "It's so near the old place perhaps Donald'll walk over ho

rking, newly revived, vague, despairing sort of hope. And because it was there she spent half the day retrimming a bonnet and washing and ironing a gown to wear to the picnic; and after long and anxious pondering of the matter, she deliberately took out of her best box of artificial flowers

t Spruce Wharf. Then, as he stood on the upper deck giving orders about the flinging out of the ropes, Katie looked up at him from below, and called, in a hal

ely moored, he gave his orders to his mate for the day, and leaping down joined the glad Katie; and before

o Donald's face she found it handsomer and kinder

the dance was to be in the Spruce Grove I made up my mind to come

e home's the place for women." But he said it in a pleasan

on her fresh color and her smiling face. In his heart he was saying: "An' what is it ma

s! Even those few minutes o

g to the flowers in her bonnet, "It's the heat

flowers. "Ye'll not be callin' that heather. Did ye never see true heather, Katie?

s a cruel thing to say. Katie's eyes drooped: she had made a serious sacrifice in putting so dear a bunch of flowers on her bonnet,--a bunch that she had, in her own mind, been sure Lady Gownas, of Gownas House, would buy for her summer bonnet. She had

full blast of buzzing in the air. At the same second both Donald and Katie paused, listening. "What can that b

ve walked ten miles or more, and barefoot too, their shoes slung over the shoulder with the wheel. Once arrived, they waste no time. The rolls of wool are piled high in the corners of the rooms, and it is the ambition of each one to spin all she can before dark. At ten o'clock cakes and lemonade are served; at twelve, the dinner,--thick soup, roast meat, vegetables, coffee and tea, and

wager when Donald and Katie appeared at the door. The door opened directly into the large room where they were. Katie went first, Donald hanging back be

in a second more a vision, it seemed to the dazed Donald,--but it was not a vision at all, only a buxom young girl in a blue homespun gown,--had seized him

was a baby, and now her special pet. The greatest desire of Katie's heart was to h

never long in one,--for it was now time for dinner, and Donald and the old people were soon seated at a small table by themselves, not to embarrass the young girls, and Elspie and Katie together served the dinner; and though Elspie never once came to the small table, yet did Donald see every motion she made and hear every note of her lark's voice. He did not mistake what had happened to him. Middle-aged, inexperienced, sober-souled man as he was, he knew that at last he had got a wound,--a life wound, if it were not healed,--and the consciousness of it struck him more and more dumb, till his presence

ld had overheard it, would have caused that there should never have been this story to tell. But luckily Donald did not. All that he bore away from the McCloud farm-house t

obody but the family had been at home. What a shame for a man to live alone as he did, and get into such unsocial ways! He grew more and more averse to society each year. Now, if he were only married, and had a bright home, where people came and went, with a bit of

she get t

on sounded like the speech of one talking in h

he true heather, not sticks like yon," pointing a contempt

e. "She says she's homesick unless she sees it. It was grandmothe

e continued, gazing at Katie absently; but his face did not look as if it were absently he gazed. There was a g

n never forget what one

thrilling emotion; and as he said it he reached out his hand and took hold of Katie's, as if they we

my hand at last, and pretended I could outrin ye

m-house? Katie was sure it had. She was filled with sweet reveries; and so silent on the way

it was early the next morning, when

," said Donald. "It's not

id: "But it's a lonely house for ye to come to, Katie, an' not a soul but yo

gravely: "Yes, it was sorely lonely at first, an' I wearied myself out to get t

hat if the two o' ye were here together, ye'd

e; "she pines to be with me. I'm more her mother t

nald. I'd not seen her

Katie, warmly; and that was the last w

or she was the bonniest lass that ever drew breath. Gray eyes and golden hair and pink cheeks and pink heather all mingled in Donald's dreams that night in fantastic and impossible combinations; and mor

his uprising. He tried to shake them off, drive them away; for when he came to think the thin

ut of this sort of mystic maze in which Donald now found himself lost,--but two roads, one bright with joy, one dark with sorrow. And which road should it be Donald's fate to travel must be for the child Elspie to say. After a few days of bootless striving with himself, during which time he had spent more hours with Katie than he had for a year before,--it was such a comfort to him to see in her face t

aid grimly to himself that this matter must be ended one way or the other,--either he would win the child or

nkful to hear all that Donald had to tell, and with the old father and mother he had always been a prime favorite. It had been a sore disappointment to them, as year after year went by, to see that there seemed no likelihood

oquetry, she said, when he was taking leave, "Ye

ise impulse to refrain from giving the reply which

Not until three weeks had passed did he go; and then Elspie was clearly and unmistakably glad to see him. Th

who had no liking for milksops, and had sent off more than one lover because he came crawling too humbly to her feet. Elspie had none of the gentle, quiet blood which ran in Katie's veins. She had even been called Firebrand in

nald more than once, as he saw her in some family discussion or controvers

ld never be sure beforehand when it would answer for him to stop there. Katie sunned herself in this new familiar intercourse, and the thought of Donald running up to the old farm of a Sunday as if he were one of the brothers going home. In the contentment of th

, Katie--d'ye know it?--

ide it, crying: "Ah, ye're tryin' to make me silly, you Donald, with such flatterin'. We're gettin' old, Donald, you a

s no need ye have to be callin' yersel' old. But I'm old, an' no mistake." The thought, as Katie ha

t love as Donald's reaches and warms its object as inevitably as the heat of a fire warms those near it. Early in June the spinning-bee, and before the last flax was pulled, early in September, Elspie knew that she was restless till Donald cam

; walls, flat roof, all of the green spruce boughs, thick enough to keep out rain. This is usually in the heart of a spruce grove. Thither the bundles of flax are carried and stacked in piles. In the centre of the inclosure a slow fire is lighted, and above this on a frame of slats the stalks of flax are laid for their last drying. It is a difficult and

Katie. It was well filled with flax, in the drying of which nobody was more interested than Elspie. She had big schemes for spinning and weaving in the coming winter. A whole piece of

rl of steam from the "Heather Bell" as she rounded the point, bearing Donald away. Elspie could not doubt why Donald came. Soon she would wonde

ith it before the Sabbath!" And she fell to work with a will, so briskly to work that she did not realize how time was flying,--did not, strangest of all, hear the letting off of steam when the "Heather Bell" moored at the wharf; and she was still busily turning and lifting and separating the stalks of flax, bending low over the frame, heated, hurrying, her whole heart in her work, when Donald came striding up the field from the wharf,--striding at his greatest pace, for he was disturbed at not finding Elspie at the landing to meet him. He turned his head toward the spruce grove, thinking vaguely of the June picnic, and what had come of his walking away from the dance that morning, when suddenly a great column of

ver and over, crying aloud, "Oh, my darlin', if I break your sweet bones, it is better than the fire!" And indeed it seemed as if it must break her bones, so fiercely he rolled her over and over, tearin

e ye, my Donald. We're gettin' it under." And with her own scorched hands she pulled t

ked in each other's arms,--Donald's beard gone, and much of his hair; Elspie's pretty golden hair also blackened, burned. It was the first thing Donald saw after he made sure danger

ed closer; then she burst into tears and laughter together, crying: "Oh, Donald, it was for you I was

, Elspie, say it!" he continued. "Oh, ye bonny bairn, but I've loved ye like

the whispered "Yes, Donald, I'm your darlin'

But thankfulness soon swept away all other emotions,--thankfulness and a great joy, too; for Donald's second word was, turning to the old father: "An' it is my own that I've saved; she's gien

to us to see ye enter the house as a so

se ye didn't; an' I wonder at mysel'. It's like winter weddin' wi' spring, ye'll be sayin'. But I'll keep young for her sake. Ye'

e on the morrow?" said

the summer that she's been sayin' how she longed to have you in the town wi' her. An' now ye're comin',

Katie's heart? "Donald," she said suddenly, "I'll go down wi' ye if ye'll ta

e might thus save Katie the shock of he

Elspie to be his wife, and that Elspie loved him, and they would soon be married, Katie stared into her face for a moment with wide,

r, with a trembling voice; "an' I came

rom Katie; not a tear in her eyes, and her cheeks as scarlet as they ha

other at last. "Don't look so. It must

I'll bear it; it must be borne. There's none knows it but y

e're brave, bairn,"

" cried Katie; "was't not? I r

two daughters, between whom had fallen this terrible sword. "Ay, it was then.

, with a tearless sob bitterer than any loud weeping

ye want me," s

ther; but I'm best alone for a bit. Ye'll give my warm love to Elspie, an' send her down here to me to stay till

gth, bairn?" asked the now weeping mot

spie all I can. Ye know she was always like my own bairn more than a sister. The quicker she comes the better for me

," exclaimed her mother, folding her arms tight around her and dra

at since Donald could not be hers she was glad he was Elspie's. "If he'd married a stranger it would ha' broke my heart far worse, far worse," she said many a time to herself as she sat patiently stitching, stitching, on Elspie's bridal clothes. "He's my own in a way, after a', so lon

ls were not injured either in shape or color. It was a shame to lose it for one day's wear, thought the thrifty Katie; and most surely she herself would never wear it again. She could not even see it without a flush of mortification as she recalled Donald's contempt for it. The privileg

own. Don't ye remember I wore it to the picnic? an' then it didna suit, an' I put it

the driven snow, an' not hurt at all. I'm sure Donald'l

sharply; on which Elspie turned upon

win' best, do ye thin

that day I'd the bonnet on, it was no more tha

and holding the white heather bells high up against her golden curls. "It's the only flower in all yer boxes I want, Katie, and ye'll not grudge it to me, will

ie. "God knows I'd grudge ye nothing on earth, Elspie," she sa

r?" she said penitently. "Does i

ere dearer. But ye'll have the heather an' welcome, if ye will; an' I do

it. So she was driven to busy herself with the house, keeping from Elspie's willing and eager hands all the harder tasks, and laying up stores of fine-spun linen and wool for future use in the family. It was a marvel how content Katie found herself as the winter flew by.

ould have found heartier response and more appreciation from her. But she was a loyal, loving, contented little wife, and there could n

ooped in the first approach of the burden of motherhood. A strange presentiment also seized her. After the first brief gladness

give it up, Katie?--promise me. Ye'll take care of it all your life?--promise." And Katie, terrified by her ea

e failed hour by hour till the last; and when her time of trial came, the s

aying, "Will ye not look at him, Donald? it is as fine a man-child

t was to be your bairn and not hers. T

y bore with him tenderly and patiently, and did as they could for the best; Kat

ruces which Donald pointed out. This was the only wish he expressed about anything. Katie took

strange to all except Katie. To her it seemed the most natura

"He'll come when he can, but it'll be long first. Ye none

able to creep,--a chubby, blue-eyed, golden-haired little creatur

. Then, looking again, he stretched out his arms, took the baby in them, and kissed him convul

said D

d. It soon grew to be Donald's chiefest pleasure to be with his boy, and he found more and more irksome the bonds

d get ye a good house, an' ye could have who ye'd like to live wi' ye

l. She did not k

him away, but this is my home now, Donald. I've a dread o' leavin

paused. Something in the tone startled Katie. She lifted her eyes; rea

cried out at the s

ye? Are ye not the mother o' my child? Did she not give him to ye with her own lips? An

ut any other would have repelled

me, Donald?" she

e a good man t' ye, lass. Come and be the little lad's mother, and let me live wi' my own once more. Will ye come?" As he said these words, he stretched out his arms toward Katie; an

hispered, "that I'd never,

her. "He's your bairn, my Katie.

nt," she replied; and a look of h

that only there could she venture to look her new future in the face.

ove. But it's me that'll be doin' for him ti

y St

wore. And as for his buck-skin trousers, they would not have disgraced a Sioux chief,--always of the softest and yellowest skins, always daintily made, the seams set full of leather fringes, and sometimes marked by lines of delicate embroidery in white quills. There were those who said that Dandy Steve had an Indian wife somewhere on the Upper Saranac, but nobody knew; and it would have been a bold man who asked an intrusive question of Dandy Steve, or ventured on any impertinent jesting about his private affairs. Certain it was that none but Indian hands embroidered the fine buckskins he wore; but, then, there were such buckskins for sale,--perhaps he bought them. A man who would spend t

lf too late to reach his destination that night, seeing the glimmer of light from Steve's cabin, had rowed

he chair was flung the red shawl. On the table lay an open book and the silver bangles in it, as if some one had just thrown them off. At sound of entering footsteps Steve sprang up, wi

sweepin' the whole bundle up in his arms, 'I'll just clear up this little mess, an' give ye a comfortable chair to sit in;' an' he carried it all--blanket, book, bracelets, shawl, an' all--into the next room, an' throwed 'em on the floor in a pile in one corner. There wa'n't but them two rooms to the cabin, so that wa'n't any place for her to be hid, if so be 's there was any woman 'round; an' he said he was livin' alone, an' had been ever since he come. An' it wa

story. It must stand in each man's mind for what it was worth, according to his individual bias of interpretation. But it had become an old story long before the time at which our later narrative

y wanderings. Visitors to the region grew wonted to the sight of the comely figure in the slight birch canoe, shooting suddenly athwart their track, or found lying idly in some dark and shaded stream-bed. On the approach of strangers he would instantly away, lifting his hat courteously if there were ladies in the boats he passed, otherwise taking no more note of the presence of hu

nce; but they were always courteously repelled. Finally he came to be spoken of as the "hermit;" and it was with astonishment, almost incredulity, that, in the spring of his third year in the Adirondacks, h

at whenever he could do so he avoided taking parties in which there were ladies. Sometimes for a whole season it would happen that he had not once been seen in charge of such a party. Sometimes, when it was difficult, in fact impossible, for him to assign any reason for refusing to go with parties containing members of the obnoxious sex, he would at the last moment privately entreat som

y which went out under his care returned with warm praise for Steve, with a friendly feeling also, which would in many instances have warmed into familiar acquaintance if Steve would have permitted it. But with all his cheerfulness and obliging good-will he never lost a certain quantity of reserve. Even the men whose servant he was for the time being were insensibly constrain

his own destinies. His seven years were up. If he had supposed that he was serving them, like Jacob of old, for that best-

l pay, considerate of his feelings, tolerant of his reticence; not a man of them but respected their queer, silent guide's individuality as much as if he had been a man of their own sphere of life. Steve had learned, by some unpleasant experience, that this delicate consideration did not always obtain between employers and employed. It takes an org

m the month's sport with this Philadelphia party. Wistfully he scrutinized the lists of arrivals at the different houses day after day, for the familiar names; but they were not to be found. At last, after he had given ove

. Cravath's parties. It was the joy of the sudden surprise which prevented Steve's giving his custom

ed, with an affected careless ease, but all the while eying Steve's face anxiously, "I forgot to mention that I have brought my wife along this time. She positively refused to let me off. She said she was tired of hearing so much about the Adirondacks! She was comin

ed and his voice less joyous, "I'll answer for it with you; bu

dea of bringing an old woman out here! I wouldn'

u need not begin to look blue, Steve; and if you back out, or serve us any of your

backing out. But I am afraid Mrs. Cravath will be disappointed," he added, as he went down the steps, and luckily did n

aught him, by Jove, Randall! He never once thought to ask of what sex the other memb

r. Randall. "He would never have taken us in the world

for him for having such a crotchet in his

sgives me. We shall wish we had not done it. He may turn sulk

t bring him around, Helen Wingate will. I never saw the m

uld not think to look at her that she had ever had an hour's sorrow; but my wife tells m

have a hope at one time that she would marry again; but I've given it up. If she would have married any one, it would have

pear; and on the second morning after the above conversations Steve received orders to have

rf as Steve was making

r from one side of his mouth to the other, "you've got a soft thing again

d Steve, curtly; "and what's

't ain't because I've seen so much of it. Say, Steve," he added

"There's no womenkind going except one,--Mr. Cravath

be the rest on 'em goin' to stay here? There's three women in the party. Mr. Randall he's got his wife, a

-smothered ejaculation came from his l

eps," continued Ben, chuckling. "I reckon ye

ked at the smiling party coming towards

. What a blamed fool I was not to ask who they were! Never thought of the Cravath set lumbering themselves up with women!" And a very u

ression of the truth, and Mr. Randall's evident misgiving as to the success of the experiment had proved contagious. "If

ally disliking women! It is only some particular woman he's disliked. He won't dislike us! He sha'n't dislike m

Mr. Cravath, hurrying after

on the plank, calling out: "Oh, there are all our things in already! Guide, gu

his face Helen Wingate uttered a shriek which rang i

t her footing!" ex

they reached it, there knelt Dandy Steve on the ground by her side, his face whiter

ed up, and, instantly seeking Mr. Cravath's

knelt around the seemingly lifeless woman, trying to arouse her. Presently she opened her eyes, and, seeing Mrs. Randall's face bend

ther would it go out under the guidance of Dandy Steve, nor woul

noon, Mr. Cravath appeared, coming to look after their hastily abandoned effects, Old Ben touched his hat civilly, and said: "Good-

others Mr. Cravath would have

us at once? Steve has got other business on hand. That lad

her up," answered Ben, composedly, as if such th

us at once?" cont

ur, sir,"

sorrow in the mysterious disappearance of her husband had ennobled and purified her character, and greatly endeared her to her friends; but that

told in Old Ben's words. He w

help a-throwin' it up to him, sort o', an' he couldn't stan' it. So he jest lit out; an' he'd never ha' gone back to her,--never under the shining sun. He'd got jest that grit in him. She'd been a-huntin' everywhere, they said,--all over Europe, 'n' Azhay, 'n' Africa, till she'd given up huntin'; an' he was right close tu hum all the time. He was a first-rate feller, 'n' we was all glad when his luck come ter him 't last. I wished I could ha' seen him to 've asked him if he didn't b'leeve in luck now! Me 'n' him was talkin' about

said one of Ben's rougher cronies one day at the end of the narrative; "'

t woman's yell she giv' when she seed Steve's face. If thar warn't jest a hull lifetime o' misery in't, 'sides the joy o' findin' him, I ain't no jedge. I haven't never felt no call ter marry, 's I sed; but if I had I wouldn't ha' been caught cuttin' up no sech didos's that,--a-throwin' away years o' time they might ha' hed together 'z well's not! Ther' ain't any too much o' this life, anyhow; 't

's Little

that did not make any difference. A carriage was sent from the Court for her, and she was carried away "just as she was," in her stuff gown,--the gown the Prince first saw her in. He li

endants, some young, some old, all dressed gayly. She did not dream at first that they were servants, till they began, all together, asking her what she would like to put on. Would she have a lace gown, or a satin? Would she like feathers or flowers? And one ran this way, and one that; and among them all, the Little Sweetheart was so flustered she did not know if she were really alive and on the earth, or had been transported to some fairy land. And before she fairly realized what was being done, they had her clad in the

Sweetheart did not care. In fact, she had no time to think, for the Queen came sailing in and spoke to her, and crowds of ladies in dresses so bright and beautiful that they dazzled her eyes; and the Prince w

seemed to the Little Sweetheart, floating. Every hour there was some new beautiful thing to see, some new beautiful thing to do. And the Prince never left her for more than a few minutes; and when he came back he brought her gifts and kissed her. Gifts upon gifts he kept bringing, t

ody stopped,--dance, dance, whirl, whirl, song and laughter and ceaseless motion. That was all th

obody left off dancing, and the m

he rooms and the gardens and the lakes blazed out with millions of lamps, till it was lighter far than

settled down on the whole place; and the fine-dressed servants that had robed the Little Sweetheart

leep in the world, and I'm sure I don't want to! I shall ju

uckle, on the floor in plain sight. "Where is the other?" thought the Little Sweetheart. "I do believe I lost it off. That's the way they come to have so many odd

my love," said the Prince, who w

all! I haven't shut my eyes,

into her room, and the air resounding in all directions with music an

ry strange that she was all alone! the Prince gone,--no one there to attend

clothes twice in this Court, and they will bring me o

e could not bear the sounds of the dancing and laughing and playing and singing any longer. So she jumped up, and, rolling one of the golden silk sheets around her, looked out of the window. There they all were, the crowds of gay people, just as they had been the day before when

she had sipped and tasted many delicious beverages and viands, which the Prince had pressed upon her, she had not taken any substantial food, and now she began to

t, and I will, have something to eat! I will slip down by som

all directions, she rolled the golden silk sheet tightly around her, and flew, rather than ran, across the floor, and took hold of the handle of one of the glass doors. Alas! it was locked. She tried another,--another; all were locked. In despair she turned to fly back to her bedroom,

from some of the servants, and they'll never know who I am; and then I'll go back to bed, and stay there till the Prince comes to fetch me. Of course,

into the ragged old stuff gown; then she crept out, keeping close to th

and made her cry out in astonishment,--a girl who looked so much like her that she might have been her own sister, and, what was stranger, wore a brown stuff gown exactly like her own, was busily at work in this room w

Little Sweetheart, begin

ing still more unpleasantly; and, leaning on her broo

n the Little

the big room; and, before the Little Sweetheart could get out another word, she found herself surrounded by h

gowns and their brooms. "You were all of you Pri

e day," they

t do you have to kill

u see it is a great deal of work to ke

k to kill spiders?" sai

king at once. "But it's better t

r speak to you?" sobbe

times," th

e hurrying by, all in armor from head to foot,--

forward; then suddenly she recollected her stuff gown, a

me of you. Good-bye! I'm off for the grand review to-day. Don't

le Sweetheart, her eyes flas

That's the worst of it. You may think you do; but you do

" said the Lit

the others. "It

like this in this

m morning till night, and new people coming and going all the time, and sp

aid the Littl

in some of the rooms here, that are wrinkled and gra

Little Sweetheart, a

Sweetheart in my room, vanishing away, so vivid had been the dream. "A most extr